To read or not to read?

My section focuses on the benefits and drawbacks of reading Heart of Darkness. Its major points include:

• The only way we, or any reader ever, can or should determined whether or not this novel should be read is by reading it, which then contradicts the argument that it should not be read. 
• One reason that Heart of Darkness should be read is the fact that it is a literary work, rather than a historical piece or other type of writing. It is clear that the novel is literary because of Conrad's use of rhetorical devices, irony, and personifications of Darkness. Conrad also uses similes regularly in the text, which Miller refers to as "a powerful under-text beneath the first-level descriptive language."
• One reason that Heart of Darkness should not be read, according to some, is if the reader understands the text to be sexist or racist. Two type of views of women are evident in the novel: "the European male's tendency to personify the earth as a great mother..." and the view of women as being inferior to men.  In addition, Marlow sees the Africans as "others" or "savages," although this should not be confused with Conrad's view of other cultures. 
• If Heart of Darkness is read in the "right way," or the way in which Conrad intended it to be read, then it should be read and it is our duty to read it.