A Nice Boat Ride Into the Darkness...

The actions, behavior, and emotions of men under an evil or adverse influence is a central theme in Heart of Darkness. As Marlow begins to pilot his steamer up the river in Part II of the novel the stakes become even more ominous and the outlook more dark than in part I. The stress of the jungle weighs heavily on each person on the boat. The cannibals, the pilgrims, and Marlow show in their actions and the way they interact with each other that they are being influenced by their surroundings. They seem to be evolving. Presenting my observations are once again an effort at furthering my own understanding and, yes, once more as I look deeper they become intertwined and looping until they are like a tangled ball of yarn. Look deeper if you dare. At a basic level this is an investigation into how each group of characters reacts to the jungle.

Moving up the river for the travelers is like traveling back in time “to the earliest beginnings of the world” (46) or “into another existence perhaps.” (47) I think this is literal. The men have to change to survive. How each man survives is in the end up to them alone but is a struggle against outside factors. Marlow sees that there are two ways to get to his own final destination... the civilized way, by overcoming, conquering and remaining separate from the jungle or by the way of the uncivilized, the way of the jungle, of the native and, it would seem, of the cannibals on board. By letting the jungle overcome you and hoping that you come out on top. Heart of Darkness is a suggestion on how to survive though Conrad’s solutions may not be as straight forward as they seem.

The other “existence” mentioned that the travelers come to know is a self influenced by a world where there are no rules except those of the jungle. One would think that the way of the pilgrims would be the most civil. They are most “evolved,” they are not part of the early, presumably un-evolved men that the cannibals are from and therefore should be well mannered. This is not the case. They behave ironically, as is classic of Conrad, and are willing to kill fellow men for a promotion. The manager and his nephew talk of hanging Kurtz because they cannot compete with is success. The behave like animals. Ironically, Kurtz’s success is not because he is better at the capitalism game but because he has succumbed to the way of the jungle. He has essentially gone native and does not identify with the white men and other colonialists anymore. His methods are “unsound” but he flourishes in the savage environment.

Here the cannibals can be seen as the more civilized group on the steamer. It is in their nature to eat human flesh, presumably murdering just to survive but they do not. Here I wonder if the cannibals are the ones changing to a more civilized nature because of the jungle or the white man’s influence or perhaps it is Marlow’s perspective itself that is changing. He is surprised to find that his view of them is as less of savages and as more as, in his words “not inhuman.” He is struck by the thought of their humanity. The boat is traveling in a prehistoric world. These are men that fit with this world. They can behave in their own natural ways. The white men are out of place, unsuited. They are the beasts in this jungle. Marlow is tempted to move toward the ways of those that fit into the puzzle of darkness. When you fit into place there is no need to rock the boat and those that do rock the boat pass over you.

Marlow feels a pull from the jungle. He recognizes the comfort that comes with giving in and succumbing. Seeing Marlow change, his following of the cannibal’s path is obvious when Marlow stops to ask his storytelling audience on the Thames if they detect “an appeal to me in this fiendish row…” (50) in his desire to succumb to the jungle and the ways of the natives. He throws off his shoes soaked with his helmsman’s blood (barefooted like a native), he has a desire to dance and howl in the forest and he seems to identify more with the cannibals. He does denigrate anyone who would be so weak as to let themselves succumb but the seed is planted.

The jungle calling to Marlow and Marlow succumbing may also be one of the reasons that Marlow is drawn to Kurtz and why Marlow is almost infatuated with Kurtz while everyone else sees him as negative competition. Marlow knows that Kurtz has succumbed to the ways of the jungle and is perhaps feeling the same pull. He recognizes it at least. Kurtz is far succumbed but there is still an appeal to Marlow in seeing Kurtz and hearing “the gifted creature speak” which I believe is the type of appeal in seeing an oddity or paradox of humanity. Kurtz is a savage, closer to beast than man, but now Marlow sees that the savage may not be so inhuman in the jungle.

The appeal of the simple life of the cannibal, where there is only black and white and nature to determine your fate is made less objectionable by the surprisingly good behavior of the cannibals. In their simplicity they do not have the drive that would cause them to murder for success like the pilgrim. They don’t have the temptation and the greed. They haven’t evolved the emotion and have not yet been corrupted. They are at the beginning of the world while the whites are at the end (If anyone can find this in the text let me know. It comes up several times but I couldn’t locate the most concise example.) They have, however, begun the process of evolution to the dark ways of the whites. They work for brass wire.

I originally thought that the cannibals were so well behaved because they had more restraint, as Marlow suggests, but on further reading I came upon Kurtz’s report to The International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs. In it Kurtz suggests that the savages see the white men as gods… or the text, I think, can also be interpreted as a suggestion that white men assume this air for the goal of being seen as gods. Anyways… it may actually be out of fear of the gods that they do not attack even though they outnumber the pilgrims and are themselves starving. The pain of hunger is the hardest pain to overcome according to Marlow. Or maybe pain that is harsher than “the perdition of one’s soul…” is just part of the cannibal’s life. Or maybe they have no soul. Why they do not attack I do not honestly yet fully understand.

Hopefully this post stirs up some conversation about how the jungle is affecting the travelers, how it affects man in general and what state the various members of the expedition are in as a result of the jungle. I would also find it interesting to try and dissect what exactly Conrad is going for with his plot and themes even though I know the can of worms it opens. In any case… Flex your brain! Mine hurts again.