Heart of Darkness: Marlow's Journey

Heart of Darkness: Marlow's Journey in Chapter One

Jackson Brill

London, England: Marlow enraptures the narrator and his three other compatriots on board The Nellie, a British vessel waiting for a flood to recede before commencing. "The gloom to the west ... grew more somber every minute, as if angered by the setting sun. (2)" This quote is a great example of foreshadowing that a tonal shift from peaceful and serene to violent and brutal is about to take place. Also, the metaphor involving the sun is a good example of how Conrad writes as he often gives first a literal and then figurative description of a situation, as he does here.

Brussels, Belgium: The Company is a Belgium Ivory company, whose purpose is to accumulate Ivory from the Belgium-occupied Congo and trade it for extraordinary riches. Marlow is given a job at the company guiding a steamboat, a position he secured with the help of his connected aunt. In Brussels, where Marlow is "sworn in" he describes the town as giving off a deathly vibe. However, since the previous steamboat captain just perished, Marlow brushed it aside as unduly "prejudice". However, this trend continues to the point that it cannot be ignored, as "two women...knitting black wool" (7) haunt Marlow as he makes his way through the company offices. Again, negative foreshadowing continues to drop clues to Marlow that he chooses to ignore, instead pressing on further towards Africa.

French Steamer down the Coast of Africa: Marlow's sense of unease and his lack of control involving his situation become painfully obvious in this section of the story. Marlow declares "I felt as though ... I were about to set off for the center of the earth (10)" immediately before the ship set off for Africa, which shows his concern and foreboding about the situation. When he is well into the journey, Marlow vocalizes that the trip is a "weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares (11)". At this point in the story, this brings up another psychological criticism worth examining: Why does Marlow continue on this adventure, when there are blatant examples of archetypal danger every way he looks?

The Central Station: The journey to and the time spent at the central station continues to muddy the waters as to whether white or black man is the protagonist of the story. First, the Africans are viewed as much physically stronger than the Europeans throughout the 200 mile trek into the interior of the African continent. While the slaves carry 60 lb packs day after day, Marlow's fellow Caucasian counterpart faints multiple times, and is forced to be carried to the Central Station. He's not the only European who gets sick in the hostile environment: on the French steamer ship, 3 men per day were expiring due to illness, and even the Godlike Kurtz is weighted down by the African sicknesses. Once at the Station, Marlow refers to the white Europeans running the Station as "flabby devils (17)". His negative view of the manager, the manager's spy (the brickmaker), and the manager's uncle (leader of a band of raiders) while positively praising the Africans during the trip down the African coast ("The black fellows...sang...[with] a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement...They were a comfort to look at." (11)) shows that Marlow, despite initially appearing to have bought into the idea of European superiority, still has his doubts as to the legitimacy of the white race.

Outer Coastal Station, Mouth of the Congo River: Conrad makes the contrast of black and white glaringly obvious once the boat lands on African soil (he had alluded to this distinction earlier in the book, but it is at this point that the color difference begins to be a central theme. Previously in the book, Marlow describes the Africans as inferior being to the white Europeans, a common mindset in that day. However, the line begins to blur between black and white, right and wrong in this section. "The [blacks] were not enemies, they were not criminals (14)". While Marlow stills looks down upon the Natives, he has harsher words for some of the other European's residing in Africa (see the Inner Station for details). However, there is still obvious racism and white superiority, as Marlow describes the actions of one slave in an animalistic manner, "lapping [water] out of his hand, [while on] all fours (14)".