"It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It!" -Maria Suarez

As I began The Heart of Darkness I thought, "Oh great, another depressing book about racism and social classes that I can't even understand or enjoy because of the manner in which the speak and just the book in itself." Yes, I was right (but only for the first 16ish pages.) Then things started to change, not much, but slowly.

The book began talking about the setting and how things worked when you lived on a ship and etc. Conrad used much sight imagery to depict the setting; therefore, I as a reader had a clear picture of where the story was taking place (at the time because the setting could change any minute especially due to the fact that they are on a boat.) The narrator made that life seem rather boring and monotonous. Always doing the same things and following the same routines. His descriptions were bland and lifeless making me want to poke my eyes out because I thought the rest of the book would follow in the same way.

But then I started thinking of what it would be like to live on a ship for most of my life. I would find that life as a challenge. I, as a person, constantly need to be moving and doing things or I go insane! Even when I listen to lectures I most of the time am picking at my hair which is not out of disrespect or boredom, it's just because I cannot stay still and concentrated on one thing for more than 5 seconds. Life on a ship would be hard for me, but it would be like a never ending adventure. Trying to find different things to do, finding a million ways to do something or not to do something, making stories and pretending something like the titanic was happening. I would make my life on the ship entertaining.

Although that is what I would do, the book differed completely. The book began with a small description of some of the characters, one of the most important being Marlow, a seaman and a wanderer. On pages 15-17, Marlow started to tell his story of how he became captain of a ship and what his story was of how he got there. The story in itself was so boring but the way Marlow described each feeling made you feel them aswell kind of like 'pena jena' (I think thats how you spell it) in spanish. Marlow used all types of imagery so that we could see what he was seeing, hear what was going on, and feel how nervous he must have been on this knew journey he had embarked on. Although the book is not of the most exciting, Conrad did an excellent job using imagery and feelings to make the reader connect to the characters.