Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, once wrote, “When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature” (153). When writing Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad did not have to create living people because the majority of his characters are accurate representations of the people in his life. In fact, the main character, Charlie Marlow, can be viewed as an autobiographical figure. Conrad’s novel accounts the adventures of his early life, told through the voice of Marlow. Just different versions of the same person, the fictional character and the author share a variety of striking similarities. Conrad and his character have analogous backgrounds, ideas,
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The SS Roi des Belges is the counterpart to Marlow’s steamboat in the novel. Conrad accepted his job as commander of a Belgian-owned Congo River steamboat in 1890. After arriving in a town called Kinshasa, he found his command had been sunk, but he was given another steamboat and told to proceed. His order was to rescue Georges Antoine Klein, a valuable company agent who had become ill. The agent died on the return trip (“Joseph” 5). The events outlined from Conrad’s Congo trip make up the exact plot of Marlow’s journey in Heart of Darkness. To summarize, Marlow signs with a Belgian company as commander of a steamboat. When he arrives at the Central Station, he finds that his steamship has been sunk and waits for repairs. As he continues down the Congo River, he has a growing interest in Kurtz, who is the best ivory agent but is rumored to be ill. While bringing Kurtz home, he passes away aboard the steamship (Conrad 9-72). Clearly, Kurtz is the fictional, exaggerated version of Klein, and the events in the story were taken from actual events that occurred to Conrad. In addition, both Conrad and Marlow got sick upon their return to Europe. Marlow barely survives his illness, while Conrad was seriously weakened by malaria (Witkoski
The SS Roi des Belges is the counterpart to Marlow’s steamboat in the novel. Conrad accepted his job as commander of a Belgian-owned Congo River steamboat in 1890. After arriving in a town called Kinshasa, he found his command had been sunk, but he was given another steamboat and told to proceed. His order was to rescue Georges Antoine Klein, a valuable company agent who had become ill. The agent died on the return trip (“Joseph” 5). The events outlined from Conrad’s Congo trip make up the exact plot of Marlow’s journey in Heart of Darkness. To summarize, Marlow signs with a Belgian company as commander of a steamboat. When he arrives at the Central Station, he finds that his steamship has been sunk and waits for repairs. As he continues down the Congo River, he has a growing interest in Kurtz, who is the best ivory agent but is rumored to be ill. While bringing Kurtz home, he passes away aboard the steamship (Conrad 9-72). Clearly, Kurtz is the fictional, exaggerated version of Klein, and the events in the story were taken from actual events that occurred to Conrad. In addition, both Conrad and Marlow got sick upon their return to Europe. Marlow barely survives his illness, while Conrad was seriously weakened by malaria (Witkoski