[Excerpt]
At this point in the novel, Marlow has reached the Inner station, and it seems as if the reader has reached the inner darkness of the Congo’s heart. Kurtz has become this powerful figure, admired by he natives, and distinguishes himself form the rest of the members of the company, taking Marlow along with him. We discover Kurtz has a lover, and Marlow seems to dive deeper and deeper in the nightmares of his journey.
[...]
Marlow still occupies the same ambiguous position like in the beginning of the novel when he was ironic at times, and not so much at other times. In the end, although he is obviously disturbed by his journey in the African continent, he has acquired something the other men had not been seeking when they decided to board on the Nellie: experience, almost wisdom. It seems as if Marlow has deeply changed, matured during his expedition. However, he still views the events that have occurred during the journey as justifiable, because he has reached a certain status by confronting such hardships. In fact, he feels elevated by his experience, and feels he can judge and excuse the horror and violence of colonialism, because the men that participate in this mission come out of it with something bigger than wealth. This notion is very controversial, and Conrad concludes by leaving us to think about this outrageous issue.
The image of the arrival at the inner station as a representation of the arrival at the core of darkness is very interesting and true at the same time. Marlow it seems has traveled through the Congo in order to reach the inner station on an physical point of view. But, he has also traveled the Congo in a cultural point of view discovering how the natives lived. He has also discovered the horrors of colonization that is the surprising yet horrifying ways of colonizers like Kurtz for example: Marlow discovers the heads of natives on sticks surrounding the station.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I feel Camille is perfectly right when she says that Marlow, from the beginning has not really changed in the sense that it is not always obvious whether he is ironic or not: it is obvious that he is against colonization but it is hard to see on which side he is on. But, I don’t agree with the fact that Marlow views the events that have occurred as justifiable. We can say that what he has endured has changed him but that deep inside remains a certain justice. He takes into account the reasons the colonizers have for the actions they are taking but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he excuses them. Throughout the novel he criticizes the horror happening around him: he doesn’t understand certain actions like the “French man-of-war” or denounces them through the image of “Ivory” and the greediness of the colonizers.
I would like to comment on a specific point brought up by Camille; the effect that the Congo has had on Marlow. Camille says that " he has acquired something the other men had not been seeking when they decided to board on the Nellie: experience, almost wisdom". I agree, and I believe this acquired knowledge and its source transpire in the very first description of Marlow we are given; on board the Nellie, after the facts. There, he is described as a "Buddha", the wisest and most mysterious man of the crew. This description brings up strong reminiscences of Kurtz's character, minus the rage. By taking on the responsibility to spread Kurtz's story, it seems Marlow has become himself imbued with Kurtz and his philosophy.It is this assimilation to Kurtz to which I think Camille refers when she says that Marlow has "deeply changed, matured during his expedition". Using this theory, we could say that the reason Marlow considers the events he has witnessed as "justifiable" is because he has taken Kurtz's view on those events along with Kurtz's philosophy.
ReplyDelete