As Marlow progresses down the river towards Kurtz and the Inner Station, he encounters many physical and emotional dilemmas, along with digging deeper into finding out who Kurtz is. Chapter two starts off with Marlow traveling down the river on his repaired boat with his seaman who consist of both pilgrims and natives of Africa. The ship and its crew encounter a natives who begin to take fire on them with crude bows and arrows, killing a black herdsman on the ship. This event carries much significance.
Firstly, the mobility of the mostly white crew represents the imperialist advances on Africa, while the stranded Africans on land act as the symbol for the lack of progression for the natives. Secondly, the herdsman symbolizes Marlow's acclimation to the European views of Africans. Starting off as feeling bad for the natives, Marlow tries to help them. But as the boat floats down the river, so Marlow progresses toward thinking of the Africans as inferior; he even throws his luxury shoes overboard because the blood of the herdsman got on them. Although he shows some disinterest, Marlow wants a proper burial for the herdsman showing that he is not depleted of empathy. Thirdly, the attack on the ship exposes Marlow's intense concern that he will never meet the wonderful Kurtz that so many men have spoken highly of. He acknowledges that he fears Kurtz will never be a sight, rather just something he has heard about. Once the ship arrives to the Inner Station, Marlow, although comforted that Kurtz is alive, begins to realize that Kurtz is an imperialist himself (the heart of darkness) and that people do not talk to him, they listen.
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