you have entered dark woods.

The opening scene is very reminiscent of the Odyssey which calls attention to the adventurous. As Marlow is the only seasoned seaman that is brought to the beginning he is almost made out to be like a guide of sorts, like Virgil maybe? He seems very thoughtful and contemplating. The way that Conrad describes the river that he is currently on reminds me of the River Phlegethon where the damned were punished for spilling the blood of the innocent, which is probably a foreshadow as to how the white people treated the African people.

As Marlow begins to tell his story, he is already setting the story like he is a guide to another realm… almost as if he is taking the people on a journey? Teaching them a lesson through the pain of others, much like Virgil did with Dante. Marlow begins talking about the company that he worked for that he had gained access to through some rather unsavory (for that time) means. When Marlow arrives in Africa, the major allusions begin. When he walks into the waiting room, which is almost like the limbo described in the Inferno, the old woman says nothing but stares at him and gave him a strange feeling of foreboding. “The swift and indifferent placidity of that look troubled me… She seemed uncanny and fateful…not many of those she looked at ever saw her again.” (pg.8). The old receptionist reminds me very much of Charon channeling people across the river, and when with her partner seem to be the sisters of fate, which spun the yarn of fate for every person, that the Greeks often concerned themselves with.

There is much more that could be discussed involving the last couple of pages, alas I have reached my word limit.

Zachary Corona.