It can be assumed that Kurtz’s dire situation was in fact inescapable since the discovery of Hawking radiation did not occur until about a century subsequent to Conrad’s publication of the novel. Marlow states that he reached the “event horizon” of the heart of darkness enough to see the reality of imperialism. Yet, Marlow describes the situation as not seeing, but learning about the inside of the heart of darkness. This matches the fact that darkness cannot be seen, but data can be gathered from it. Marlow manages to suppress the pull of the darkness within him and escape it while still knowing about it, which is why he gathers that he has survived and Kurtz, too susceptible to the powers of the shadows, perished. Marlow understands the corruption of the Europeans at the expense of the oppressed natives, and discerns how that inhumanity exists in himself and his kind, ultimately leading him to discover that he empathizes more with the inhabitants of Africa than with the culture he grew up a part
It can be assumed that Kurtz’s dire situation was in fact inescapable since the discovery of Hawking radiation did not occur until about a century subsequent to Conrad’s publication of the novel. Marlow states that he reached the “event horizon” of the heart of darkness enough to see the reality of imperialism. Yet, Marlow describes the situation as not seeing, but learning about the inside of the heart of darkness. This matches the fact that darkness cannot be seen, but data can be gathered from it. Marlow manages to suppress the pull of the darkness within him and escape it while still knowing about it, which is why he gathers that he has survived and Kurtz, too susceptible to the powers of the shadows, perished. Marlow understands the corruption of the Europeans at the expense of the oppressed natives, and discerns how that inhumanity exists in himself and his kind, ultimately leading him to discover that he empathizes more with the inhabitants of Africa than with the culture he grew up a part