The heart of darkness
The heart of darknessHeart of Darkness centers on Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, a reportedly idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow takes a job with the Company piloting a steamship in the Belgian Congo. Marlow encounters widespread idiocy and absurd inefficiency in the Company's stations. The native inhabitants of the region have been impressed into service for the Company, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company's agents.
When Marlow arrives at the Central Station, under the control of the general manager, an unwholesome, conspiratorial character, he finds that his steamship has been sunk and spends several months waiting for parts to repair it. His interest in Kurtz grows during this period. The manager and his favorite, the brick maker, seem to fear Kurtz as a threat to their position. Kurtz is rumored to be ill, making the delays all the more costly. Marlow eventually gets the parts he needs to repair his ship, and he and the manager set out with a few agents (whom Marlow calls pilgrims because of their strange habit of carrying long, wooden staves wherever they go) and a crew of cannibals on a long, difficult voyage up the river.
They come across a hut with firewood stacked and a note saying it is for them but to approach cautiously. Natives attack them and the helmsman is killed before Marlow frightens the natives away with the steam whistle. They come to Kurtz's Inner Station, expecting to find him dead, but a Russian trader there assures them everything is all right and reveals that he is the one who left the wood. The Russian claims Kurtz has enlarged his mind and cannot be subjected to the same moral judgments as normal people. Kurtz has established himself as a god with the natives and gone out on brutal raids in...
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