Throughout Heart of Darkness, the protagonist is constantly stating the importance of working and keeping busy. On pages 109 and 110, Marlow is travelling down the river with a fireman. Marlow is busy repairing various mechanical problems the steamboat is having. The fireman is helping him and Marlow comments on how good of a job he is doing. This indicates that Marlow appreciates a good worker.
Earlier on in the novel, Marlow expresses his views on work. He views work as more than just a way to make money. Marlow looks at work as a way to discover more about yourself and as a way to build character.
On page 111, Marlow finds an older book on sailing called An Inquiry into some Points of Seamanship. While looking through the pages, he admires the amount of work that was put into composing it. All of the information about each topic amazes him. Marlow views the book as a physical, tangible object that shows someone’s work, which gives doing work a purpose.
This quote from page 70 points out the futility of the European’s presence in Africa. This is caused by the Europeans taking away from the people of different races and “flatter noses.” These people journey to other parts of the world, then take their resources and possessions, and ultimately claim it as their own. The Europeans go to other countries looking for easier routes, resources, and trade. However, when they stop on foreign lands, they change the way of life for the native population. They bring disease, customs, religion, et cetera, which is then forced onto the natives. This quote highlights the meaningless presence of Europeans in Africa.
In Heart of Darkness, the main character Marlow is being exposed to a whole new side of the world. He is on a trip down the Cong...
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...arkness is coming to an end, Kurtz and Marlow are heading back to civilization in England from the Congo. Kurtz is in rough shape. He is mentally and physically exhausted, slowly dying on the boat. Once it is understood that he is going to die, he cries out “The horror! The horror!” The horror that Kurtz is referring to is everything that he has witnessed and done with his life while he was in the Congo. These two words repeated sum up his experiences that we see from Marlow’s perspective. Kurtz’s demise was a product of everything that he had done in the Congo with the company. In the end, all of his hard work was not even worth it. He died and left all of his fortune in the Congo, where he had no one to leave it all to. Kurtz’s reflections on the way he lived his life are essentially all being brought back to him in his final moments as he yells out “the horror!”
Marlow still wishes to see Kurtz because he had a different morality than the other men among his group. This difference intrigues Marlow and causes his curiosity to wonder what his complete intentions are or what he wishes to
The poem describes workers to be “Killing the overtime ‘cause the dream is your life, / Refusing to take holidays or go home to your spouse, / But for many the overtime comes, ‘cause the work is not done. / Deadlines to be met. So you continue to dream like a war vet, / Having flashbacks to make you shiver and scream” (Jones, stanza 7, lines 2-6). Jones reinforces that overworking for an incentive of money does not give one a sense of gratification, and it also distracts them from the values that should matter more to them than anything else. Both Kohn and Jones have a similar approach to showing the reader the effect that overworking can have on a person, and how it will change their values in life, causing unhappiness. Many students go through school dispirited and do not join various clubs and activities for their own enjoyment. A friend of Kohn’s who was also a high school guidance counsellor had a student with ‘…amazing grade and board scores. It remained only to knock out a dazzling essay on his college applications that would clinch the sale. “Why don’t we start with some books that
Marlow needs to see the trouble arising as the only reason he had achieved this job is due to the old employing dying from incidents in Africa by natives, as there are signs an individual may notice or not which can stop these incidents from occurring. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow had stated, "I had to wait in the station for ten days – an eternity." (Joseph Conrad, 27) This quotation demonstrates that Marlow was impatient to begin this path and journey of his life, as he wanted to discover this piece of land for than anything the slightest bit of delay is driving him insane.
Marlow's more noble self - his spiritually attuned nature - tells us early on that, "You know I hate, detest and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget." (Longman p. 2210). His statement is recognition of the lies (of the world, in general and of the brick-maker, in particular) (Longman p. 2208-2210). He reviles these lies as a betrayal of what is good and...
1. The protagonist of Heart of Darkness is a person named Charlie Marlow. Oddly, his name only appears once in the novel. Marlow is philosophical, independent-minded, and generally skeptical of those around him. He is also a master storyteller, eloquent and able to draw his listeners into his tale. Although Marlow shares many of his fellow Europeans’ prejudices, he has seen enough of the world and enough debased white men to make him skeptical of imperialism. An example of Marlow being independent-minded and philosophical is when he takes a trip up a river, as a break from working on ships. Marlow describes the trip as a journey back in time, to a “prehistoric earth.” This remark on how he regards colonized people as primitive, which is his philosophical viewpoint.
Towards the end of the story, right before Kurtz dies, Marlow looks at Kurtz, and says “I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror-of an intense and hopeless despair.” (P.118), and then Kurtz screams, “The horror, the horror.” (P.118) and he dies. He is referring to what he sees inside himself. This is just what Marlow was afraid he was becoming, he looked deep inside himself, and saw Kurtz.
Marlow observes many kinds of abuse of power by other whites, simply because they have better weapons of war. When the manager severely battered a young black boy for the burnt shed Marlow disapproves. However, when he sees abuses and unjust treatment he does not physically try to stop it. Instead, he just turns away and accepts that it is happening. That is one of Marlow's flaws, he does not support his convictions.
is an exposure of Belgian methods in the Congo, which at least for a good
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow can be seen as the hero of the story despite his alternating morals and the fact that Marlow ultimately does nothing to improve the situation in Africa. Throughout the whole narrative Marlow finds himself thrust into many shocking situations yet chooses the path of an observant bystander, giving his own opinion at the time, but no lasting action or motivation is conceived. On top of this fact Marlow’s morals are anything but set in stone; they waver innumerable times over the course of the plot. Yet Marlow is more often than not seen as the prominent hero of the plot. How is this possible? This is because readers aren’t looking for perfection in a character, but depth, and Marlow achieves this level of depth through his epiphanies and the changes that take place in his perception of the world. These revelations in turn challenge the reader to reevaluate themselves.
In Joseph Conrad’s unforgettable novel, Heart of Darkness, the profound words of Mr. Kurtz are a judgement of his malevolent life and of humanity in general. “The horror! The horror!” are the uttered words of Kurtz as he returned with Marlow from his civilization in Africa. Conrad left the words open for interpretation, leaving many readers feeling indifferent. As Kurtz encountered death, he reflected on his past and was fond of leaving the diabolical world that he inhabited. He was pleased to be dying due to his own evil, greedy actions as well as the inequality within humanity.
Heart of Darkness was written during a period of philosophical shift as the idealism of the 1800’s gave way to the analytic philosophies of the 1900’s as academics sought more precise measures of reasoning. Bernard Bolzano would be the main instigator of this shift and, unsatisfied by the inaccuracies of Aristotelian logic, would come to father analytical philosophy, a philosophy based upon the scientific analysis of abstract concepts of propositions and ideas in themselves… independent of thought and language, and the subsequent validity or falsehood of that idea. Conrad captures this aspect of Bolzano’s philosophy by contrasting the validities and falsehoods of European colonization, demonstrating the ramifications of European interference
Throughout his journey to the heart of darkness, Marlow becomes increasingly aware of the unfair practices that exists in the Company's territory. He slowly becomes disgusted with the inhumane treatment of the natives, even if he doesn’t fully see them as equals. When the harlequin calls them rebels, he is outraged: “I shocked him excessively by laughing. Rebels! What would be the next definition I was to hear? There had been enemies, criminals, workers—and these were rebels,” (98). He even goes so far as to say that “Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine,” (97). Yet, after meeting Kurtz, Marlow becomes infatuated with his every word. "Kurtz was a remarkable man," Marlow says, because he "had something to say" and he just "said it" (48). Marlow admires Kurtz’s ability to act on his deepest impulses without much restraint. But these impulses are the same thing that disgusts Marlow. Marlow’s paradox is in his realization of the humanity in the natives, and admiration for Kurtz.
Marlow starts out as just as everyman, trying to put some bread on the table. His original plans were setting out to make money, but his journey turns into so much more. His expedition turns into a quest to find and save Kurtz, and to understand the people so many were prejudice against.
The value of restraint is stressed throughout Heart of Darkness. On one hand, Marlow is saved by his self-discipline while on the other hand; Kurtz is doomed from his lack of it. Before Marlow embarked on his voyage to Africa, he had a different view. Due to propaganda, he believed that the colonization of the Congo was for the greater good. In his head, he judged that the people of Africa were savages and that colonization would bring them the elation and riches of civilization. Despite an apparent uneasiness, he assumed that restraint would function there. When he reaches the Company station, he obtains his first astonishment. Everything seems worthless. Marlow finds no evidence of any devotion to efficiency but finds what he considers a miracle among the disorder. This “miracle” is the chief accountant. The reason Marlow finds this man so phenomenal is because he shows restraint. He maintains his appearance and his books are in “apple-pie order.” Marlow finds respect for this complete stranger because this chap shows backbone and self-discipline.
He did not consider studying and readins as being “work”. He states: “Men like to work`.” (Lodge 126)