In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow is tough, highly capable, and he is not afraid to be an independent thinker, but he also cannot escape the forces of darkness that he encounters during his journey. Unlike the other men, Marlow cannot forget the horrors that he has witnessed, so Marlow’s dilemma is created as he tries to hold on to his humanity while traveling through the inhumane jungle.
Marlow encounters countless examples of futility, brutality, and inefficiency that characterize the Company’s imperialist operations. For the first time, he sees the natives of the jungle and the inhumane way they are being treated by the Company. Marlow discloses that “they were nothing earthly now...I stood horror-struck” (64). He had a difficult time processing what he is witnessing and he …show more content…
He reports them as “black shapes...black shadows” (63-64). Marlow’s short time in the jungle has already made him lose a bit of his humanity by not referring to them as humans, but as creatures.
While in the jungle, trying to grip on to his humanity, Marlow keeps comfort through his boat. Marlow stated that “it was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, that battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat...she had given me a chance to come out a bit...what no other man can ever know” (80). He feels that no matter who or what is around him, he is in his own world with the boat, trying to figure out himself and the jungle cannot take that away from him
As Marlow journeyed through the river on his boat, he felt as if he was no longer in reality, almost losing his humanity qualities. He stated that “you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert...trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off for ever from everything you had known once-somewhere- far away- in another existence perhaps” (88). The jungle was slowly robbing him of his past
Marlow encounters countless examples of futility, brutality, and inefficiency that characterize the Company’s imperialist operations. For the first time, he sees the natives of the jungle and the inhumane way they are being treated by the Company. Marlow discloses that “they were nothing earthly now...I stood horror-struck” (64). He had a difficult time processing what he is witnessing and he …show more content…
He reports them as “black shapes...black shadows” (63-64). Marlow’s short time in the jungle has already made him lose a bit of his humanity by not referring to them as humans, but as creatures.
While in the jungle, trying to grip on to his humanity, Marlow keeps comfort through his boat. Marlow stated that “it was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, that battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat...she had given me a chance to come out a bit...what no other man can ever know” (80). He feels that no matter who or what is around him, he is in his own world with the boat, trying to figure out himself and the jungle cannot take that away from him
As Marlow journeyed through the river on his boat, he felt as if he was no longer in reality, almost losing his humanity qualities. He stated that “you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert...trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off for ever from everything you had known once-somewhere- far away- in another existence perhaps” (88). The jungle was slowly robbing him of his past