In the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the unspecified narrator tells us of the voyage across the high seas where a leading character, Marlow joins an Ivory company and works as a captain aboard a steamer. They travel to Africa, specifically the Congo, in search of Kurtz. Kurtz is a highly respected agent for the Ivory business, but it has been said that he is deathly ill, so no one actually knows if they will be able to see him before he dies. Along the way, we are able to see how Marlow feels of the stations. He realizes that the native inhabitants are forced to work at the stations, and even though Marlow is extremely racist, using frequent derogatory remarks, he can also be sentimental and a good person.
As Marlow entered the jungle, he was feeling uncertain of the situation, and was wondering if he would ever meet Kurtz at all. People acted differently in the jungle, for there were the natives, the pilgrims, the cannibals, and of course Marlow and the manager travelling. The majority of the crew thought of Kurtz as a threat to their position, and they thought Marlow was trying to change things in regards to the Ivory Company. They saw life from a different perspective in the jungle; they saw how the native’s lived together so differently, so when Marlow returned to Brussels, he despised the people for their arrogance.
Kurtz may be in contrast to other people, stereotypically, the average person. People do nothing except speak highly of him, and say that he is full of knowledge and perception. He is mentioned in this novella as almost a higher power, and that he is better then everyone else.
When Marlow said the words, “The horror! The horror!” (Conrad 76) he was bringing a package to Kurtz’s awaiting fiancé, after his death on the steamer on the way back over from Africa. Kurtz had died from a tropical illness that had been affecting him for a very long time. At first Marlow felt angry and annoyed at how schmaltzy the woman was being, especially knowing that Kurtz wasn’t exactly in any rush to return to her, but Marlow then soon felt sorry for her loss. Later into the conversation, when the woman asked what his last words were, he explained to her that his last words were her name, but in actuality his last words were “The horror! The horror!”
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. W.W. Norton: New York, 2005
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