Marlow makes clear that he believes Kurtz to have gone mad. Marlow states that Kurtz was “hollow at the core…”, on page 72. As he hears more and more about Kurtz through the Russian man, Marlow becomes disgusted, he shouts, “I don’t want to know anything of the ceremonies used when approaching Mr Kurtz” […] “Mr Kurtz was no idol of mine”, p.72-73. It is when Marlow sees Kurtz for the first time that we finally see him through criticizing eyes, for what he has truly become: “It was as though an animated image of death carved out of ivory had been shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men made of dark and glittering bronze.”, page 74. Although this description is dark and horrible, it is so symbolic with him as death for he can kill who he wants, but he himself has died inside; for ivory is white like him, but also what he has become, what he wants, his reason to live, and because it is “old ivory”, it has lost its worth. Although Kurtz came to the Congo with good intentions, opposing to everybody else’s greed, he has become obsessed with ivory in his quest to prove himself to his fiancé’s parents. Marlow still does respect him, “I think Mr Kurtz is a respectable man”, but the manager answers him coldly, “He was”, page 77. Although Marlow seemed obsessed with Kurtz throughout his journey, I feel that thinking of him was a way of putting aside all the horrors happening around him, having a goal. However, Marlow is still confused about his feelings for Kurtz, sensing disgust as well as respect for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment