The Accountant and The Lawyer are Marlow 's friends, who listen to his story about his journey into the "heart of darkness." Despite the fact that their personal names are not given, their occupations relate to several important themes throughout the novella.
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The Accountant and The Lawyer are Marlow 's friends, who listen to his story about his journey into the "heart of darkness." Despite the fact that their personal names are not given, their ...
The five men on board the ship—the Director of Companies, the Lawyer, the Accountant, the Narrator, and Marlow, old friends from their seafaring days—settle down to await the changing of the tide. They stare down the mouth of the river into the Atlantic Ocean, a view that stretches like "the beginning of an interminable waterway."
Marlow proceeds to refer to the chief accountant as a miracle because of his extraordinary, fashionable appearance, which contrasts greatly with the …
Cite. Early in Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness, Charlie Marlow describes an important figure in the Company, one whom, contrary to his initial expectations, he finds worthy of respect. That ...
Suddenly Marlow interrupts the silence. "And this also," Marlow says, "has been one of the dark places of the earth." He imagines England as it must have appeared to the first Romans sent to conquer it: a savage, mysterious place that both appalled and attracted them, that made them feel powerless and filled them with hate.
Marlow makes it clear he doesn't usually ask people for favors, instead going by "his own road and on his own legs" because of his belief in the honesty and importance of work. He is not comfortable relying on others to do his work for him, and sees it as a possibly dangerous and definitely shameful thing to do.
As they talk, Marlow realizes the Brickmaker is trying to get information from him because Marlow's Aunt 's contacts in the Company are the same people who sent Kurtz to Africa. The Brickmaker bitterly says that Marlow and Kurtz are both "of the new gang—the gang of virtue" meant to bring proper morals and European enlightenment to the colonial activities in Africa.
Marlow admires the Chief Accountant's grooming because such hygienic habits involve disciplined work, especially in the midst of the chaos of Outer Station.
At the mouth of the Congo, Marlow gets passage for thirty miles from a small steamer piloted by a Swede. The Swede mocks the "government chaps" at the shore as men who will do anything for money, and wonders what happens to such men when they get further into the continent.
Marlow goes to Africa because as a boy he had a passion for unknown places. He wanted to know the unknown. But Africa resists being known, and makes colonialists do ridiculous, hollow things like shoot at forests.
Water is often a symbol of the unconscious, so the "interminable waterway" connecting civilized England to the rest of the world implies that England's civilization is just a veneer over the dark heart all men share. That the characters in the ship are known by their jobs and not their names hints at the hollowness of civilization: their selves have been swallowed by their roles.
Marlow's chief qualities are his curiosity and skepticism. Never easily satisfied with others' seemingly innocent remarks such as those made by the Manager and Brickmaker, Marlow constantly attempts to sift through the obscurities of what others tell him (such as when his aunt speaks to him of "weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways"). However, Marlow is no crusader for Truth. He lies to Kurtz's Intended to save her from a broken heart and ultimately returns to Europe and his home, despite his having been convinced by the Company and Kurtz that civilization is, ultimately, a lie and an institution humans have created to channel their desires for power.
The novel's narrator presents Marlow as "a meditating Buddha" because his experiences in the Congo have made him introspective and to a certain degree philosophic and wise. As a young man, Marlow wished to explore the "blank places" on the map because he longed for adventure; his journey up the Congo, however, proves to be much more ...
He lies to Kurtz's Intended to save her from a broken heart and ultimately returns to Europe and his home , despite his having been convinced by the Company and Kurtz that civilization is, ultimately, a lie and an institution humans have created to channel their desires for power.
Marlow is in many ways a traditional hero: tough, honest, an independent thinker, a capable man. Yet he is also “broken” or “damaged,” like T. S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock or William Faulkner’s Quentin Compson. The world has defeated him in some fundamental way, and he is weary, skeptical, and cynical. Marlow also mediates between the figure of the intellectual and that of the “working tough.” While he is clearly intelligent, eloquent, and a natural philosopher, he is not saddled with the angst of centuries’ worth of Western thought. At the same time, while he is highly skilled at what he does—he repairs and then ably pilots his own ship—he is no mere manual laborer. Work, for him, is a distraction, a concrete alternative to the posturing and excuse-making of those around him.
Marlow can also be read as an intermediary between the two extremes of Kurtz and the Company. He is moderate enough to allow the reader to identify with him, yet open-minded enough to identify at least partially with either extreme. Thus, he acts as a guide for the reader. Marlow’s intermediary position can be seen in his eventual illness and recovery. Unlike those who truly confront or at least acknowledge Africa and the darkness within themselves, Marlow does not die, but unlike the Company men, who focus only on money and advancement, Marlow suffers horribly. He is thus “contaminated” by his experiences and memories, and, like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, destined, as purgation or penance, to repeat his story to all who will listen.
Unlike those who truly confront or at least acknowledge Africa and the darkness within themselves, Marlow does not die, but unlike the Company men, who focus only on money and advancement, Marlow suffers horribly.
The world has defeated him in some fundamental way, and he is weary, skeptical, and cynical. Marlow also mediates between the figure of the intellectual and that of the “working tough.”. While he is clearly intelligent, eloquent, and a natural philosopher, he is not saddled with the angst of centuries’ worth of Western thought.