Heart of Darkness: Part 3

“In seasons of pestilence some of us will have a secret attraction to the disease--a terrible passing inclination to die of it. And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them.”

In your response include what this statement means, how it applies to Heart of Darkness, and at least one other book you have read so far in Senior Social.

It means that some people are drawn to evil actions (“the disease”). It almost describes a human incapability to avoid what could hurt and, are instead, attracted to it (“inclination to die of it”). The statement is saying we all have these dark thoughts within ourselves waiting for “circumstances” of the “disease” to draw them out of us. In “The Hear of Darkness”, Kurtz is drawn to that same “disease” and leaves the European way of living behind. Marlow is too attracted to the idea of Africa, but soon realizes that his curious nature has brought him into a reality he knows nothing about. The statement is also like “Inherit the Wind” where all the towns’ people probably had these “wonders” on their minds dealing with evolution. They were drawn to the courtroom and the trail because of that “secret attraction” and, perhaps some, like Mr. Cates, had an “inclination to die of it”.