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Due to his sickness, however, Kurtz cannot travel far. Marlow joins Kurtz and they are now both surrounded by Kurtz's followers who are ritualistically preparing for his death with fires, drums, and chanting. In the wilderness, alone with him, Marlow realizes that he is on the brink of Kurtz's world. He sees the clarity by which Kurtz lived, the freedom of answering to nothing, "I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself" (Longman, 2000, p. 2238). Before he reaches the point of no return, Marlow drags Kurtz back to the boat, and back to reality as well.
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I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror- of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more that a breath- 'The horror! The horror!' "(Longman, 2000, p. 2240). This is what distinguishes the two men; Kurtz abandoned himself and went over the edge, but Marlow is aware of just how close he was to becoming what Kurtz
I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror- of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more that a breath- 'The horror! The horror!' "(Longman, 2000, p. 2240). This is what distinguishes the two men; Kurtz abandoned himself and went over the edge, but Marlow is aware of just how close he was to becoming what Kurtz