God I hate this Darkness

Conrad uses chapter one to evaluate the presumable evil within the heart of Africa and demonstrate the evil within the white explorers themselves. Marlow describes the surrounding geography as "dark... menacing... dangerous... savage" as the hostile environment consumes the foreign business within it. The white men beat the "Negros" because they feel they are almost worthless; out to destroy European profits by slowing progress. Marlow has a sort of withdrawn opinion of the black men as he sees little direct fault in them but feels little responsibility for their treatment. It can be concluded that the white men abuse the natives primarily due to their fear of the unknown. The land has seemed to place a curse over the souls of the newcomers as the "high stillness of primeval forest" presses against oncoming discovery.
The European explorers are greedy. Working only to advance their own rank within the world of foreign trade. The men become dull to the morals of high society and look only to the profits that the dark continent may yield. Marlow points out that "no one cared" that an African was being beat for an error he most likely did not commit, and admits to the fact that "the only real feeling was the desire to get appointed to a trading post where ivory was to be had..." The white men turn against each other for their own potential benefit and they blame a world of darkness for their troubles.
For most, Conrad's narrator, Marlow, begins to lose aspects of character he once had at the beginning of the chapter. He becomes mute to certain things such as the treatment of the natives and his temper weakens to the point where he his very short and impatient. It appears that Marlow is falling pray to the evil which surrounds him. he does not trust his companions. He does not pity those individuals left behind. He is becoming like the others before him; a man in search of his own success, and his very own survival.