Heart of Darkness By Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness  By Joseph Conrad

Main Characters

Marlow - Young man who decides that it would be exiting to travel into Africa hunting ivory and does so by taking the place of a dead steamboat captain.

Kurts - Famous man among the ivory seekers who has lived and hunted on the continent for a while and has exploited the savages be 20520v2124u coming much like a savage himself.

Russian fool - Man who is known by his clothes with many colorful patches making him look much like a harlequin.  He works with Kurtz who proves to be poor company for him.

The Intended - Kurtz's bride to be who at the end of the book still thinks that Kurtz was the great man that she remembered him to be and Marlow doesn't have the heart to tell her otherwise.

Minor Characters

Helmsman - Man who steers the steamboat but goes away from the wheel to fight the savages only to be killed by an arrow.

Accountant - Accountant who takes care of the money matters for Kurtz and has lived on the continent for three years trying to keep his civilized nature.

Settings

Central Station - This is the station where Marlow meets the accountant and observes the way the whites do nothing but exploit the blacks to do pointless labor.

Inner Station - This is the station where Kurtz works and where Marlow finds him being worshipped by the savages.

Thames River - Marlow tells his story to various people here.

Plot

 Marlow sits at the Thames River in the evening with several other people and begins telling the story about how he entered into the dark continent out of nowhere.  No one wants to listen but he continues anyway.
 Marlow expressed a desire to go to Africa to his Aunt who got him a position as a captain of a steamboat of an ivory company.  The previous captain Freslaven died in a scuffle with the natives and Marlow took his place.  A few days later, Marlow travels to Africa and gets to the first station where he meets the accountant who keeps track of the funds in Kurtz's company.  The man is interesting to Marlow since he's been on the continent for three years, yet he keeps himself clean and well dressed.  Marlow finds the blacks being poorly treated and ordered to do meaningless work by the whites.  Marlow continues down the river on his steamboat with a crew of several whites and about 20 to 30 blacks.  As he travels down the river, he comes across this shack where he picks up wood, and a note cautioning him to travel carefully.  He continues down the river and becomes surrounded by savages in the fog.  Marlow is frightened but the savages don't do anything... until the fog rises.  The savages attack and Marlows men fire back.  The arrows of the savages have little effect on Marlow's men or his boat.  And the guns of Marlow's men have little effect on the savages since they fire too high.  Only Marlow's helmsman dies.  Marlow blows the whistle and mysteriously, all the savages retreat in fear.  Marlow shortly reaches the inner station where he is greeted by the Russian Fool who seems to survive in the heart of the continent by not knowing what's going on around him.  Kurtz is very ill and needs to be taken back to England, but he does not want to go.  In fact, he is the one who ordered the attack on the steamboat so that they couldn't take him back to England.  Kurtz is worshipped by the natives and completely exploits them.  Kurtz tries to escape to the natives but Marlow catches him and takes him back to the steamboat head back for England.  While still on the river, Kurtz dies saying, "The horror, the horror."  Marlow returns to England.  He visits Kurtz's intended who is still in mourning a year after Kurtz's death.  She still remembers Kurtz as the great man he was before he left, and Marlow doesn't tell her what he had become before he dies.  Marlow gives Kurtz her old letters and leaves.

Symbols

Shoes - These symbolize civilization and protection.

Ivory - The symbolizes the pagan God that is so worshipped by Kurtz and other whites.

Whistle - This symbolizes the unsupported fear each man has.

Style

 Conrad's prose is very descriptive and informative.  He portrays terrifying images and conveys horrifying truths in a mystic voice that contrasts effectively with the true horrors of his message.  Foreshadowing and suspense is used to heighten this exciting novel.

Dominant Philosophy

 Conrad deals in this novel with the dark heart of mankind, a topic he seems to enjoy writing about.  He tells us that man in inherently evil and his evils is only masked by civilization.

Quotes

1.  "And this also,' said Marlow suddenly, 'has been one of the dark places of the earth.'"  Marlow says this at the beginning of his story.  Page 65.

2.  "The biggest, the most blank, so to speak - that I had a hankering after."  Marlow says this about what Africa appear on the map.  Page 71

3.  "God-forsaken wilderness."  Marlow says this about the continent.  Page 73

4. "I don't like work, no one does, but I, like what is in the work, the chance to find yourself."  Marlow says this about his trip to the continent.  Page 99

5.  "It was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage."  Marlow says this about the ivory company on Africa.  Page 102.

6.  "Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a center for trade of course but also for humanizing, improving, instructing."  Page 107  Kurtz says this to his company about his goals of the trade centers on the river.

7.  "I saw him extend his short flipper of an arm for a gesture that took in the forest... to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of its heart."  Marlow says this about the uncle of the manager.  Page 109

8.  "Save me! - save the ivory, you mean."  Kurtz says this as he is dying.  Page 138

9.  "A light was still burning but Kurtz was not there."  Marlow says this about the time he found that Kurtz had escaped.  Page 141

10.  "This I did directly, the simple funeral was over."  Marlow says this about the time he tossed the dead helmsmen overboard after he got shot with an arrow.  Page 125

11.  "He looked like a harlequin."  Marlow says this about the Russian he found at Inner Station.  Page 126

12.  "He was an insoluble problem."  Marlow says this about the Russian who seemed like a harlequin.  Page 129

13.  "But now' he waved his arm, and in the twinkling of an eye was in the utter most depths of despondency."  Marlow describes his conversation with he Russian.  page 127

14.  "even apart from the very natural aversion I had to beat that shadow."  Marlow says this about the inner evil in mankind.  Page 142

15.  "I had immense plans."  Kurtz says this to Marlow as he dies.  Page 143

Plot Overview

Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa and then up the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company's stations. The native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company's service, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company's agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man's settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness.

Marlow arrives at the Central Station, run by the general manager, an unwholesome, conspiratorial character. He finds that his steamship has been sunk and spends several months waiting for parts to repair it. His interest in Kurtz grows during this period. The manager and his favorite, the brickmaker, seem to fear Kurtz as a threat to their position. Kurtz is rumored to be ill, making the delays in repairing the ship all the more costly. Marlow eventually gets the parts he needs to repair his ship, and he and the manager set out with a few agents (whom Marlow calls pilgrims because of their strange habit of carrying long, wooden staves wherever they go) and a crew of cannibals on a long, difficult voyage up the river. The dense jungle and the oppressive silence make everyone aboard a little jumpy, and the occasional glimpse of a native village or the sound of drums work the pilgrims into a frenzy.

Marlow and his crew come across a hut with stacked firewood, together with a note saying that the wood is for them but that they should approach cautiously. Shortly after the steamer has taken on the firewood, it is surrounded by a dense fog. When the fog clears, the ship is attacked by an unseen band of natives, who fire arrows from the safety of the forest. The African helmsman is killed before Marlow frightens the natives away with the ship's steam whistle. Not long after, Marlow and his companions arrive at Kurtz's Inner Station, expecting to find him dead, but a half-crazed Russian trader, who meets them as they come ashore, assures them that everything is fine and informs them that he is the one who left the wood. The Russian claims that Kurtz has enlarged his mind and cannot be subjected to the same moral judgments as normal people. Apparently, Kurtz has established himself as a god with the natives and has gone on brutal raids in the surrounding territory in search of ivory. The collection of severed heads adorning the fence posts around the station attests to his "methods." The pilgrims bring Kurtz out of the station-house on a stretcher, and a large group of native warriors pours out of the forest and surrounds them. Kurtz speaks to them, and the natives disappear into the woods.

The manager brings Kurtz, who is quite ill, aboard the steamer. A beautiful native woman, apparently Kurtz's mistress, appears on the shore and stares out at the ship. The Russian implies that she is somehow involved with Kurtz and has caused trouble before through her influence over him. The Russian reveals to Marlow, after swearing him to secrecy, that Kurtz had ordered the attack on the steamer to make them believe he was dead in order that they might turn back and leave him to his plans. The Russian then leaves by canoe, fearing the displeasure of the manager. Kurtz disappears in the night, and Marlow goes out in search of him, finding him crawling on all fours toward the native camp. Marlow stops him and convinces him to return to the ship. They set off down the river the next morning, but Kurtz's health is failing fast.

Marlow listens to Kurtz talk while he pilots the ship, and Kurtz entrusts Marlow with a packet of personal documents, including an eloquent pamphlet on civilizing the savages which ends with a scrawled message that says, "Exterminate all the brutes!" The steamer breaks down, and they have to stop for repairs. Kurtz dies, uttering his last words-"The horror! The horror!"-in the presence of the confused Marlow. Marlow falls ill soon after and barely survives. Eventually he returns to Europe and goes to see Kurtz's Intended (his fiancée). She is still in mourning, even though it has been over a year since Kurtz's death, and she praises him as a paragon of virtue and achievement. She asks what his last words were, but Marlow cannot bring himself to shatter her illusions with the truth. Instead, he tells her that Kurtz's last word was her name.