Marlow, the englishman who doesn't act like most englishmen

Heart of darkness was the most complex 77 page book I have ever read, but I found that by using annotation, especially the text to world out line, helped me understand it a lot more.  After looking at the book and reading the first page I was ready to put the book down, it was totally different to the books I read and seemed like such a difficult read.  I had to reread probably every paragraph, to get a sense of what was going on.  But instead I decided to read it twice and during the second time I did the annotation, which was the best way for me to understand the book.  Without using annotation I don’t think I could have understood the book nearly as well the second time.  My opinion of the book changed over the two reads, the first time I was simply reading to finish the book but I didn’t absorb any content except for the general idea and plot. The second time around I did my annotation process and understood a lot more. I enjoyed Heart of Darkness the second time because I finally caught the difference between Marlow and the other Englishmen at all the different camps. Marlow was there for adventure and exploration; the others were there for ivory.  Throughout the book Marlow showed a significant difference in his treatment towards the natives, where the other men feared and enslaved them Marlow pitied them and worked beside them as a coworker. Marlow proved to be a very interesting character because of his lack of greed and racism; he understood the natives and found them more hospitable it seemed than the “pilgrims” in the camps. The book was a great recap of the imperialism in Africa by the English, and a partially true inside look at it through the eyes of a man who found imperialism terrible and inhumane.