Heart of Darkness

Guided Reading Questions

Chapter 1

1. What characters are present as the novel opens? What do they have in common
professionally? Why do you think they are not named? What is the setting (time of day
and place) and its significance?

2. What is the significance of the narrator’s commentary on English sea captains and their
ships (4)?

3. Marlow says that England “‘has been one of the dark places of the earth…. darkness was
here yesterday’” (5-6). What does he mean by “dark”? What is the significance of his
description of the Roman presence in England (specifically of the experiences of the
hypothetical “decent young fellow in a toga” (6)?

4. Describe the map of Africa that Marlow has as a child. What does the Congo River (he
doesn’t mention it by name on page 8) remind him of?

5. Marlow is hired to replace Fresleven. What happens to Fresleven in the Congo (8-9)?
How might his experience perhaps connect to the doctor’s questions (see question #7)?

6. Describe Marlow’s attitude towards his aunt and women in general (see page 8, 12-13).
What is his aunt’s attitude towards bringing western values to Africans? What do you
think Marlow means when he comments on “how out of touch with truth women are.
They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never
can be. It is too beautiful altogether” (13)?
7. Describe the two women at the Company offices and comment on what they might
symbolize.

8. Briefly describe the Company doctor, Marlowe’s conversation with him, and the
symbolic significance of each. Note in particular: “the changes take place inside” (12);
“avoid irritation more than exposure to the sun” (12); “any madness in your family?”
(12).

9. Identify 4 examples of foreshadowing at the doctor’s office. Don’t forget the two knitters
and the compassionate secretary.

10. On his journey, Marlow describes a French steamer shooting into the shore of the Congo
River. What effect do the Europeans have “firing into a continent” (14)? Why does
Marlow call the efforts of the French “lugubrious drollery” (14). What literary device
does that phrase illustrate? What does Marlow say he hears about the men on that ship?

11. The Swedish captain of the steamer Marlow boards tells of the fate a fellow Swede (15).
What is that fate and what is the cause (as the captain speculates)?

12. Describe the “chain gang” on 16. Why do you think Marlow says that these men “were
called criminals, and the outraged law … had come to them” (16).

13. Marlow’s description of the prisoners, “the great cause of these high and just
proceedings”(160, illustrates what literary device? Briefly explain your answer.

14. What does Marlow mean when he describes the “flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of
rapacious and pitiless folly” (16) he sees at the Outer Station? Give three (3) examples
of it.

15. Marlow describes a group of men who are dying (17). At what point are these men
“allowed to crawl away” (17)? What does Marlow give one of the men, and what is that
man’s response?

16. As Marlow watches “horror-struck,” what does another of the men do (18)?

17. What does Marlow find remarkable about the Company’s chief accountant? The
accountant says he manages “this miracle” because he trained a native who at first “had a
distaste for the work” (18). What does the reader infer about the woman’s current level
of cooperation and how the accountant inspired it in her?

18. What does the accountant say distracts him from his numbers (19)? What is the
relationship between the suffering of the natives and the maintaining of his order? How
does the preceding question connect also to the last question in #17?
19. What is the chief accountant’s opinion of Kurtz? Given the attitude you probably
described in your response to the 2nd question of question #18, is the chief accountant
likely to forgive Kurtz for cruelty as he “‘sends in as much ivory as all the others put
together’” (19)?

20. Overall, what adjectives would you use to describe the Outer Station? Be able to provide
evidence for each word you choose.

21. Provide 5 details of Marlow’s 200-mile march from the Outer Station. Describe the man
who says he’s “looking after the upkeep of the road” (20). What is the only evidence
Marlow sees of his efforts? What happens to the “fleshy” white companion on the
journey (20-21)?

22. What changes does Marlow refer to when he says that he’s “becoming scientifically
interesting” (21)?

23. How long will Marlow remain at the Central Station waiting for repairs to his sunk boat?

24. Describe the Manager of the Central Station. What are his best management skills,
according to Marlow?

25. Give 5 examples of how the Central Station shows a deterioration or diminishment of
white control over the land. Put differently, what happens at the Central Station that
likely would not at the Outer Station?

26. Why is Marlow “getting savage” (23)? What is the significance of this choice of words
and his subsequent behavior to the Manager?

27. Describe the “faithless pilgrims” (23, 24-25) at the Central Station. What literary device
does “faithless pilgrims” illustrate?

28. Describe the efforts to put out a fire (23-24). Who is blamed for the fire and what
becomes of him?

29. Describe the brick-maker and his tenure at the Central Station. What does the description
“papier-mache Mephistopheles” (26) indicate about his character? Look up both terms if
you’re unfamiliar with them.

30. What do you learn about Kurtz from the brick-maker?

31. Describe Kurtz’s painting and discuss its symbolism. Where did he do the painting?

32. An “indefatigable man” describes a beating a native receives (26) for allegedly starting
the fire. What does his approving account indicate about his view of western justice and
its role in assisting civilization in the Congo?

33. In the paragraph that begins “I let him run on” (26-27), Marlow describes “it” (27)
variously as “dumb” (as in mute) and having a “stillness on [its] face,” and etc. What is
 Marlow talking about? Mark every passage that describes nature as a force. What is the
general tone and character given to it?

34. Marlow compares telling the men on the Nellie about his experiences to “trying to tell
you a dream” (27). First, explain what he means by the “vain attempt” of explaining a
dream. How is his statement that “We live, as we dream–alone” a comment on our
disconnectedness from each other? How does that lack of connection link to lack of
communication? You might be interested in looking up the 80s “New Wave” group, the
Gang of Four’s song “We Live as We Dream Alone.”

35. Why is Marlow particularly irritable that “there wasn’t one rivet to be found” (28) at the
Central Station? Please don’t say, “Because he needs them to fix his boat.”

36. Describe the pilgrims’ efforts to destroy a hippo at the Central Station and comment on
the significance of their lack of success. One European says that “only brutes” have a
“charmed life” in the Congo (29). Rephrase his statement, but replace “brutes” with
“nature.” What is another way of seeing the “charmed life” of the hippo and other
“brutes”?

37. What is the Eldorado Exploring Expedition? Describe it and its leader.