I will start off by saying I feel very dim for not catching this symbol much earlier in my readings, however something that struck me deeply in this chapter was the way ivory is being described. It brings about images of pure white and of wealth, but at the same time it is almost deathly….like a clean skull. When bones are cleaned they look like ivory, for what is ivory but a bone. This encompasses the entire story for me now, where the thing that Kurtz is hunting so vivaciously for is not wealth itself but death. Kurtz has been to the heart of darkness, he has made the pilgrimage to the center of hell itself, and this is why he is treated almost like a godly figure, though his actual human qualities cannot handle it. He is broken down by such and he is actually hunting for death itself, ivory is not ivory in this world.
Another thing that caught my attention closely was the man that appears at the end of the chapter, he seems as if he is not completely mentally stable. He talks about his Russian descent and how he followed a Dutchman until the Dutchman gave him guns and supplies to start his own trade shop. He is described like a harlequin which I think is a very important concept, because the man is obviously going insane, the bright contrasting colors of his suit are representative of the insanity that is imposed on intruders of this land itself. He is a physical representation of the unstable minds of all the “pilgrims” that are aboard this ship.
Finally, Marlow speaking about himself in third person perturbed me, because he seems to be losing his mind, as if he is lost within darkness and is blinded by it.
Zachary Corona
Once more, Zach, you bewilder me with these symbols and deep meanings that I could never pull from the text with as much attention as you seem capable of. The importance of ivory, now, seems to be something that I now notice whilst thinking back on Chapter 2 and I hope that we can discuss it further in discussion because it is a vast place for expansion through the text.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your perplexing reaction towards Marlow's shifting perspective, signalling a change in character within the "Heart of Darkness" and the constant changes seen throughout.