Journal Nov. 12

The story starts off with five characters sitting on a boat. They are waiting for the Thames River's tide to go down so they can sail in. While waiting, Marlow begins to talk about what it must have been like for the Romans when they were first exploring England. He then relates this to him exploring the Congo for the first time. He decides to go to Africa on a ship to explore since he has always been intrested with Africa since he was a young child. Luckily a job opens up as a captain because one of the captains of a ship got into a fight with the people on the mainland and was killed. He travels down the coast of Africa for 30 day until he reaches the first station. At this station he sees many black people working. They are called criminals and a sent to work. However they are treated more like slaves. The manager of this station tells him about how good of a worker Kurtz is. Marlow is stuck at this station for ten days. He then travels to a second station with his partner. This trek takes him about 15 days. Once at the second station the manager of that station tells him even more about how good Kurtz is. The manager also says that his ship crashed into rocks and sunk. The manager said that it would take Marlow about three months to fix his ship. Marlow meets the brick maker who he has never seen make bricks. The brick maker tells him even more about how good Kurtz is. He is almost done with rebuilding his ship and all he needs are rivets. The rivets do not arrive on time. He then overhears the manager talking with his uncle about some plans. He gives up on building the ship because the rivets have not come and decides to focus on thinking about Kurtz.

Character Description: 

- Marlow: Marlow is the protagonist of the story and is intelligent. He is also philosophical and talks a lot. His crew is somewhat annoyed by this and they don't usually respond to him. He likes telling stories and is really good at it. He is also adventurous. I believe that he is younger like maybe in his 30s. 

- Congo: I believe that the Congo is a antagonist in this story. The Congo is dangerous and not very well explored. It is also somewhat feared in this book because of the people that live there. The Congo is described as a snake. I believe that this is because it slowly "poisons" people and makes them go insane. 

- Kurtz: Kurtz is liked by everyone that Marlow has met. He is the best ivory gather and gets more than any other person. The leaders of the company in England say that they have great plans for him. On the other hand, I believe that he is and antagonist. I think that he is distracting Marlow from his goal of exploring Africa. He is making Marlow think of him more than think of exploring Africa. I also think that Marlow will get jealous and some bad competition might start between them. 

- Manager of second station: The manager of the second station seems like a fake. He doesn't seem to know much and is only good for keeping the things running. He doesn't know how to make new adjustments and he seems only to be in it for the money. 

-  Marlow's partner: Marlow's partner was unnamed and seems weak. He is somewhat overweight and he faints a lot. Marlow has to care for him when he faints. He also does not seem cut out for the job and is only in it for the money.

- The Director of Companies (on the ship): He seemed responsible and trustworthy. He also seemed intelligent but very focused and serious.

- The Accountant (on the ship): He seemed childish and not very serious. He was trying to play dominoes on the ship. 

- The Lawyer (on the ship): He seemed greedy because he was lying on the only pillow and rug on the deck. He seemed intelligent and serious. He seemed like he was a friend of the narrator.