Throughout life, people are faced with choices that lead them to goodness and light, or allow them to stray towards evil and darkness. In “Heart of Darkness,” by Joseph Conrad, a young seaman, Marlow, begins working for an ivory company in Africa. Early on, Marlow is compared to a man named Kurtz who works for the company, too. Marlow looks forward to meeting him as they travel on the river to the inner station where he works. However, Marlow begins to see the truth behind what the company is doing and he recognizes the corruption of those on the inside. When he finally meets Kurtz in the inner station, he turns out to be crazy and corrupt like the rest of the company. Conrad uses Kurtz as an example of what could happen to Marlow if he is
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He claims “...I had been represented to the wife of the high dignitary… as an exceptional and gifted creature--a piece of good fortune for the Company--a man you don’t get hold of every day” (Conrad 18). People have talked him up in the same way that the people at the stations talked about Kurtz. The manager does it when he tells Marlow, “Mr. Kurtz was the best agent he had, an exceptional man,of the greatest importance to the company” (Conrad 38). Marlow also also refers to him as “the gifted Kurtz” (Conrad 88). They both are thought of as good people and are extremely useful to the company. Not only are they both valuable and hard workers, but they were also brought to the company in similars ways. The manager tells Marlow, “The same people who sent him specially also recommended you” (Conrad 44). This shows how Marlow and Kurtz are essentially the same person because they both came from the same people and have the same role within the company. By creating a parallel between Marlow and Kurtz, Conrad is able to show exactly how their paths split into light and dark.
Before Marlow begins his journey, he is examined by a doctor. He asks “in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there…” (Conrad 17). This shows how the people who travel deep into the jungle change mentally. The corrupt ways of the company affect the people, like Kurtz, who spend too much time there. Marlow, who hasn’t been exposed to the evil yet, still has a normal crania, but once he goes into the jungle, the evil will change him so his crania and, by extension, his mind will be different, like
He claims “...I had been represented to the wife of the high dignitary… as an exceptional and gifted creature--a piece of good fortune for the Company--a man you don’t get hold of every day” (Conrad 18). People have talked him up in the same way that the people at the stations talked about Kurtz. The manager does it when he tells Marlow, “Mr. Kurtz was the best agent he had, an exceptional man,of the greatest importance to the company” (Conrad 38). Marlow also also refers to him as “the gifted Kurtz” (Conrad 88). They both are thought of as good people and are extremely useful to the company. Not only are they both valuable and hard workers, but they were also brought to the company in similars ways. The manager tells Marlow, “The same people who sent him specially also recommended you” (Conrad 44). This shows how Marlow and Kurtz are essentially the same person because they both came from the same people and have the same role within the company. By creating a parallel between Marlow and Kurtz, Conrad is able to show exactly how their paths split into light and dark.
Before Marlow begins his journey, he is examined by a doctor. He asks “in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there…” (Conrad 17). This shows how the people who travel deep into the jungle change mentally. The corrupt ways of the company affect the people, like Kurtz, who spend too much time there. Marlow, who hasn’t been exposed to the evil yet, still has a normal crania, but once he goes into the jungle, the evil will change him so his crania and, by extension, his mind will be different, like