Journal Nov. 5

I found Spain's reasoning for why they were taking over colonies very interesting. They said that the Indians did not have natural laws so they were not fit to govern. They also said that they should govern for the Indians because the Indians did not know how to govern. It was funny how they made it seem like they were looking out for the Indians by governing them even though they treated them unfairly. Another interesting thing was the difference between Marxism and Leninism. I had heard of Marxism but I never knew what it was. Lenin seemed like he didn't like colonialism. He was saying about how colonialism was only for economic purposes. One example is when a producer has sold all of the country his goods then no one will want to buy them anymore. The producer will colonize other places because those people might want to buy it. They will also colonize if they run out of resources in their country. Lenin also said that countries will usually colonize if they have a lot of economic problems because then they can put their economic problems onto those other countries that they have colonized. Marx said that it wasn't only for economic purposes and it was also for spearing culture. I found it interesting how we are still looking back at colonialism and still trying to understand it. I would have thought that we would have just forgot about it since it doesn't happen. I found it suprising that Joseph Conrad lived near the Congo River. I expected him to not live anywhere in it but to just be interested in it. Knowing this makes the book seem almost more real. He experienced all of these things, maybe not firsthand, but he sure saw some off this. This makes the book seem like it is written slightly better now that the author has experienced what he is writing about. I was also interested in Kurtz. He or it seemed very mysterious and creepy. I think that we are all attracted to mysterious things which is why he seems so interesting. I did not really understand what or who he was which is why I am interested to read the book. The line, "At the point when Marlow's panic sets in, Kurtz becomes a more material presence" really interested me. It made me think that Kurtz was just a figure of Marlow's imagination. Kurtz then might make Marlow insane because Kurtz is so crazy. As Marlow becomes more insane p, Kurtz becomes more real, which makes Marlow even more insane. This seems really interesting. I would really like to find out the relationship between Kurtz and Marlow. I want to see if my predictions are correct or if they are totally off.