Carolyn started out by saying how much she appreciated that Conrad wrote a book decrying colonialism while colonialism was a current matter, and not from the safe distance of a generation or two after it was gone. I firmly believe that his sympathies were with the Africans rather than the European exploiters (after all, he'd spent his youth in a Poland occupied by Russian overlords). But would an English reader in 1900 have seen this? Or would he have seen slavery and robbery as a civilizing influence? In other words, was the true heart of darkness the interior of deepest, darkest Africa, or was it the blackness of Kurtz' heart as he was utterly corrupted by the power that he held?

Bruce had read it in high school, when it felt like butting his head against a wall.  This time through he found that he understood it.  And really enjoyed it.  It's amazing how a few decades will improve an author.