One day he remarked, without lifting his head, "In the interior you will no doubt meet Mr.

Kurtz." On my asking who Mr. Kurtz was, he said he was a first-class agent; and seeing
my disappointment at this information, he added slowly, laying down his pen, "He is a
very remarkable person." Further questions elicited from him that Mr. Kurtz was at
present in charge of a trading-post, a very important one, in the true ivory-country, at
"the very bottom of there. Sends in as much ivory as all the other put together....”

Summary

Marlow has come to the Congo to recover the body of a Company captain,
Fresleven, who was killed in an argument over two black hens. At the Outer
Station, Marlow meets the Company’s chief accountant, who is impeccably
dressed and keeps the accounts in immaculate order. While Marlow is waiting
to journey further up the river, he visits the accountant, who tells him about
Mr. Kurtz. Kurtz is an agent at the Inner Station and most likely the best agent
in the Company. It is assumed that he will rise far in business, so great is his
promise. Working at a trading post, Kurtz ships out more ivory than all the
other agents combined, thus becoming an invaluable financial asset. The
accountant, who epitomizes order and civilization in the midst of the chaos of
the jungle, elevates Kurtz to a god-like status, one in whom all the hopes of
colonialism and civilization reside.

 “They were dying slowly—it was very clear. They were not enemies, they
were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now—nothing but black
shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish
gloom.” Part 1

As Marlow notices the slaves chained together and indifferent to their

surroundings, knowing nothing but their labor, he views them as being hardly
considered dangerous enemies. Marlow describes it as “greenish gloom” instead of
another color because green emphasizes the connotation of sickness and disease, which
undoubtedly consumed the Africans. As Marlow encounters “savages” throughout
the novella we see the true horrors of imperialism and conquest: mistreated and
overworked slaves who are left to die outdoors, given no food, care, or medicine.
They are treated inhumanely, and because of this, Marlow sees them as less-than-
human. This is seen throughout the novella with Conrad’s intentional
dehumanization of the Africans by giving them animal qualities and contrasting
that with the personification of machinery. Even more profound is that he finds
similarities between the savages and the whites, a kind of “kinship”, later on in
the story, even though the savages are dehumanized so significantly. He even
notices how ironically the savages act more civilized than the pilgrims do as they
journey to Kurtz’s station.

 Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs,
knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me – still
knitting with downcast eyes – and only just as I began to think of getting out
of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up. Her
dress was as plain as an umbrella-cover, and she turned round without a
word and preceded me into a waiting-room. Part 1 – at Brussels

Two of the three Fates spin the life-thread of each human being. The thread
represents a human life. The third Fate cuts the thread when the time comes for
the man to die. The Fates, being Greek immortals, have foresight and can see
every man’s fate. Conrad uses the two women knitting black wool to foreshadow
Marlow’s horrific journey into colonial Africa. The slim one who gets up is
described as a somnambulist or sleep-walker that is so occupied in her spinning
that she does not pay much attention to Marlow. She may not have paid attention
to Marlow because she was spinning Kurtz’s fate. Conrad does not include the
third fate over the duration of Heart of Darkness intentionally due to the fact that
the third fate is supposed to represent the death of a man and we don’t know the
true fate of Marlow, we only know that he is alive at the end of the novella.

 The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think
they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a
whiff from some corpse. Part 1 -Marlow when arriving at the central station

This quote displays the emphasis and significance the “pilgrims” placed on ivory.
They were hungry for money and power to the point that they worshipped the
ivory like a god, as seen in Marlow’s description of them praying to it. Ivory
imagery is often juxtaposed with bone imagery as shown in this quote with the
use of the word “corpse.” Marlow’s reference to the corpse is used literally and
figuratively. Elephants and native Africans both die due to the greed and pursuit
of ivory. In the beginning of the novella, dominoes were attributed to the
Accountant. The connotation associated with an accountant would be greed,
wealth, and power. Dominoes in this time period would have been made of ivory
which is actually elephant tusk or bone. This quote shows that the word “ivory”
takes a life of its own for the men who work for the Company. To them, it is far
more than the tusk of an elephant, but represents economic freedom and social
advancement. The ivory symbolizes greed and the destructive nature of man
throughout the novella.

 They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force – nothing to
boast of when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from
the weakness of others. Part 1 – On the Nellie with lawyer, accountant, director
of companies, and narrator

When he described the Roman conquerors in England at the beginning of Heart

of Darkness, Marlow imagined them as appalled and attracted by its savagery,
but also calls them “conquerors.” Marlow challenges everything he said about the
nobility and good intentions of the explorers. Instead, he does see the brutal truth
of colonization and knows that the colonizing countries care only about efficiency
and profit. They are successful in their imperialism simply due to the fact that the
Africans or savages are “weaker” than they are. Marlow condemns the explorers
as mere robbers and murderers, men who were going about their business
blindly. Marlow’s quote here about strength and weakness is timeless and
remains relevant today. One can only gain control due to the submission of
another, as we see with Kurtz submission to the wilderness and the savages’
submission to Kurtz.

 You should have heard him say, ‘My ivory.’ Oh, yes, I heard him. ‘My
Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my – ‘ everything belonged to him.
It made me hold my breath in expectation of hearing the wilderness burst
into a prodigious peal of laughter that would shake the fixed stars in their
places. Everything belonged to him – but that was a trifle. The thing was to
know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for
their own. Part 2 – introduced to Kurtz physically

One of our first glimpses of Kurtz shows us a man that’s selfish and egotistical but
weak compared to the “powers of darkness” that are taking him over. Kurtz is no
longer in control of himself, but belongs to the wilderness. Ironically he believes
that he is in control of all things when the opposite is true. Kurtz’s sense of
ownership has been warped by his status as a “god” among the native Africans.
He thinks everything, including the wilderness he inhabits, belongs to him. His
sense of himself has expanded to include everything around him, in contrast to
the other men’s sense of getting smaller in comparison to the large,
overwhelming wilderness. Kurtz is known for possessing more ivory than others
which gives him more power, but as we discussed in an earlier quote ivory
symbolizes power as well as greed. In Kurtz’s quote we see the greed that has
overcome him through the possession of ivory. This quote further develops the
symbolism of ivory.
  It was very simple, and at the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic
sentiment it blazed at you, luminous and terrifying like a flash of lightning in
a serene sky: ‘Exterminate all the brutes! Part 2

The statement made by Kurtz, “Exterminate all the brutes” adds to the dark and
evil characterization attributed to him. This statement even emphasizes the effect
of his beheading of the “rebel” savages and placing them on sticks for
presentation. We see here that even in Kurtz’s attempted submission to the
wilderness and desire to separate from civilization that it cannot be done. He still
tries to bring some sort of law or government to this most uncivilized place by
punishing the savages for rebelling. He even thinks himself a king and believes
himself worthy enough to “exterminate” the savages. Although, in the end his
attempts are futile.

 I heard a light sigh and then my heart stood still, stopped dead short by an
exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable triumph and of
unspeakable pain. ‘I knew it—I was sure!’ . . . She knew. She was sure. I
heard her weeping; she had hidden her face in her hands. It seemed to me
that the house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would
fall upon my head. But nothing happened. The heavens do not fall for such a
trifle. Would they have fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justice
which was his due? Hadn’t he said he wanted only justice? But I couldn’t. I
could not tell her. It would have been too dark—too dark altogether…. Part 3,
Marlow telling intended the false last words of Kurtz

Marlow, who has seen some of the worst horrors of the Congo, lies to Kurtz’s
fiancé by telling her that his last words were not “The horror!” but rather crying
her name. This is because Marlow does not want to carry the darkness of the real
world into this woman’s idealistic world. Conrad uses Marlow’s aunt at the
beginning of the novella to establish woman in Heart of Darkness as symbols of
society’s blindness to its own hollowness. Kurtz’s Intended further supports this
symbolism since she is completely clueless about Kurtz’s true nature. Though
Marlow knows Kurtz’s triumphs lay in his understanding of men’s delusions
about themselves, he can’t bring himself to make Kurtz’s Intended see the “dark”
reality. Marlow knows that if even he, who does see civilization’s futility, can’t
bring himself to reveal the darkness then civilization will remain blind to its
faults.