During our first sessions we focused on the author's use of symbolism and foreshadowing to highlight Marlow's moral dilemma which he characterizes as a choice between two nightmares. We explored the author's fluid descriptions of the jungle first as impenetrable, then as vengeful ,and last as pitiless and inferred the author's suggestion that the "non-human"world does not care about the human world. We further addressed the symbolism of the skulls on the rail posts of Kurtz' hut and the innocent "Russian harlequin" who acts as foil to Kurtz' corruption. As Marlow comments that he is relieved by Kurtz displaying his moral derangement (the skulls) in the open, we discussed why Marlow prefers Kurtz' open derangement to the self righteous hypocrisy of the company manager. Nina then completed an exercise locating phrases and adjectives describing the "native woman" who obviously was in some form of relationship with Kurtz as she dramatically and painfully expresses her discomfiture over Kurtz departure from the inner station .We will compare this woman with Kurtz' fiancee whom we will meet at the end of the novel. During our final session we continued our mini writing seminar using the writing exercises I prepared based on the novel. Today, Nina completed an essay on the theme of societal vs internal restraint and which is the more admirable . Nina has a good grasp on this motif and did well in integrating supporting quotes into her essay, in editing her work, and in crafting complex sentences. I assisted in word choice and paragraph organization where necessary .