Heart of Darkness

Question 1

How does this quotation contribute to characterization in Heart of Darkness?

“Yes; I looked at them as you would on any human being, with a curiosity of their impulses, motives, capacities, weaknesses, when brought to the test of an inexorable physical necessity. Restraint! What possible restraint? Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear—or some kind of primitive honour? No fear can stand up to hunger” (Conrad, 68).

Answer 1

The Europeans justified colonization by stating that they were bringing civilization and enlightenment to the African people. However, the European’s villainous behaviors disclaim their Social-Darwinian worldview in the quotation. Juxtaposed to the idea that the Congolese people are barbaric and savage, the Europeans cage them and neglect to feed them, posing that the pilgrims are the uncivilized ones. Furthermore, to accentuate the difference between the Congolese people and European pilgrim’s nature, Conrad notes how much prowess and restraint the Africans have, compared to the Europeans. They can retrain themselves, while the Europeans are gluttonous and insatiable.

Question 2

Symbolism: Map

Answer 2

Marlow compares a map that he viewed as a child, white and incomplete, with the world map in the present, filled with detailed explanations and boundaries. The quotation stresses the theme of expansionism and exploration of the age. The map is an image that illustrates how the understanding of the vast, expansive African continent unfolded over his lifetime.

Question 3

Symbolism darkness in Heart of Darkness?

Answer 3

In Heart of Darkness, “darkness” symbolizes numerous things. It symbolizes the Europeans limited understanding of Africa, the danger of traveling along the Congo River, and the separation of the pilgrims from society. Furthermore, it symbolizes the more subtle temptations they face as they travel along the river. In this quotation, Marlow realizes how “the heart of darkness” tempts him with grandeur and wealth, how corruption (symbolized by darkness) tries to engulf him.

Question 4

Setting (Heart of Darkness): Belguim

Answer 4

Belgium symbolizes civilized society within the pilgrims’ minds. Belgium represents “Europe” within the book’s context; however, in the real Congolese history, the Congo belonged to King Leopold II of Belgium, whose atrocities are rightfully compared to those of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler. The European colonizers justify their actions by declaring that the native African people are uncivilized and savage. Marlow points out the irony in their presupposed motivations by saying that his return to England after spending six years in the East was “invading your homes, just as though I had got a heavenly mission to civilize you” (Conrad, 09). Therefore, Belgium is a symbol of how the pilgrims want to turn Africa into European society.

Kurtz and other colonists go to African from Belgium to find upward mobility because “impatience of comparative poverty … drove him out there” (Conrad, 127). Hence, though they idolize the image of Europe as a beacon for development, they are still oppressed in the European hierarchical system and see the Scramble for Africa as an opportunity to tyrannize and subjugate others.

Question 5

Setting (Heart of Darkness): Congo

Answer 5

The Congo serves as an opportunity for lower-class citizens, such as Kurtz, the Swiss, and Marlow, to overcome their oppressive Monarchical or Parliamentary social structures to find wealth and prosperity outside of Europe’s border. The pilgrims go to the Congo “To make money, of course. What do you think?” (Conrad, 31) in the form of ivory. However, to obtain glory and fortune, they have to depart with civilization (Belgium) and become barbaric and savage. In Europe, Kurtz is a destitute pauper, which is why he leaves for the Congo. When he arrives in the “heart of darkness,” he becomes the oppressor - and even a god - to the native Africans. The difference between his social standing in Africa and Europe makes the notion of returning horrifying to him. Marlow sees this fear when he learns that Kurtz ordered the Congolese to ambush the steamboat because returning to the motherland will reduce him to a tramp anew.

Question 6

Setting (Heart of Darkness): Streamer

Answer 6

The steamer serves as a mechanism between civilization and the darkness of the African interior, and it symbolizes the place in-between civility and barbarism. On the steamboat, the pilgrims have African captives, whom they sparsely feed and keep in chains. Furthermore, the pilgrims are somewhere between decent European folk and deprived overlords; they still oppress their African captives but act civil towards their white counterparts.

Kurtz’s death on the steamer symbolizes that he cannot assimilate back into European society, so he loses fortitude as he progresses further away from the outpost. However, when he transgresses away from the Africans, he becomes aware of all his horrendous actions and how he “stepped over the edge” (Conrad, 118) into the darkness. On the steamer, Kurtz reflects on his experiences and is reduced to a mortal man again.

Question 7

The Stranger: Kurtz vs. pilgrims

Answer 7

Marlow says the reason he believes Kurtz was a remarkable man is that “He had something to say. He said it” (Conrad, 118). Similar to the other imperialists, Kurtz is motivated by the prospects of notoriety, fortune, and upwards social mobility. However, he is aware of how acutely horrendous his actions are, compared to the other Europeans, who hide their evil motivators behind claims of civilizing the Africans.

Question 8

The Stranger: Civilization vs. savagery

Answer 8

The imperialist viewpoint is that the Europeans are “civilized,” and the African people are “savages” and not fully evolved humans. However, throughout the novel, Marlow sees how hypocritical their sense of superiority is in reality. Compared to the Congolese natives, the Europeans are barbaric and villainous but hind behind their false claims of “civility.” Marlow even points out how the Africans possess characteristics that make them civilized juxtaposed to the pilgrims, such as restraint, while the Europeans are bestial and physically inferior. He describes the Europeans as living “with one’s finger everlasting on one’s pulse” (Conrad, 68) to convey how frightened and apprehensive they are at heart.

Question 9

The Stranger: Christians vs. pagans

Answer 9

Another worthy cause that justifies the Scramble for Africa is spreading the Christian faith and ridding the Africans of their pagan, heathen ways. A Heart of Darkness does not fully explore the Congolese people’s religious customs, but the Europeans’ hypocritical religious beliefs are self-evident. Christians are supposed to “love their neighbor,” but the pilgrims are brutally terrorizing the natives in the name of grace and religion, rather than treating them as the Bible prescribes.

Question 10

Charactrs of The Stranger?

Answer 10

• ### Marlow

The protagonist of Heart of Darkness. Marlow is philosophical, independent-minded, and generally skeptical of those around him. He is also a master storyteller, eloquent and able to draw his listeners into his tale. Although Marlow shares many of his fellow Europeans’ prejudices, he has seen enough of the world and has encountered enough debased white men to make him skeptical of imperialism.

Read an in-depth analysis of Marlow.

• ### Kurtz

The chief of the Inner Station and the object of Marlow’s quest. Kurtz is a man of many talents—we learn, among other things, that he is a gifted musician and a fine painter—the chief of which are his charisma and his ability to lead men. Kurtz is a man who understands the power of words, and his writings are marked by an eloquence that obscures their horrifying message. Although he remains an enigma even to Marlow, Kurtz clearly exerts a powerful influence on the people in his life. His downfall seems to be a result of his willingness to ignore the hypocritical rules that govern European colonial conduct: Kurtz has “kicked himself loose of the earth” by fraternizing excessively with the natives and not keeping up appearances; in so doing, he has become wildly successful but has also incurred the wrath of his fellow white men.

Read an in-depth analysis of Kurtz.

Read an in-depth analysis of Kurtz.

• ### General manager

The chief agent of the Company in its African territory, who runs the Central Station. He owes his success to a hardy constitution that allows him to outlive all his competitors. He is average in appearance and unremarkable in abilities, but he possesses a strange capacity to produce uneasiness in those around him, keeping everyone sufficiently unsettled for him to exert his control over them.

• ### Brickmaker

The brickmaker, whom Marlow also meets at the Central Station, is a favorite of the manager and seems to be a kind of corporate spy. He never actually produces any bricks, as he is supposedly waiting for some essential element that is never delivered. He is petty and conniving and assumes that other people are too.

• ### Chief accountant

An efficient worker with an incredible habit of dressing up in spotless whites and keeping himself absolutely tidy despite the squalor and heat of the Outer Station, where he lives and works. He is one of the few colonials who seems to have accomplished anything: he has trained a native woman to care for his wardrobe.

• ### Pilgrims

The bumbling, greedy agents of the Central Station. They carry long wooden staves with them everywhere, reminding Marlow of traditional religious travelers. They all want to be appointed to a station so that they can trade for ivory and earn a commission, but none of them actually takes any effective steps toward achieving this goal. They are obsessed with keeping up a veneer of civilization and proper conduct, and are motivated entirely by self-interest. They hate the natives and treat them like animals, although in their greed and ridiculousness they appear less than human themselves.

• ### Cannibals

Natives hired as the crew of the steamer, a surprisingly reasonable and well-tempered bunch. Marlow respects their restraint and their calm acceptance of adversity. The leader of the group, in particular, seems to be intelligent and capable of ironic reflection upon his situation.

• ### Russian trader

A Russian sailor who has gone into the African interior as the trading representative of a Dutch company. He is boyish in appearance and temperament, and seems to exist wholly on the glamour of youth and the audacity of adventurousness. His brightly patched clothes remind Marlow of a harlequin. He is a devoted disciple of Kurtz’s.

• ### Helmsman

A young man from the coast trained by Marlow’s predecessor to pilot the steamer. He is a serviceable pilot, although Marlow never comes to view him as much more than a mechanical part of the boat. He is killed when the steamer is attacked by natives hiding on the riverbanks.

• ### Kurtz’s African mistress

A fiercely beautiful woman loaded with jewelry who appears on the shore when Marlow’s steamer arrives at and leaves the Inner Station. She seems to exert an undue influence over both Kurtz and the natives around the station, and the Russian trader points her out as someone to fear. Like Kurtz, she is an enigma: she never speaks to Marlow, and he never learns anything more about her.

• ### Kurtz’s Intended

Kurtz’s naïve and long-suffering fiancée, whom Marlow goes to visit after Kurtz’s death. Her unshakable certainty about Kurtz’s love for her reinforces Marlow’s belief that women live in a dream world, well insulated from reality.

Read an in-depth analysis of Kurtz’s Intended.

• ### Aunt

Marlow’s doting relative, who secures him a position with the Company. She believes firmly in imperialism as a charitable activity that brings civilization and religion to suffering, simple savages. She, too, is an example for Marlow of the naïveté and illusions of women.

• ### The men aboard the Nellie

Marlow’s friends, who are with him aboard a ship on the Thames at the story’s opening. They are the audience for the central story of Heart of Darkness, which Marlow narrates. All have been sailors at one time or another, but all now have important jobs ashore and have settled into middle-class, middle-aged lives. They represent the kind of man Marlow would have likely become had he not gone to Africa: well meaning and moral but ignorant as to a large part of the world beyond England. The narrator in particular seems to be shaken by Marlow’s story. He repeatedly comments on its obscurity and Marlow’s own mysterious nature.

• ### Fresleven

Marlow’s predecessor as captain of the steamer. Fresleven, by all accounts a good-tempered, nonviolent man, was killed in a dispute over some hens, apparently after striking a village chief.

Question 11

Character: Marlow

Answer 11

Marlow is the main character and protagonist of the novel. His character narrates the majority of the story. His experiences in the Congo define his character within the novel. He is logical and cautious because of what he has experienced in his lifetime and he embodies a heroic, reasonable quality. He has a profound interest in sailing and works diligently to do what
he loves. In comparison to the other characters of the novel, Marlow seems the sanest and most reasonable, as he does not work to obtain money, he works to obtain satisfaction. Marlow’s approach to life is rewarded by the author, as he does not fall victim to the sickness of the island, while others die off at quick rates. His character emphasizes the qualities of the other characters, as Marlow remains mild and versatile throughout the plot of the novel. Marlow’s experience in the Congo allows him to be a character of reason and this is demonstrated as he is telling about his past.

Question 12

Types of Conflict:

Answer 12

Man vs. Man:

Throughout the plot of the novel Marlow catches glimpse of the different perceptions of life that each character has. Certain characters, such as the Manager and his uncle, embody the greediness and selfishness of humanity. Other characters, such as Marlow and the maintenance man that he meets, demonstrate the reason that is not common in humanity. The Manager of the company makes evident his conflict with Mr. Kurtz. The Manager wants to be better than all of the others, thus he holds a grudge upon the one man that is more successful. The man vs. man conflict is more of a man vs. inhumanity.

Man vs. Nature:

The difficult environment presented in the novella is an apparent conflict for the protagonist as well as the other
characters. The natives of the Congo region struggle with the adaptation to the company’s people and the disease of the area. The company’s members also struggle with the disease that threatens their lives. Many characters, minor and major, experience the fight with the sickness. Mr. Kurtz and Marlow both obtain illness and Mr. Kurtz eventually dies. Marlow’s ablility to overcome the illness demonstrates his reason.

Question 13

Theme: Illness

Answer 13

Mental and physical illness is a major aspect of the novel. The company’s members are vulnerable to the diseases and mental weakness that is presented to them by the land and by the other members. Before Marlow’s journey began, a doctor asked him about his family’s mental health history. This forewarns Marlow of what he will become susceptible to while he is there. He
learns that a man committed suicide while serving the company. Physical sickness is looming throughout the entire land. Natives, without the proper care, fall victim to the illness more so than the white people. Many white characters become sick and die because of the diseases.

Question 14

Theme: Uncertainty

Answer 14

Many aspects of the novella present the characters and readers with wonder and uneasiness. Beginning with Marlow’s trip to the office of the company, he notices the depth and repetitiveness of the land. All the eye can see is dark green, tangled jungle and there is no distinction from point A to point B. Mr. Kurtz is a character that remains uncertain for much of
the novel. Why is he talked about so much? What does he do to make others despise him? How is he so successful? The “darkness” that looms in humanity allows for more ambiguity.

Question 15

Theme: Power

Answer 15

There are many corruptions in the company caused by greed and power. The Manager’s jealousy towards Mr. Kurtz is apparent in many occasions and he uses his uncle’s expedition to lift him higher in an unjust manor. Mr. Kurtz and the ccountant view themselves as superior to the natives though they claim that they are here to improve the conditions for the natives.
The treatment and neglect of the natives by the company, however, disproves this claim. Even Marlow demonstrates his yearning for power near the end of the novella, as he pushes to develop trust between him and Mr. Kurtz while he is on his deathbed. If Mr. Kurtz entrusts in Marlow, Marlow may be able to obtain the power that Mr. Kurtz received after he dies.

Question 16

Symbol: Darkness

Answer 16

The literal and metaphorical darkness in the novella represents the unknown, evil, corruption, and death. The literal darkness of the night and of the jungle brings about uncertainty and fear, while the metaphorical darkness of illness and the people presents the possibility of death.

Question 17

Symbol: Ivory

Answer 17

Though ivory is white and could be considered pure, it demonstrates the greed within humanity. The members of the company must produce more ivory in order to make more money. The juxtaposition of the pure color and corrupt symbolism of ivory conveys that there is no person that is purely good, but rather those that can conceal the darkness and corruption better than others.

Question 18

Symbol: Congo River

Answer 18

The Congo River symbolizes the path that is traveled
by all of the company, but particularly Marlow. Though it is evident that it is
the literal path of Marlow, along the way Marlow learns more about the darkness
of humanity. He witnesses greed from the Manager and his uncle. When he travels
further, he sees the appetite of Kurtz, and finally, at the end of his journey
down the river, Marlow recognizes his desires to hold the power and possessions
that Kurtz has.

Question 19

Give a short overview of Heart of Darkness?

Answer 19

Aboard a British ship called the Nellie, three men listen to a dude named Marlow recount his journey into Africa as an agent for “the Company,” a Belgian ivory trading firm.

If you think “The Company” sounds super-sketchy, you’re right: from the get-go, Marlow feels a nameless sense of dread about working for “The Company.” (It doesn’t help that the last guy to have held Marlow’s position…was murdered.)

When Marlowe signs on to take this voyage, he sees a couple of old women knitting in the corner. They give him the heebie-jeebies. Then, when he gets to Africa, he meets a dude wearing starched, formal clothing despite the heat. He’s deeply weirded out by this fancy-pants guy and by the camp in general—and things haven’t even started to get nightmarish.

Marlow realizes that the Africans are kept as slaves, and many are dying from the brutality of the conditions. These Africans, he realizes, and “not inhuman.” (Don’t get excited; Marlow’s hardly progressive here.)

As the bureaucracy of The Company moves at a molasses-like pace, Marlowe becomes entangled in a power struggle within The Company—middle management is trying to climb the ranks, and being especially slimy about it. He also starts hearing tell of a mysterious figure named Kurtz, a mad agent who’s rumored to have become both a prisoner and revered as a god by the indigenous population living further down the Congo.

In fact, the more he hears about Kurtz, the more obsessed Marlow becomes. Who is this Kurtz? Why is he such a powerful figure? Why does everyone seem to either idolize him or loathe him?

Finally, after delays due to a broken-down (or possibly vandalized) steamship, Marlow is on his way to meet the enigmatic Kurtz. Aboard the steamship are cannibals who, thankfully, snack on some rancid hippo meat. The ship is forced to stop often: once to pick up wood (the pile of wood is accompanied with a note that says, essentially, “Proceed with caution”), once because of a mysterious fog bank, and once because of an attack—arrows strike the ship from the riverbank, and the helmsman is impaled with a spear.

When the riverboat arrives at Kurtz’s camp, Marlow sees that the decoration of choice is posts topped with the severed heads of locals. Oh, that’s not creepy at all.

Marlow’s met by a weird Russian dressed like a clown. This “harlequin” informs Marlow that Kurtz is a god. He has apparently expanded the harlequin’s worldview with his power and eloquence. Marlow, naturally, thinks that both this harlequin and Kurtz must be bonkers.

We finally meet Kurtz, who’s so ill he’s carried out on a stretcher. He looks, almost literally, like death. The natives in the camp want to attack the steamship, but Kurtz tells them to fall back. Although Kurtz tries to run away—or, rather, crawl away, because he’s too weak to run—he finally agrees to being brought back to the mouth of the Congo.

Kurtz’s health deteriorates: he goes blind, starts raving in a series of fever dreams, and gives Marlow a stack of papers and the instructions not to hand them over to “The Company.” When he finally dies, his (famous) last words are “The horror! The horror!” Shortly after this, Marlow becomes super sick, but he pulls through.

When he returns to Europe, Marlow is disillusioned with both “The Company” and Europe in general. He refuses to hand over Kurtz’s papers, possibly jeopardizing his career. He does, however, visit Kurtz’s Belgian fiancée, in order to give her a few of Kurtz’s letters. The fiancée is still mourning Kurtz, and asks anxiously about Kurtz’s last words. Marlow lies, telling her that Kurtz said her name.

Yeah, that’s a lot sweeter than muttering, “The horror! The horror!”

Question 20

Theme: Man and the Natural World

Answer 20

Move over, Mother Nature: there’s a new wilderness in town. In Heart of Darkness, the natural world isn’t a place of comfort or pleasure or even mild neutrality: it’s dark, frightening, and it will basically eat your face off if you so much as look at it cross-eyed. But is civilization really that much better? Sure, you might get to sleep in a bed—but human nature is the same whether it’s shouting “brava” after an operatic aria or chanting along with war drums.

Questions About Man and the Natural World

1. What does civilization seem to represent at the beginning of the novel? What does nature represent? Does this distinction hold true as the novel progresses?
2. How does the concept of civilization become problematic as the novel progresses? How are the Company’s attempts to ‘civilize’ the Africans hypocritical?
3. If nature is madness-inducing, what does this say about human nature, especially the native Africans?
4. How do different aspects of nature, especially the river and the jungle, become characters in their own right? What is nature’s attitude towards man?

In Heart of Darkness, natural forces have a will of their own: they’re hostile to the white “pilgrims,” but accepting toward the black “savages.”

Conrad suggests that there’s no real difference between the natural world and human nature.

Question 21

Theme: Race:

Answer 21

Conrad doesn’t exactly want to buy the world a Coke, but he does seem to have some unconventional ideas about race—at least, unconventional for the late nineteenth century. In Heart of Darkness, he seems to be suggesting that there really isn’t so much difference between black and white—except that this vision of racial harmony becomes more complicated when you consider that he seems to be suggesting that black people are just less evolved versions of white people. Maybe. We’re like 50% sure on that one. As with most issues in Heart of Darkness, the differences between black and white are so confusing as to be almost meaningless. And, in fact, maybe that’s just Conrad’s point.

Questions About Race

1. How are the differences between white and black people depicted in Heart of Darkness? What kinds of activities does each group participate in?
2. What does imagery of light and dark seem to have to do with race in Heart of Darkness? What does this say morally about each group of people?
3. What kinds of white European expectations does Marlow bring into his journey up the Congo? How are they dispelled? Look specifically at the examples of the accountant, manager, brickmaker, and Kurtz. What is Marlow’s attitude towards the native Africans?
4. How is Kurtz’s attitude towards the black Africans ambiguous? How might he be viewed as the ultimate symbol of imperialism and black subjugation? Alternatively, how might he be read as a symbol of liberation and freedom?

**Despite white Europe’s good intentions towards the Africans and their desire to “civilize” the black man, imperialism proves to be a brutal and callous victimization of the native Africans for the sole purpose of maximizing profits.

Despite Kurtz’s brutality, he treats the Africans more civilly and more as equals than the majority of the other white European characters (like the accountant, the manager, and even Marlow). This is why Marlow sees him as the lesser of two evils.**

Question 22

Theme: Identity

Answer 22

By the end of his journey into the Congo, Marlow is so mixed up that he might as well be singing, “I Am the Walrus.” Although he starts off with a pretty clear sense of who he is (white, successful, explorer), the jungle and the wilderness pretty quickly get him all mixed up. Is black white? Is civilization actually wild? Is Kurtz really that different from Marlow? And who is the manager, anyway? And are we really all just hollow inside? Heart of Darkness isn’t about to say.

Questions About Identity

1. How is Africa a place of emptiness from the white European perspective?
2. How are even places of civilization—cities and trading stations—empty in terms of European amenities and values?
3. What characters lack essential human characteristics? How do they show their fundamental emptiness? And are these characteristics actually essentially human?
4. How are the white pilgrims deprived of their senses and reason as they descend deeper and deeper into the interior?
5. What characteristics or understanding do both Marlow and Kurtz lack? How does this affect their interpretation of the events toward the end? It may be helpful to look at their comments about language here.

Question 23

Theme: Women and Feminity

Answer 23

Sorry, ladies: there’s basically nothing for you here. Seriously. Conrad is all about the gentlemen. For Marlow—and presumably for Conrad, too, although we could argue about that—women exist in a totally separate world. Part of the reason the world in Heart of Darkness is so grim for the dudes is that they have to protect women’s idealism. Of course, you could also suggest that the Intended stands in for all of Western civilization, which would mean that Marlow’s lie about Kurtz lets us all go on pretending that foreign workers aren’t suffering to produce our smartphones and $5 t-shirts, men and women alike.

Questions About Women and Femininity

1. What is Marlow’s opinion of women’s position in society? Does Conrad seem to agree with this? Which characters demonstrate Marlow’s claim and which dispute it?
2. What characteristics does Marlow associate with women?
3. Compare and contrast the wild warrior woman to the Intended. Both are potential love interests for Kurtz. If the Intended is an embodiment of purity and idealism, what does the warrior woman represent? How do these characteristics reflect on Kurtz?
4. Although men make up the majority of the authority figures in the book, powerful women are not utterly absent. Name at least two powerful women and state how they exercise their power.

Despite Marlow’s disparaging comments about women, a number of women display or exercise a substantial amount of power in Heart of Darkness.

All the women within Heart of Darkness reflect the values of their society and are viewed as nothing more than trophies for men. Even the women who seem at first to have power are in fact powerless upon closer inspection.

Question 24

Theme: Madness

Answer 24

There’s method in this madness: Kurtz has gone from noble conqueror to deranged slaver because his power and greed have been totally unchecked. Ergo, if you want to stay sane, don’t swoop into an African village and start passing yourself off as a god. Point taken. But that’s where things start to get hazy. Is madness is just another name for imperialism—the idea that white men can swoop into Africa and claim it for themselves? Or is madness what happens when civilization tries to conquer the wilderness?

Questions About Madness:

1. How does Conrad define madness? How is Kurtz the ultimate embodiment of madness?
2. What symptoms accompany the onset of madness in Heart of Darkness? What human faculties begin to break down? Does Marlow become a little crazy himself?
3. Is madness caused by the trip up the Congo River and into the interior? Or is it something that is born into man, regardless of his environment? In other words, is madness caused by inherent nature or environment and experience?
4. Can the harlequin be seen as a bridge between madness and sanity? How do his words make sense yet seem like folly to Marlow? How does Marlow relate to the harlequin? What does this say about Marlow’s state of sanity?

Question 25

Theme: Language and Communication

Answer 25

For someone who wrote a lot of big words, Conrad seems to have some serious doubts about the power of language. In Heart of Darkness, words are always trying and failing to live up to their big, impressive goal: ensuring that two people can understand each other. For Kurtz, language is a way to justify white man’s superiority over the Africans. For Marlow, language represents a way out of madness by establishing a connection with other humans. For the Africans—well, who knows? To Marlow, their words aren’t even language. We might say the same about you, Mr. Conrad.

Questions About Language and Communication

1. What is significant about the manager’s and the brickmaker’s characteristic blabbering? What does it say about their characters?
2. How does Marlow receive information about Kurtz? Are these sources reliable? What expectations does Marlow form about Kurtz based on this hearsay?
3. What is Kurtz’s relationship to language? How does his troubled psyche manifest itself in his words? What is Marlow’s opinion of all this and how does it affect his own relationship to language? Does he see it as a cure for madness?
4. What is Marlow’s style of narration? Does the fact that he is telling the story compromise our belief in its validity? Is he a reliable narrator? What might be his goal in relating the story to his fellow passengers?

Question 26

How does Marlow view Kurtz?

Answer 26

The way Marlow obsesses about Kurtz, we almost expect Kurtz to file a restraining order on the guy. (Or, we would if Kurtz weren’t already half-dead by the time Marlow meets him.)

But it wasn’t always like that. When Marlow first hears about Kurtz, he’s not “very interested in him” (1.74). But when he hears the story about Kurtz turning back to the jungle, his ears prick up: he “[sees] Kurtz for the first time” (2.2) as a solitary white man among black men. And then, just a few paragraphs later, Marlow is actually excited to see the guy, saying that, for him, the journey has become entirely about meeting Kurtz. The boat, he says, “crawled towards Kurtz—exclusively” (2.7).

Weird. What was it about that story of Kurtz returning to the jungle that tickled Marlow’s fancy? True, we’ve already seen that he’s kind of obsessed with the jungle and its people. But at the same time he’s drawn in by this primitive wilderness, he’s terrified by it. It’s thrilling but horrifying, kind of like Saw XVIII. (What, they haven’t made that one yet?) Kurtz has done what Marlow can only dream of: refuse to return to the luxury and comfort of Europe and choose instead to pursue fortune and glory.

But Marlow’s roller coaster of love doesn’t doesn’t end there. Once he actually meets the guy, he starts to resent him. Apparently, all that cultish adoration that the harlequin and the native Africans have for Kurtz turns Marlow’s stomach: “He’s no idol of mine” (3.6). And then he seems to decide that Kurtz is actually just childish—a helpless and selfish man who has ignorant dreams of becoming rich and powerful. (Note that when Marlow drags him back to the tent after Kurtz tries to escape, he’s “not much heavier than a child” (3.29).)

Why the backpedaling? Well, we think that Marlow wants to differentiate himself from the brainwashed men around him—just like we claimed to hate Arcade Fire back in 2005 even though we secretly thought that Funeral was a great record. He also seems angry that he’s effectively at Marlow’s mercy, deep in the African interior. Or—to give Marlow some credit—maybe he really does believe that Kurtz is dangerous.

And then, at the end, Marlow seems to come back around to admiration. After Kurtz dies while gasping out the words “The horror! The horror!” (3.33), Marlow decides that these are words of self-realization, that maybe Kurtz has finally faced up to his horrible deeds and the depravity of human nature. “Kurtz was a remarkable man,” Marlow says, because he “had something to say” and simply “said it” (3.48).

Marlow only spends a few days with Kurtz, but he still says that he “knew [Kurtz] as well as it’s possible for one man to know another” (3.54). (Talk about a whirlwind romance.) But when Kurtz’s Intended asks Marlow whether he admired Kurtz, Marlow never answers. We never find out what he would have said—but we do know that, when the fiancée suggests that Marlow loved the man, Marlow is left in “appalled dumbness” (3.57).

So, by the end of the story, does Marlow respect Kurtz? Admire him? Fear him? You tell us. He sure doesn’t.

Question 27

How is Marlow the same as Kurtz?

Answer 27

This whole love me-love me not melodrama should be simple: Marlow admired Kurtz right up until he found out that the man put heads on sticks, at which point he stopped admiring him. Great. Let’s all pack up and go home.

Er, not so fast. If you go home now, you’ll you’ll miss out on what makes Heart of Darkness just so darn awesome and powerful: Marlow is just like Kurtz. Yep: our protagonist, our loveable, sympathetic Marlow, is just like the crazed, cult-inspiring, heads-on-sticks-owning devil-man. Oh, the horror!

We’ll start with the basics:

• Like Kurtz, Marlow comes from an upper middle class white European family.
• Both are, how do we say, arrogant: Marlow considers himself above the manager, the uncle, and the brickmaker while Kurtz establishes himself in an unparalleled seat of power among the native Africans.
• Both have streaks of obsession in them: Marlow becomes obsessed with Africa and finding Kurtz, while Kurtz stops at nothing to acquire as much ivory as possible.
• Both have powerful connections that allow them access to positions of power within the Company.
• Both men lose touch with reality—Kurtz in the fantasy of his own power and Marlow in the dream-like world of the jungle.
• Both men have eerily similar reactions to their forays to the interior of Africa. Marlow and Kurtz, despite their desire to conquer the wilderness, become victims of it: When Marlow observes native Africans dancing at the shore, he wonders why he doesn’t go ashore “for a howl and a dance” (2.8). Later, he discusses Kurtz presiding over some “midnight dances” that ended in “certain unspeakable rites” (2.29).
• And finally, both men are described as gods—Kurtz as Jupiter and Marlow as Buddha (3.10, 3.87).

Question 28

How does Marlow compare to Buddha?

Answer 28

Conrad hints at some god-imagery when he has Marlow sits “cross-legged” like an “idol” (1.4). And then, in case we still don’t get it, he straight out tells us Marlow was like Buddha (1.12). Oh, and in case we missed it the first time, he makes a big deal out of telling us at the end that Marlow sits like a “meditating Buddha “ (3.87).

English-majory people would probably tell you that Conrad frames the story with a mention of Buddha at the beginning and then again at the end. To us, the point is that Marlow takes on the role of a spiritual figure, and specifically one whose role is to help other people reach enlightenment. But what does Marlow teach the men? Do the men get it? Is anyone enlightened by this tale?

One last thought: The nameless narrator tells us before the story begins that it will be an inconclusive tale. Does this fit with the Buddha imagery, or stand in contrast to it? What kind of teacher is inconclusive, anyway? (Did you notice that we’re ending this section inconclusively?)

Question 29

How does the Jungle affect Kurtz?

Answer 29

Kurtz represents a normal—if ambitious—man who realizes that to thrive in the Interior, he has to act like a god, someone who can lead these “primitive” people to the proverbial light and civilization.

But then greed gets in the way. His insatiable hunger for ivory drives him to make alliances and enemies among the native Africans, raiding village after village with the help of his African friends as he searches for ivory. His obsession takes over so much that Conrad/ Marlow even describes him in terms of the material he seeks: his head “was like a ball—an ivory ball” (2.29), and when he utters his final words, he carries an “expression of sombre pride” on his “ivory face” (3.42). The jungle has “got into his veins, consumed his flesh” (2.29), making him into a totally different man.

Maybe that’s why Marlow tells us repeatedly that Kurtz has “no restraint” (2.30, 3.29). It’s not as simple as “Kurtz goes to jungle; Kurtz becomes like native Africans; Heads on sticks ensue.” In fact, Kurtz becomes something else altogether—something worse. (The horror! The horror!)

See, Africans do have a sense of decency and restraint. Think of the cannibals who eat rotten hippo meat instead of attacking the pilgrims whom they outnumber five to one. But not Kurtz. Kurtz has fallen a complete victim to the power of the jungle, has transformed into its “spoiled and pampered favorite.”(2.29). He’s basically become a child, and not a nice one, either: a greedy, selfish, and brutal playground bully.

Or as Marlow so beautifully says, the “powers of darkness have claimed him for their own” (2.29).

Question 30

How is Kurtz like a God?

Answer 30

The native Africans worship Kurtz like a god, even attacking to keep Kurtz with them. But here’s the irony: we’re not sure whether Kurtz orders the attack or whether the native Africans do it on their own (we get conflicting stories from the harlequin). Kurtz may be a god, but he’s also a prisoner to his devotees. He can order mass killings of rebels, but he can’t walk away freely.

Hm. We’re feeling like there might just be a little bit of symbolism here.

Ready for some more irony? Kurtz was apparently seven feet tall or so (although we figure Marlow was riding the hyperbole train here). But his name means “short” in German—which Marlow makes sure to point out, just in case we’re not caught up with our Rosetta Stone cassettes. So, his name contradicts his god-like height, a discrepancy that reflects the big fat lie of his life and death, and which we’re thinking means his life as a god was also false.

As for his death? You tell us.

Question 31

How is Kurtz the “hero?”

Answer 31

Buckle up, set the airbags, and put on your oxygen masks: we have one more big idea about Kurtz: He’s the result of progress.

Think about it. We know that Conrad isn’t doing a simple light = good, dark = bad thing. Instead, he’s suggesting that progress—moving into Africa, spreading Western culture—inevitably means taking part of the dark inside you. (Want a fancy word for this? We call it dialectics.) What Kurtz shows us is that progress isn’t good. In fact, it’s horrific.

In the nineteenth century, there was a general idea in Europe that history and cultures were evolving toward a better future. Western civilization was the pinnacle of human evolution, and eventually it was going to crowd out the darkness in other parts of the world.

Conrad didn’t think so, but his objection wasn’t the cultural relativism that makes us roll our eyes at that idea today. Today, we tend to see all cultures as valuable—different, sure, but equally worthwhile in their own way. Saying that Western culture is the pinnacle of human evolution and that we have a duty to educate people all over the world strikes many people as a little presumptuous and even silly.

It didn’t strike Conrad as silly. It struck him as terrifying. Through Kurtz, Conrad shows us that the true result of “progress” is madness and horror.

Question 32

Tone:

Answer 32

Cynical, Stark, Poetic

Just to choose a totally random passage:

Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair. Another mine on the cliff went off, followed by a slight shudder of the soil under my feet. The work was going on. The work! (1.39)

Okay, fine, we didn’t exactly choose this randomly. But Marlow’s description of dying slaves is a good example of Heart of Darkness’s tone. It’s stark and unflinching, describing the dying slaves in really poetic language—all that “half coming out, half effaced” business—along with a kind of emotionless statement of facts: they slaves are dying, and the work is going on. Over and over, Conrad renders terrible scenes with a literary flick of the wrist. Maybe he sees poetry as the only way to deal with horror?

But notice the exclamation mark after the second “work.” That’s Marlow (or Conrad) being cynical: it tells us that he can’t believe the work is just going on while all these humans are suffering, but it also tells us that he’s not surprised. His journey into Africa has made him cynical about what humans are capable of.

Question 33

What is the Writing Style?

Answer 33

Verbose, Poetic, Introspective

We hear you: Conrad isn’t easy to read. His writing can come across as long-winded and (we’ll go there) tedious. But we think you should give it a chance. It might help to slow down and read it almost like poetry, because it really is more like poetry than like your typical prose narrative. Once you get the hang of his writing, it’s worth it. Check out this passage:

She stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose. A whole minute passed, and then she made a step forward. There was a low jingle, a glint of yellow metal, a sway of fringed draperies, and she stopped as if her heart had failed her. (3.15)

Notice how Conrad hops from physical (“she stood looking at us”) to metaphorical (“like the wilderness”) to speculative (“with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose”) in just one sentence. The sentence’s slow, meditative rhythm almost makes us feel the pause of the warrior woman looking over the group—and then we move back into rich physical description (“jingle,” “glint,” “sway”) before veering off again into the speculative “as if her heart had failed her.”

This passage shows us that, even when Conrad is describing the physical world and physical action, it’s always tightly linked to psychology and motivation. Just as the journey into Africa is really a journey into the human heart, a description of a woman stepping forward is really a description of her mind.

We told you it was worth it.

Question 34

Whats up with the ending?

Answer 34

No, seriously. Right at the end of Marlow’s visit with the Intended, he tells us that he couldn’t tell her the truth about Kurtz: “It would have been too dark—too dark altogether …” (3.86). And then we scoot back to the top level of the frame, where the flood is receding and the unnamed narrator tells us that the “tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness” (3.87).

We suspect these two “darknesses” are related. (You think?) When Marlow tells us that he lied to the Intended to preserve her vision of Kurtz as a good crusader bringing light to dark Africa, is the point of the story to make us realize that there’s just as much darkness in Europe as there is in Africa? Are we supposed to imagine the Thames flowing out into the ocean and then mixing with the waters flowing out of the Congo? Are we supposed to close our book and throw it across the room in frustration?

Well, maybe. Here’s a thought: the ending of Heart of Darkness is intentionally vague and ambiguous because we humans are vague and ambiguous, with good and evil, civilized and savage duking it out in our souls every single day. (That is, unless we’re women, in which case we’re just pure and beautiful. Score!)

In other words, we’re saying, we suspect that the ending isn’t supposed to give us a clear answer about what all this means. Remember that for Marlow, the meaning is outside of the text, and not inside (1.9).