Heart of Darkness begins with a scene of five men on a boat, The Nellie. A captain, a lawyer, an accountant, Marlow and an unknown narrator. The men are there together by the “bond of the sea” (Page 5). The narrator notes that seamen are homebodies. Since every ship looks the same and the sea always looks the same, it doesn’t matter where they are. They’re at home on the sea. Seaman see no need in wandering around land, once they see apart of the continent, they’re not curious enough to see the rest of it. The men sit on the boat and as the sun begins to set, Marlow begins to tell a story. Marlow is a very eloquent narrator and the men are used to him talking for hours. Marlow recalls all of the men that once came through the river. Like Sir Frances Drake and Sir John Franklin. Marlow then recalls the time that the Romans first came to London. He first says that the Roman men were brave, “sand-banks, marshes, forests, savages, -precious little to eat fit for a civilized man, nothing but Thames water to drink” (Page 9). Later, the Marlow begins foreshadowing as he says that what they are doing is a lot like the Romans. He says that the “these chaps were not much account, really” (Page 10) meaning that they weren’t that great. The Romans stole because they could, but they weren’t able to control colonies. Marlow claims that what he did was conquest of the earth, but the Romans have nothing to show for everything they stole. They were not efficient, “they were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze” (Page 10).
The narrator then tells us they are waiting for the tides to change, “here was nothing else to do till the end of the flood” (Page 10). Marlow mentions that he always wanted to be an explorer since he was a child. He always looked at the biggest, most blank spaces on the map and decided that he wanted to visit those places. Marlow begins to tell us by the time he grew up, the blank space he always dreamed of visiting was covered with lakes and rivers and names. Marlow refers to this snake like river (the Congo) “The snake had charmed me” (Page 12).
Marlow’s Aunt had connections with the Company and was determined to get him a job. After a captain was killed in a fight with natives over hens, Marlow got a with the Company. Marlow spent the next couple of days preparing for his new job before he arrived in “a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre” (Page 14) referring to Brussels, Belgium. Marlow sees the map of the congo at the Company’s headquarters. I believe this is one of his first experiences that Marlow is exposed to clashing cultures. He talks about how some of his family lives on the European continent but he believe that London is a lot better then the rest of Europe. The notion of imperialism is demonstrated early on in the book. The Company is also Dutch, at this point when the book is based, the Dutch were some of the world leaders. They had control of ‘The Spice Islands (The Philippines)’ which was one of the most highly regarded places at this time. Marlow had trouble getting work in London because England was not yet the world powerhouse in colonization.
After a month’s journey on French and Swedish boats, Marlow finally reaches a station. It isn’t long after he realizes how much the Natives are suffering. “They were dying slowly - it was very clean. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now - nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation” (Page 24). There is a lot of talk about Mr. Kurtz. Marlow doesn’t seem to really care, but finally Marlow says “‘Tell me pray,’ said I, ‘who is this Mr. Kurtz?” (Page 36) To Marlow, Kurtz was just a name. He couldn’t place what he looked like and he couldn’t tell if he was good or evil. Some said that he was a remarkable man but others seemed to be afraid of Kurtz, making him out to be some fearless leader.
I figure that Kurtz is this mystery to Marlow. He’s a very important part of the story, as he’s been mentioned without Marlow ever meeting him yet. Everyone has a different idea of Kurtz and Marlow receives these little pieces of information together. Kurtz, to Marlow, is like placing a puzzle together, but you don’t know what the end result will be yet.
