"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" (Conrad 548-64). This a quote from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and could be viewed as a metaphor for a life experience that forces a person to decide what kind of person they are going to be. The main character from Heart of Darkness, Marlow, can be seen as similar to Nick Carraway, the main character from Scott F. Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, in the sense that they are both travelers. Both men are beginning a new journey in their lives; Marlow beginning his trip in Africa and Nick starting his new life in New York City. In addition to their physical journeys, they are also on a journey
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They both find themselves becoming close to people who they do not know at all. Eventually, these people turn out to be corrupt and morally unjust. When Nick learns this truth, he rejects the people around him. An example of this is when Nick learns that his cousin, Daisy, purposely ran over her husband’s mistress, Myrtle, and then let Gatsby take the blame for her. This leads to Gatsby being murdered by Myrtle’s husband. This event, as well as the fact that Daisy refused to attend Gatsby’s funeral, causes Nick to cut Daisy and her family out of his life. He does this knowing fully well that Daisy is his link to a higher social circle but this does not stop him. Nick even decides to leave New York and return to his original home of Chicago to escape the corruption of the society completely. Marlow is very different. Throughout his journey he is given new information and sees new things that start to alter his opinions on the Europeans. At first he only believed in the ideals of European colonization, as seen by the way he looks up to Kurtz. Marlow believes Kurtz to be a missionary of some sort, coming to Africa to educate the natives and spread European culture. As his journey goes on Marlow begins to see how wrong he is. The Europeans are seen brutally beating the natives, showing little to no regard for their mental or physical health, and ruining what was once a beautiful, peaceful place. Even as Marlow sees how unjust the Europeans are, he still goes back and forth on his opinions on them. At the end of the journey Marlow becomes unstable and even has a mental breakdown because of all the horrible things he learns. Marlow finally understands that Kurtz was a horrible, greedy man who sucked up Africa’s resources and treated the natives as if they were lower than animals. And yet, after all the things he sees that Kurtz is a monster, Marlow remains slightly loyal to Kurtz.
They both find themselves becoming close to people who they do not know at all. Eventually, these people turn out to be corrupt and morally unjust. When Nick learns this truth, he rejects the people around him. An example of this is when Nick learns that his cousin, Daisy, purposely ran over her husband’s mistress, Myrtle, and then let Gatsby take the blame for her. This leads to Gatsby being murdered by Myrtle’s husband. This event, as well as the fact that Daisy refused to attend Gatsby’s funeral, causes Nick to cut Daisy and her family out of his life. He does this knowing fully well that Daisy is his link to a higher social circle but this does not stop him. Nick even decides to leave New York and return to his original home of Chicago to escape the corruption of the society completely. Marlow is very different. Throughout his journey he is given new information and sees new things that start to alter his opinions on the Europeans. At first he only believed in the ideals of European colonization, as seen by the way he looks up to Kurtz. Marlow believes Kurtz to be a missionary of some sort, coming to Africa to educate the natives and spread European culture. As his journey goes on Marlow begins to see how wrong he is. The Europeans are seen brutally beating the natives, showing little to no regard for their mental or physical health, and ruining what was once a beautiful, peaceful place. Even as Marlow sees how unjust the Europeans are, he still goes back and forth on his opinions on them. At the end of the journey Marlow becomes unstable and even has a mental breakdown because of all the horrible things he learns. Marlow finally understands that Kurtz was a horrible, greedy man who sucked up Africa’s resources and treated the natives as if they were lower than animals. And yet, after all the things he sees that Kurtz is a monster, Marlow remains slightly loyal to Kurtz.