Flames and Running and Threats of Violence and All Around Crazyness
Can anyone give me a brief summary of exactly what was going on with the fire and Kurtz crawling into the jungle and Marlow chasing him and natives rioting in the third part of the book? It starts on page 90 of my edition. It was very confusing and I don’t know who is attacking who and why Kurtz is trying to escape and whether Marlow really has the desire to kill Kurtz, who started the fire, etc., etc., etc.
What is the purpose of this section? Nothing really came out of it did it?
What is the purpose of this section? Nothing really came out of it did it?
posted by Matthew at
8:40 PM
1 Comments:
Here’s my take of things on the literal level. The natives peacefully surrender Kurtz who is carried to the boat by the Pilgrims after which the Manager takes control of the Inner Station and possession of all the ivory. The Pilgrims are guarding the store of ivory and in the night they have built a bonfire for security. They are surrounded by thousands of natives watching from the darkness of the jungle. Marlow knows that the natives are ready to attack and massacre the whites if given any signal from Kurtz or the African Princess. In the night, Marlow wakes to find that Kurtz has left the boat and is attempting to return to the jungle to reclaim his ivory and his power. Marlow follows the trail that Kurtz leaves as he crawls through the grass. When Marlow encounters Kurtz in the darkness, he knows that a single cry from Kurtz will set off a massacre. To prevent this, he is willing to knock Kurtz unconscious if necessary. Marlow successfully returns Kurtz to the boat without a physical struggle thereby preventing the massacre. This is accomplished through one of Conrad’s narrative time leaps.
This is the literal, moral, and symbolic climax of the story and told with a bit more complexity and drama by Conrad/Marlow. At least that’s my take.
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