Plot

=“And this also, has been one of the dark places of the world.”-Marlow=

=Part I=

The novella opens with a boat, //The Nellie// making a trip on the Thames River. On the boat is a lawyer, an accountant, and the story’s protagonist, Marlow. All of them sit in silence, unsure of what to do, until Marlow suddenly proclaims: “And this also, has been one of the dark places of the world.” Marlow, being a master of storytelling, then begins to tell of a job he once had as a fresh water sailor. As a child, Marlow was always interested in maps of the world. He saw those areas that had not yet been explored, and longed to be the one to do so. Now, however, the map was filled, and that area was occupied by a snake like river-Africa’s Congo River.

Hearing that a trade company was in need of a sailor, Marlow pestered them relentlessly to be able to explore the river. After a while, he finally turns to his aunt, who is able to land him the job. Marlow is being sent to replace a man named Fresleven. Fresleven had felt he was cheated in price for two chickens, and had beaten a village elder. While that was going on, another native jabbed a spear between his shoulders, killing him.

Before he can go to the Congo, Marlow must be examined by a doctor. This doctor measures Marlow’s head before he leaves, saying that he wants to know what makes people go out to the Congo. The doctor reveals that he measures all of the heads of all of the men before they leave. When Marlow asks him what changes, the doctor says that he never sees them again, and that the change is internal. The doctor is the first of several characters who has an important post, but no actual function. His examinations of the head are pointless, since he never has any results to compare, and it all happens internally anyway.

Before leaving, he goes to visit his aunt, who Marlow notes, like all women, lives in a fantasy world. He claims that women wouldn’t make it on their own in the world. Marlow then departs for his journey to Africa. On the way they deliver mail to a warship full of sick men. In order to get through the final 200 miles to the company’s station, Marlow hitches a ride with a small steamer. A Swedish man on board questions his sanity for wanting to come out to the Congo. He tells Marlow that recently a man hanged himself because he couldn’t handle the environment.

When Marlow finally arrives at the station, he notices a ton of discarded machinery. They seemed to be building a railway, and he also notices a cliff being blasted away with dynamite for no reason. Afterwards, group of natives all chained together walks past Marlow. Marlow is sickened by this, even though he has seen a lot of evil in the world. The men were criminals for crimes they didn’t even know existed. In an attempt to clear it from his mind, Marlow continues towards the station. Stopping to rest in some shade, Marlow notices that many natives are lying under the tree, ready to die. They seem to be moving skeletons. He gives one a biscuit and continues on.

Upon his arrival at the station, Marlow meets the chief accountant. This man tells him that he will soon be meeting a Mr. Kurtz. The man goes on to explain that Kurtz is their most talented agent, and that he collects more ivory than any of the other men combined. The man also stresses Kurtz’ great success, and that he will one day make it big in the company. In order to reach the next station, Marlow must go on a 200 mile ‘tramp’ through Africa with a band of sixty men. Nothing particularly interesting happens, until he reaches the next station, where he is told that he steam boat had been sunk, and must be repaired before he can continue. He is then sent to meet the general manager.

The manager is an uneducated, unorganized man who has no special talents to him, other than an ability to withstand some of the strange illnesses of the area. He was given the job mainly for this ability to survive, and he has some ulterior motives. There Marlow is told of his assignment-he must travel upriver with the boat and resupply another station. They also believe that Kurtz, who lives there, may be sick. In the meantime, the boat will take a few months to be fixed.

Marlow notes that at the station, the word ivory hung in the air. It was a revered artifact, as if it was from a god. It was all anyone talked about, and it was virtually worshipped. During the wait for his boat repairs, a shed catches fire, and a black man is blamed and beaten for it. While this is going on, another man invites Marlow to come to his hut to talk to him. This man is a brick maker, who has no materials to actually make bricks-thus; he is another character like the doctor, useless. He also has a candle, which Marlow says is a luxury that only the manager is allowed.

Everyone at the station plots against each other in an attempt to get ahead, but no one actually does any work. It is a corrupt place. The brick maker pumps Marlow for information, thinking that back in Europe Marlow has some sort of high influence within the company. Marlow goes to leave, but in doing so notices a painting of a blind folded woman, carrying a torch with a sinister expression on her face. The brick maker tells Marlow that Kurtz had painted that before he left the station. The brick maker thinks Marlow and Kurtz were sent by the same people, and so they are both destined to be high up in the company. While the brick maker talks about his career, Marlow thinks about the immense jungle, and wonders if the jungle or the men will be the victor. He then thinks about Kurtz, and can’t picture him, except as a name.

Although Marlow hates lying more than anything, he lies to the brick maker, allowing him to believe he has influence in Europe. Since Kurtz is going to ascend to power, and this man wants it, Marlow thinks by saying that he could help Kurtz. As the man talks about getting ahead of other people in the company, Marlow thinks only of the rivets he needs to fix his boat. Marlow then makes a demand for rivets, but he doesn’t get any. Instead, an invasion comes. Called the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, they are a band of white men who plunder Africa, taking any goods or treasure they can find. Their leader is the uncle of the general manager.

=“You can’t imagine what dark things a man can do, alone in that environment.”-Marlow=

=Part II=

Marlow is uninterested in Kurtz himself, but more in the question of whether or not Kurtz will succeed. He gives up on hopes of getting rivets. One night, while asleep on his boat, Marlow wakes up to the sound of the manager talking to his uncle. The two talk about Kurtz and their disapproval of him. At this point, Marlow realizes that Kurtz has basically turned his back on his company to live alone at his station. They then talk about a man in Kurtz’ district that makes trading unfair-they would like to hang him. Marlow jumps up, startled, and the men get scared and walk off.

The next day the Eldorado Exploring Expedition leaves, and goes off into the wilderness. They never return. Soon after this incident, Marlow leaves. On his steam boat is a party consisting of pilgrims from the station, and cannibals. Focused entirely on steering the boat, Marlow thought only of the boat, and didn’t worry about anything else. They continued on towards Kurtz, sometimes meeting natives and white men along the way. Marlow got to see the world as monstrous, and unconquered. Seeing the natives wasn’t a great sight, but Marlow could almost understand them-after all, they were people too, and they were all related by that fact.

Fifty miles away from Kurtz’ station they come upon a small hut, with a sign out front saying there is firewood. They stop briefly. Inside the hut, Marlow finds a book about seamanship with notes written inside that appear to be in cipher. Finding the book in such a place with notes written in as they are amazes Marlow, and he takes it with him. The steam boat seems about to break down, and so they take a break about eight miles from Kurtz’ station.

As day breaks the next morning they hear a strange screaming throughout the air. Blinded by fog, the party fears that they will be attacked by natives. One of the cannibals remarks that he would like to eat the native making the noise, and Marlow realizes that all of them aboard the ship must be hungry. The cannibals had come on the journey unsure of what to expect, and ill prepared. They brought little food, and the villagers were too hostile to trade with. Marlow wonders what keeps them from eating the rest of the crew mates. He decides that it is a mystery, for hunger is such a driving force, that no mere personal restraint could keep them from devouring the crew.

Not wanting to be responsible should they attack, Marlow leaves the decision of what to do to the manager. He decides to press on. After the fog lifts, a protective attack by the natives is launched, the stream splits, and the path the boat takes is very narrow. Marlow gets annoyed with the native steering the boat, and sees that many of the crew have stopped doing their duties. Then he realizes that they are being shot at with arrows. Seeing a snag in the river, Marlow steers the boat clear of the obstacle. Meanwhile, the pilgrims fire guns at the natives, creating smoke, which reduces all visibility. The helmsman who had been steering the boat before is hit with a thrown spear, and falls to the ground. Marlow rings the boat’s whistle several times, scaring off the natives and ending the attack.

Marlow then exits the frame story momentarily, and says that he ended up making it to Kurtz’s station. He then mentions how foolish Kurtz’ intended-his fiancé-had been. He says that she lived in a beautiful, false world, like all women. Marlow then goes on to say that Kurtz was nothing more than a bald, walking corpse, under nature’s caress. Marlow also notes that Kurtz felt everything belonged to him, and that he was literally a devil. Marlow goes on to say that no one ever actually sells their soul to the devil; the fool is too foolish, or the devil is too devilish. Finally, he mentions an essay Kurtz wrote about “savage customs”, and states that he heard Kurtz was involved in rituals where flesh was offered up in Kurtz’ name. He also reveals that after Kurtz’ death he became in charge of all of Kurtz’ affairs.

In the end, Marlow is upset that the helmsman died, and doesn’t think that Kurtz was worth the lives paid to retrieve him. The frame story picks up again, and the whole crew has lost hope. They now think that when they reach the station that Kurtz will be dead, and there will be nothing there. The station, finally in sight, they make for shore, where a man who looks like a harlequin meets them. He knows already that they were attacked, and says that the natives are simple people. Some natives are waiting in the bushes, but the man assures them that they won’t attack. When questioned about if he talked to Kurtz, the man says that you don’t talk to Kurtz, you listen. He is revealed to be the Russian Trader that the manager and his uncle had mentioned hanging earlier. The trader says that Kurtz enlarged his mind with his brilliant talks. It is also revealed that the trader was the one who left the wood for them at the hut, and that it was his book that Marlow had found. The notes were written in Russian-not cipher, as Marlow had thought. At the end of part two, the trader states that the natives attacked because they didn’t want Kurtz to leave.

="The horror!"=

=Part III.=

The trader continues to talk with Marlow about Kurtz. Contrary to Marlow’s initial thoughts, the trader spent little time with Kurtz, although he nursed him through two illnesses. Kurtz spent most of his time raiding the countryside by himself. The natives, having never seen guns before, thought that Kurtz possessed thunder and lightning. The trader then tells Marlow that you can’t judge Kurtz the way you would judge any other man, due to his magnificence. Once, Kurtz had threatened to shoot the trader over a small amount of ivory that the trader came to own. Kurtz had done this just because he could; no one could stop him. Several times the trader had attempted to convince Kurtz to leave. Kurtz would eventually agree, but then he went hunting, and came back ill, in his current state.

Marlow, looking at what he originally thought were ornamental “knobs” now noticed that they were actually severed heads on top of spears. This showed that Kurtz had something wrong with him. They were said to be the heads of “rebels” which makes Marlow laugh-how could these poor people be rebels? Marlow thinks that the jungle took Kurtz as its revenge for the company’s invasion. Kurtz was a hollow shell of a man, and the jungle whispered dark things to him, driving him mad.

As the two talk about Kurtz, a band of natives arrives, carrying Kurtz on a stretcher. Marlow describes Kurtz as looking seven feet long, like an animated image of death carved of ivory. Then, a woman comes from the trees. The woman, who is Kurtz’ mistress is wild looking, wearing many types of beaded jewelry. The woman stares at their steam boat for a moment, and then returns back into the brush. The manager then tries to talk to Kurtz, who tells him that he is fine and doesn’t need saved. Kurtz explains that he has the best plans of anyone, and he will be alright. The manager, defeated, pretends to be sad that Kurtz is lost. Marlow tells him that he still thinks Kurtz is a remarkable man, thus isolating Marlow from the rest of the company. The manager is disgusted with Marlow, and walks away. To the company, Marlow is then seen as unsound as Kurtz, but Marlow remarks that he, unlike Kurtz, at least got to choose the nightmare that he was now in.

The trader then talks to Marlow alone, saying he fears the company wants to get him. Marlow confirms their idea of hanging him, and so the trader leaves with some natives to go to another military base where he will be safe. Marlow promises the trader he will keep Kurtz’ reputation safe. Before leaving, the trader tells Marlow that Kurtz had ordered the attack on the boat, because he didn’t want to be taken away.

After going to sleep, Marlow wakes up at night to hear the natives chanting around a huge fire. Marlow then notices that Kurtz is not in his cabin. Fearing an attack, but not wanting to betray Kurtz’ escape, Marlow goes after him alone. He finds out that Kurtz was crawling away, and knows he would eventually catch him. When he does catch up to Kurtz, Marlow knows if Kurtz screams they will attack. He tells Kurtz that he has to stop, or he’ll be completely lost-though really, Kurtz was as lost as he could possibly be already. Marlow then threatens to kill Kurtz if he yells out for help. Marlow continued trying to convince Kurtz to leave, but it was difficult. Kurtz was a god here-he was free from the boundaries of the earth. Luckily, Marlow’s tactics work, and Kurtz is convinced to leave. They leave the next day.

As they leave, the natives gather to see the boat off. The woman who was Kurtz’ mistress appears to be sad. The pilgrims want to shoot at the natives, so Marlow blows the whistle to scare them all away. Only the woman remains, enduring the strange sounds. Kurtz is given a bed in the boat, where he lays, dying. The crew sees Marlow as an outcast for talking with Kurtz, and they don’t talk to him. Kurtz’ voice is still strong in him as he is dying, and Marlow realizes that, as he originally thought, Kurtz wasn’t that much more than just a voice. Kurtz talks about his career, and gives him a bundle of papers that he didn’t want the general manager to get.

One night, Kurtz says that he’s waiting for death. A horrible look spreads across his face, and he exclaims, “The horror, the horror!” and dies. Marlow leaves him there and goes to eat. A member of the crew walks in, stating that Mr. Kurtz has died. Everyone rushes to see, except Marlow, who remains alone, eating.

Marlow also almost died on the voyage back. He said that the struggle against death is the most unexciting battle imaginable. Kurtz had something to say as he died, which made him remarkable. Marlow had nothing to say though, and so he lived on. Being at death’s edge, Marlow understood that Kurtz couldn’t even see the flame of the candle in that room as he died, yet he saw the whole universe as it was; he saw all the evil of the world.

After the steam boat trip, Marlow goes back to Europe, but thinks that everyone in Europe was fake and had a pointless existence. He was a little sick in the mind at that point. Many people asked for Kurtz’ papers, but Marlow refused to give them to anyone. He does give away the essay that Kurtz had wrote about the natives, but removes the final page first, to hide the fact that Kurtz had went back and written "Exterminate the brutes!" over it.

Finally, Marlow decides to go see the woman that Kurtz was supposed to have married. Before entering, he sees his memories of Kurtz and the jungle, his death, everything. When she comes to the door, he notices she is still in mourning, though Kurtz died over a year ago. The woman thought that she alone could properly mourn for the loss of Kurtz. In his mind, Marlow hears Kurtz’ final words. She says that she knew Kurtz better than anyone else had. As she says this, Marlow feels darkness begin to fill the room. Kurtz’ intended thinks that he was too great a loss to the world, and that his words must live on. She couldn’t believe she’d never see him again, but Marlow could see him right then, as a phantom, haunting him forevermore. Finally, she states that he shone goodness in all he did, and wants to know what his final words were. Marlow lies to her, and tells her that his last words were her name, allowing her to continue living in her fantasy world. Overwhelmed but what she said she already knew he must have said, she begins weeping. Marlow’s story then comes to an end. On the boat, the men who listened to the story look at the river, and it seems to lead into an immense heart of darkness.