Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Critical Essay
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s journey up the Congo River illuminates new understandings about himself and humanity as a whole. Just as the tinpot steamer begins to make headway toward Kurtz on page thirty-two, Marlow breaks from his narrative in a brief moment of reflection and addresses his shipmates on the Thames. This dialogue expresses the European men’s shared humanity with the Congolese, and illuminates the broader symbolism of the natives as humanity’s purest, unrestrained form as well as Marlow’s own ambivalence toward them.

Marlow first affirms that the Congolese are human, representing the species’ most primordial form away from the reaches of society. After referring to the natives as “the prehistoric man,” Marlow asserts, “the men were — No, they were not inhuman…” (32). While he reduces them to “prehistoric” and circuitously calls them “not inhuman,” Marlow is the first character in the novel to verbally express a sense of intraspecies connection to the natives. He further elucidates the native’s shouts have “meaning in it which you — you so remote from the night of the first ages — could comprehend” (32). Here, Marlow furthers his description as the natives as the barest form of humanity, presumably stuck in “the night of the first ages.” In addition, he reaffirms their sense of “kinship” by expressing their ability to transcend language barriers (32). At first glance, Marlow’s renditions of the native Congolese appear degrading and insulting. However, by referring to them as primordial, he conveys that they are utterly pure and untainted by the evolution of society: “truth stripped of its cloak of time” (32). In order to understand this truest form of humanity, Marlow conveys, a man “must meet that truth with his own true stuff — with his inborn strength. Principles won’t do. Acquisitions, clothes, pretty rags — rags that would fly off at the first good shake” (32). Here, Marlow understands the frivolousness of these listed social constructs and gains insight into humanity’s “true stuff:” our own, unrestrained nature. Unlike the Outer Station Manager’s elegant clothes, or “pretty rags,” the natives exhibit no facade. Opposed to European society, or “the shackled form of a conquered monster,” Marlow sees the Congo and its people as “monstrous and free” (32). In this episode of reflection, Marlow professes humanity, as demonstrated by the Congolese, is purest when it is away from civilization.

This episode also illuminates Marlow’s own, conflicted perspective toward the natives. While he undoubtedly recognizes their humanity, Marlow remains reluctant to verbally declare it. Instead, he refers to the “thought of their humanity” or simply calls them “not inhuman” (32). Similarly, though he celebrates their behavior as wild and “true,” Marlow conveniently has an excuse not to join them: “You wonder I didn’t go ashore for a howl and a dance? Well, no — I didn’t. Fine sentiments, you say? Fine sentiments, be hanged! I had no time. I had to mess about with white lead and strips of woolen blanket helping to put bandages on those leaky steam pipes — I tell you” (32–33). Here, falls back on his pursuit of Kurtz as justification for not disrupting the steamer’s forward progress. He shifts from a previously confident, philosophical tone to one of self defense, as demonstrated by the repetition of “I,” an exclamation, and the final reassurance, “I tell you.” As this episode closes with these words, Marlow’s reservations on leaving the comfort of the steamboat become transparent. Though he glimpses into the “truth” of human nature demonstrated by his “kin,” the natives, he feels no urge to interact with them. A microcosm for his overall ambivalence throughout the novel, this episode demonstrates a disconnect between Marlow’s words and his actions.

In all, this episode illuminates the natives as a symbol of pure, untainted humanity and Marlow’s ambivalence toward this recognition. Through Marlow’s description, the natives become a symbol for one side of the balance between human nature and civilization; without civilization, human nature is utterly unrestrained. In the context of the novel, the other side of the balance is The Company headquarters in Belgium; extremely “civilized,” but eerily mechanic and inhuman. Two extrema, it is unclear to both Marlow and the reader which represents light and which represents darkness. While the natives are humans in their purest, primordial form, they are also called “savages,” “brutes,” and “cannibals.” While the Company men are wealthy, well kept, and educated, they greedily reap profit from the mass killing of the Congolese. As Heart of Darkness unfolds, it increasingly becomes clear that humanity is not this stark. Just as Fresleven and Kurtz had before him, Marlow begins to realize that humans are a species of both light and darkness. Though civilization and social constructs can contrive a facade, they can never remove human nature’s innate savagery, or “darkness.”

