I just finished this book, and it was a beautiful read, loved it from start to end, and I agree with most propositions of the author, but I can't relate to the "nature is cruel and scary" aspect of this book. Even in my lowest moments, nature has always had a deeply calming effect on me. I believe that wilderness has been our natural habitat for a very long time and this is where our mind craves to be.

The obvious response to this is that I would feel a lot different about this if I was dying in a jungle. I've considered that and would like to share an anecdote about this. Hope this doesn't come off as trauma dumping. When I was a teenager I was dealing with depression, and one day I just ran away. Wandered around for a few weeks, and then got out of the city and climbed a mountain. Stayed there for three days, and loved most of it. After spending three days I had to come down because my body was giving up, but honestly I was a little disappointed that I had to leave that place.

>>24555816 (OP)
>nature has always had a deeply calming effect on me
It's because you never saw the Blair Witch Project

Someone throw this joker out onto the Serengeti butt naked with nothing to defend himself within a mile of a starving hyena pack.

Then he'll see what "nature is cruel and scary" means.

>>24555836
Nothing like this happened to marlow in the first half. I still don't see why he would feel that way.

>>24555862
It's fiction you moron

>>24555877
Well it's bad fiction if the author is just lying to the readers. I created this post to discuss this aspect of the book.

>>24555822
Good movie. But IIRC witches and ghouls were the actual scary stuff right? Not the nature.

>>24555816 (OP)
I think biome has to do with it, frankly. I live in a tropical country and I appreciate the nature around as much as anyone else but it's just different from more temperate climates, in my opinion. I don't know, more aggressive.
Tropical climates and especially rainforests like in the Congo are nature at it's most vibrant, brutal, colorful and exuberant. For Conrad who surely didn't have a very close acquaintance with the Tropics before going to the Congo (sure, he sailed the south seas for a long time, but it doesn't compare to being in it) it must have been a very shocking experience.
>>24555877
It's pretty heavily inspired by Conrad's time in the Congo. Really, the more a novel of his is inspired by personal experience the more I like it. Nostromo's a fine story but it's just a construction, almost nothing about it is real. Lord Jim on the other hand, I like to think he met almost every character in it.

>>24555816 (OP)
>After spending three days I had to come down because my body was giving up, but honestly I was a little disappointed that I had to leave that place.
You were a tourist. You could always return home, back to safety and comfort.
Imagine having to stay in nature. Where will you find shelter and nutrition? Soon you will find out about natures overwhelming indifference to your wellbeing.

>>24555816 (OP)
I believe it can be partly attributed to different attitudes towards nature that prevailed at that time. Namely, that nature was something to be conquered, that man must rise above it through labor and industry. People admired the beauty of nature then as they do now, but its harshness was more fully realized then, I suppose. As others have mentioned here, you are shielded from the true harshness of nature. You climbed a mountain within walking distance of a city, where clearly the elements and beasts of the earth were of no great concern, and where if there were any great danger or some calamity befell you, you would have little trouble being rescued. What you experienced was nothing more than a prolonged stroll through the park. The fullness of nature is a wild thing, with equal parts beauty and terror.

>>24556760

> where clearly the elements and beasts of the earth were of no great concern

By that time I'd already caught skin infections, blisters, and some intestinal bug because of weeks of homelessness. They only got worse while I was out there because it would rain from time to time. I wasn't exaggerating when I said my body was breaking down. My legs were shaking horribly while I was climbing down. It was a small miracle I didn't have an accident. But I remember the time spent out there as an overall positive one. The only other explanation I can think of is that this was a period of mental illness and people don't think straight in such times (eg suicide).

>>24557175
Did you even make a fire?

>>24557175
You weren't facing off with lions and bears, nor were you staving off frostbite in a tundra. The reason you felt at peace there was because you were getting away from whatever situation you had at home.

>>24555822
Meme movie