How Does Conrad Illustrates Marlowe's Tale Of Africa?

Adwoa Bosompim

In Heart of Darkness, Conrad conveys Marlowe’s tale of Africa. The Captain begins his tale with his acceptance for a job in Africa no one else wants. Even though the captain receives warning of the darkness in Africa, he ignores it and soon leaves for his journey. When he soon comes to Africa he sees the Company’s true colors. The Company first appears to have come to Africa to transform the Africans from the savages to civilized people. The more time Marlowe spends in Africa he soon understands the true reason the company is there, all they want is the ivory and it doesn’t matter how they get it or if it cost them their souls. Through Conrad characterization of the Kurtz, the Natives, and the representatives he illustrates
There “was a desire to get appointed to a trading post where ivory was to be had, so that they could earn percentage”. They didn’t care for how they would get the ivory as long as they got it. They are willing to just waste lead into the forest just to take an obstacle out of the way to achieve their greed for ivory. Indeed, throughout Heart of Darkness evil is lack of restraint; not apathy or passivity, and not temptation itself, but the succumbing thereto. The paralleling of Kurtz by Marlow 's native helmsman helps to make this clear. The helmsman, who brings his own death, is explicitly akin to Kurtz, “He had no restraint, no restraint—just like Kurtz—a tree swayed by the wind”; and like Kurtz, at the moment of death he seems to see into the horror of his condition, “... in the very last moment, as though in response to some sign we could not see, to some whisper we could not hear, he frowned heavily, and that frown gave to his black death mask an inconceivably somber, brooding, and menacing expression”(Ridley). Even the representatives finally learned of how Kurtz got that much ivory the manager called it an “unsound method” which illustrates how dark their hearts are. It also illustrates their lack of restraint when it comes to accomplishing what they want which is ivory. They condone what Kurtz did for ivory and would do the same thing
They will essentially be hallowed: they will have a hole where their soul is supposed to be. They might obtain all the ivory they could imagine but at what cost? They will have to face the fact that with all the ivory they have obtain after it is gone what will be in them but an empty soul. Without restraining of egotism people would be “will be lost” “utterly