I found this section to be much more appeasing than the first section. It seemed less boring and helped advance the plot more. The whole point of this journey has been to find Mr. Kurtz and Marlow finally meets him in this section. However, Mr. Kurtz is not the man Marlow was necessarily expecting. I think that Conrad suggests this through the fog and also the Russian's suit. The fog represents Marlow's uncertainty about Mr. Kurtz and also his inability to truly see who Mr. Kurtz is yet. Marlow cannot see through the fog, just like how he cannot fully see and understand who Mr. Kurtz is. Marlow has been forced to just go on second hand accounts of Kurtz and cannot truly follow who he is, just like how the fog distorts and hides the river and prevents him from effectively navigating it. Also, I think the Russian's suit is representative of this uncertainty. The suit is composed of many different patches and Marlow even compares him to a “jester” with all the different colors. I think this represents the mystique behind Mr. Kurtz. Marlow has heard all these different stories about Kurtz, all of which introduce different characterizations of him, similar to the many different colored patches, all of which make up a different part of the suit. Mr. Kurtz is such a complex man that one characterization of him does not suffice, similar to how one patch is not enough to fix the suit and complete it.
When Marlow does finally meet Mr. Kurtz he is shocked at his inhumanity. While traveling down the river, Marlow heard some stories of how Kurtz was a good figure who wanted to help “civilize” the Africans. However, Kurtz is a man of greed and lacks any significant morality. I think that Kurtz has been consumed by this “Heart of Darkness” (imperialism) and has become completely corrupt and just overall a crappy human being. Also, I think Conrad displays how the whole “white man's burden” thing is bullsh*t through this characterization of Kurtz. Kurtz started out trying to “help” but this was a lost hope and he ended up just making things terrible for the Africans.
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ReplyDeleteI'm happy you talked about the fog because that was a moment that I felt was saturated by symbolism (ALLITERATION!) but I ran out of room to post about it. It was such an epically tense and mysterious scene with the blinding white fog ringing with the screeching war cries of the unseen native. Intense.
ReplyDeleteAs to Mr. Kurtz, I wondered what you thought about the deity status that he has been given by the natives. Is it out of fear that they worship him, or ignorance?