How Does Kurtz Create A Balance Between Good And Bad

Balancing the Good and the Bad
Is it possible to create a balance between good and bad? When looking at someone’s journey through life in the Heart of Africa, it can greatly demonstrate the effects they have on others around them. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness looks into the views on the good and the bad in people through how Mr. Kurtz is viewed by his peers. Kurtz’s balance of good and bad helps to enhance the the novel by creating an impact on everyone he meets. As Kurtz gets older, he shows more and more qualities of greatness he has through actions, his negative qualities by his responses to others, and how he impacts his peers to create lasting impressions..
As Mr. Kurtz goes through his life in the Heart of Africa, he encounters several
He constantly had the thought that he was higher than others, and therefore deserved to own everything. Kurtz believed “everything belonged to him” including, “‘[his] ivory, [his] station, [his] river, [his],-’ everything” (Conrad 49). Kurtz’s view of him being greater than others can come off as being overly self involved and almost as if he is a king. Those around him wouldn't want to feel like they are less than him, when in reality, everyone is supposed to be equal. Kurtz is also said to have done some pretty bad things within the company. The manager even said “Mr. Kurtz’s methods ruined the district” showing that the way he went on with finding and trading ivory was so bad it affected the whole area he was in (Conrad 58). It would not be good to have that effect in a business situation. The way others show Kurtz the way others present Kurtz also gives him a bad reputation when he is introduced to Marlow. After Marlow is introduced to a description of Kurtz, Marlow says “[He] wasn't very interested in Kurtz” (Conrad 31). If Marlow doesn't give interest into someone who he hasn't even met, it doesn't show good signs of Kurtz being someone worth spending time on. People do view Kurtz as being bad in character, but when you look at both the good and the bad, someone can impact those around them and leave a lasting
Kurtz is shown to leave a lasting effect on his peers mainly by his actions and reactions. Marlow shows admiration to Kurtz’s power when he says “He won’t be forgotten...[He] was exactly worth the life [they] lost in getting to him” which puts it into the perspective that Marlow did believe in Kurtz’s power , he was just still able to see the bad that also came with him as he had previously seen through Kurtz’s life (Conrad 51). Marlow was willing to loose a little of his life in order to actually see how Kurtz could impact others. Kurtz was also able to reach out to the russian and make a statement. He noticed that “[he] can't judge Kurtz as [he] would an ordinary man” because Kurtz had something special about him (Conrad 56). The example he used to describe this was when Kurtz was willing to shoot him just for ivory, but the russian still could not judge him because he had seen Kurtz do good things that made up for the bad act of wanting to shoot another man. Normally, the russian would have judged this person, but because it was Kurtz, he didn't judge him like he normally would have. That shows someone made an impact on others. Even after he died, Kurtz was still impacting those around him. Marlow mentions that “[Kurtz’s] words will still remain” as a way to say that there will always be a part of Kurtz that gets remembered. This may not always be the case after someone dies. If Kurtz