How Does Kurtz Belong To Himself

This extract is taken from Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness (1899). This quotation is said by Marlow who has embarked on a journey in the steamboat through the River Congo. He was on his way to the inner station. In these lines, he refers to Kurtz who thinks of everything as his: "my intended," "my ivory," my station" and "my river." The sentence "Everything belonged to him" sheds light on Kurtz's character. "Everything belonged to him", yet he did not belong to himself. Kurtz possesses everything, but he is possessed and "claimed" by "powers of darkness." He is consumed by his own "devilish" and wild nature. Kurtz is a man who likes to own and possess things. This sheds light on the reality of the imperial self and the
Kurtz's "mother was half–English, [and] his father was half–French." As a result, Kurtz becomes a hybrid which represents a threat to the self. He occupies a hybrid space and becomes "white but not quite white," according to Homi Bhabha. The name of the institution to which he wrote the report to is called "the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs." The name itself is very ironic. It is suggestive of the brutality and the cruelty of that system. It also unmasks the reality of the civilizing mission; it is that of moral and spiritual decay. Kurtz ends the report with "exterminate all the brutes." Kurtz who is supposed to be civilized becomes nothing but brutal and savage at the end. In other words, those who claim that they will civilize; they will turn into savages in the end just like Kurtz who could not suppress the savage inside him. In conclusion, these lines shed light on the hypocrisy of the imperial system. They show how appearances are deceptive. The allegation is of civilization and the reality is of destruction and