"There was not a word from anybody. The others might have been asleep, but I was awake. I listened. I listened on the watch for the sentence, for the word that give me the clue to the faint uneasiness inspired by this narrative that seemed to shape itself without human lips in the heavu night-air of the river..." (27).
"As for me, I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time. It was a distinct glimpse: the dugout, four paddling savages, and the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home perhaps, setting his face towards the depths of the wilderness...I do not know his motive" (32).
"Where the pilgrims imagined it crawled to I don't know. To some place where they expected to get something, I bet! For me it crawled toward Kurtz..." (35).
We're close to Kurtz. Only eight miles down the river. And with Kurtz, the meaning of Marlow's story will come into focus. Or so can only hope.
1. Marlow thinks his audience isn't listening—but they are, particularly the narrator. What interest could they have in this story that does not always support their view of empire, colonization, imperialism, and themselves?
2. Marlow is looking for Kurtz. That's it. Why? We'll find out more soon, but from what we've read already—what is the lure of Kurtz to Marlow?
That's enough to start us up again. Go ahead and quote in one of your responses. I hope your break was relaxing. A big chunk of uninterrupted school time coming up. Yay!
See you all tomorrow.
1. They may be interested, at least initially, because none of them has ever experienced anything like this story. They all seem to be business men in Europe, and they probably have never experienced intense violence or seen the new sights that Marlow describes. Also, at this point, Marlow has nt come out against or in favor of colonization. He just explains his observations. In this way, he keeps his audience waiting. He is basically lying out all the information and sights that he obtained from his journey, and then at the end he might give his viewpoint based on this experience. However, for now, his audience doesn't know what he is exactly thinking, and they are involved in the story so they want to find out his opinion at some point.
ReplyDelete2. Marlow left his home, and now he feels lost. He doesn't exactly know why he is doing the work he is doing , and he seems to be questioning if colonialism is a helpful or productive thing to do. He starts to see the similarities between himself and the Africans he thinks are below him. When he is on his boat trip down the river to find Kurtz, he passes by some Africans calling out to him. He says "No, they were not inhuman" and "what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity --like yours-- the thought of you remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar". Marlow realizes that all humans share certain inner characteristics, and he starts to see that he is not very different from the Africans that he for some reason believes are inferior to him. All these realization start to make Marlow question his work situation even more. I think he is wondering how the terrible treatment of people he has seen could be right or just, and he is looking for some reason for the madness around him. Through all of his struggles, Kurtz has been mentioned as someone with a goal. Kurtz seems above the other people who are working as part of this colonialist system. There is a feeling that if Marlow can make it to Kurtz, then maybe Kurtz can explain or justify why all of these terrible things are happening. I think Marlow believes that Kurtz can help him gain understanding. Kurtz gives him some hope that maybe there is something worthwhile at the end of this. Also, Marlow is alone. He doesn't have any friends around him, and he is dealing with a lot of danger and tough issues. Kurtz gives him something to think about that isn't the terror or stress he is feeling.
1) For one, the narrator’s respect for Marlow was made clear earlier in the book. This is probably reason enough to listen to whatever Marlow has to say. The other passengers listening to his story have respect for Marlow, as the only of them there that still “followed the sea.” The narrator explains what he means, but also mentions something that coincidentally pertains to the story Marlow would eventually tell. “A casual spree on shore unfold suffices to unfold for him the secret of of a while continent…” In the case of Marlow’s story, the continent is Africa. It is highly unlikely that a lawyer or accountant, two of the people listening to Marlow, ever go to Africa see for themselves what is occurring. They listen to Marlow’s story for the “secrets, the truths, that they will never see for themselves, even if it doesn't support what they are doing. Marlow is their only medium for this information.
ReplyDelete2) Marlow loves chasing the unknown. The narrator points it out early on the book (my quote in the last question). It's also seen when he expresses his desire to travel to the unknown parts of Africa. “But there was one yet (area on the map) – the biggest – the most blank, so to speak – that I had a hankering after.” He's interested in Kurtz for these same reasons. There is a certain mysteriousness around Kurtz, an ominousness that attracts Marlow to him. It's like no has seen him or can give a complete description of him. He is the unknown villain boss of an evil organization in a superhero movie. He is the winter soldier. Marlow is on a journey to discover exactly who Mr. Kurtz is.
1. I think the audience is interested in what Marlow has to say. While they're obviously not responding or offering very much commentary on what he has to say, they are definitely listening and applying what Marlow has to say. It also can't be expected that they say anything because none of them have ever experienced anything relatively close to what Marlow is disclosing. They're very outside of their realm and hearing this story is probably pushing them to think in ways they hadn't been prior to hearing this. Also, like what Mira was saying, Marlow never explicitly talks about whether or not he is for or against colonization which might be something that really captures his audiences' attention. Especially seeing as most businessmen are probably either pro colonization or are very complacent and lenient when it comes to its effects on their empires.
ReplyDelete2. I think Kurtz offers a different perspective that Marlow hasn't encountered before. Marlow doesn't seem set on any beliefs as of yet, and seeing Kurtz so solid in his values and his reasoning is something I think Marlow finds really attractive. Everyone in the book seems to be very easy for Marlow to decipher and I think Kurtz offers a challenge because he's not working towards the same goal as everyone else. He doesn't make the same decisions and he's working towards something different that Marlow has yet to discover.
1. First of all, it’s a very suspenseful story, what with the menacing forest, the untamed territory, and the constant fear of attack or illness. It’s also a story that’s very unfamiliar to the audience, a group of people who’ve probably never left England. This isn’t one of those things where someone goes on a trip to Africa and comes back with a bunch of pictures that they make you look at and you pretend to care. This story is so horrifying and alien that it could be used to fix Marlow’s boat (get it? The story is RIVETing). But most importantly, I think that these men, all of whom are seemingly a part of England’s upper class, want to understand their role in society and how they achieved what success they have. Marlow’s story of colonialism and conquest gives them greater insight into how England operates and how it rose to such prominence. This in turn, changes how they look upon their own successes and rise to prominence, which occurred at the expense of so many exploited natives. This doesn’t support their view of themselves, but it does inform it.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Marlow has romanticised Kurtz in his head, envisioning him as a ray of hope in this weird sea of unfamiliar people and lost motivations. He wants to return to his initial goal of rugged exploration, and Kurtz is the very model of that, it seems. We learned earlier that Kurtz, “after coming three hundred miles had suddenly decided to go back, which he started to do alone in a small dugout with four paddlers”(32). He’s described as “setting his face towards the depths of the wilderness, towards his empty and desolate station”(32). In Marlow’s mind, Kurtz is the ideal explorer, a man independent from all the inefficient bureaucracy he witnessed with the chief accountant and other employees back at the camp.
1. It is a gripping story—told well, very suspenseful. I imagine Marlow speaking with drama, creating this world with his words. It seemed ironic to me on page 34 when Marlow is interrupted: “Try to be civil, Marlow”. Marlow has been describing horrific things from the start of his tale—why does the growling voice, whichever Company member it may be, whose to interrupt him then? How far is too far? The Company men want to hear about what happened because their lives are centered around voyages like Marlow’s. His story is directly connected to their stories. And perhaps as he goes on and the story gets darker they are less excited, less interested, and more afraid. They do not want to know the reality of what they are causing; yet, some part of them wants to continue listening. It is like watching a really scary movie—you don’t want to look but there is some part of you that is glued to the screen.
ReplyDelete2. Marlow is an explorer, a seaman. He is intrigued by the unknown, but the mysterious. Kurtz is the ultimate unknown—he is legendary amongst the colonists but little is known about him (or at least Marlow knows very little about him). Marlow has projected his uncertainty about this trip, about being in Africa, onto Kurtz: if he talks to Kurtz his questions will be answered, his doubts resolved. This is likely untrue, but Marlow needs an outlet for his fear. He is lonely on this journey. It doesn’t seem like he talks to others all that much. And it is tough to be lonely on such a harrowing trip.
1. I think that the main reason these upper-class beneficiaries of English imperialism are listening to Marlow’s tale is that whether or not they’re conscious of it, they have some inkling of the true nature of where their nation’s wealth, therefore their wealth, comes from. I think that these men quite actively repress any thoughts of what could be going on in that “darkness” (23), but the nagging feeling is still there, the curiosity. Marlow’s story lets them hear exactly what they’ve unknowingly been interested in while allowing them to maintain an air of obstinacy or at the very least disinterest. They can act as though his words offend them, and I suppose they probably do, but more than that, Marlow’s story pinpoints the guilt these men must be feeling.
ReplyDelete2. “The point was in his being a gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the one that stood out preeminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words -- the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness” (23). I think that while Marlow may have set out on this adventure as some sort of way to give his life purpose or perspective, it has turned into a journey of realization as to what mankind is and what it has to potential to become, all the evil and cruelty it’s capable of. With that in mind, I think Kurtz is somewhat representative of what pre-Africa Marlow hoped to become, and an ideal that current (as in, on the boat with the cannibals) Marlow is desperately trying to cling to as the shiny veil of patriotic imperialism is falling from his eyes and the reality of his countrymen’s barbarism becomes unavoidable.
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ReplyDelete1. There's a couple of reasons. First, I think that the story is interesting precisely because it undermines the listeners' views of imperialism. The "faint uneasiness" that gives the narrator a desire for "a clue" comes from a subversion of the listeners' paradigm; the story is one bigger than humanity, told "without human lips" (27). The listeners, especially the narrator, feel the truth exuding from the story and even if they don't know why, keep listening to figure it out. Second, I think part of their attention comes from the "fascination with the abomination" (6). Society leaves these men repressed and their latent desires can emerge vicariously through Marlow's story.
ReplyDelete2. Again, there's a couple of reasons here. First, I think Marlow feels alone and vulnerable, with first the brickmaker and then the manager and his uncle plotting against him. Since the brickmaker implied that Marlow and Kurtz are similar he could potentially be an ally in a dangerous situation. Similarly, I think because Kurtz, according to the brickmaker, the accountant, and the council in Europe seems to have a handle on the situation that Marlow is hoping for some justification or at least a respite from the inefficiencies and unnecessary suffering he has witnessed and that maybe someone smarter like Kurtz can give it to him. Furthermore, as a rugged individualist like Marlow, Kurtz represents all of the romantic beliefs that Marlow once held about Africa. If he can just get to Kurtz, possibly he will get away from the rampant suffering and return to the exploration he always wanted.
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ReplyDelete1. I agree with Emma's point on how the people on the yacht are intrigued by Marlow's story because they haven't experienced an “adventure” like his. At the time, British citizens were essentially the colonists by way of their country, but most of them had never set foot on the lands they colonized. The fact that they got to hear what really goes on when the British and the Europeans go to conquer and colonize foreign lands is so new to them because they usually get the condensed version. And because Marlow isn't totally clear about his standing on imperialism and colonization, the audience isn't really compelled to have an opinion about the story. They can instead take in the story as entertainment instead of a social commentary because they aren't fully forced to see it as more than a story.
ReplyDelete2. I think Marlow's fascination of Kurtz is due to the stories people tell about him. He was made out to be a legend attempting to do things no one thought possible: “the two fellows there seemed astounded at anybody attempting such a thing” (32). And after all the ivory he got, Kurtz was still able to separate himself and be his own man.Kurtz is in many ways what/who Marlow wants to be like and having seemingly figured it out, Marlow is looking to learn some of Kurtz’s ways.
1. These men have heard Marlow's stories before. When Marlow starts to speak, our narrator says: "we knew we were fated, before the ebb begun to run, to hear about one of Marlow's inconclusive experiences" (7). This isn't a surprise to them. Marlow has told them other, similarly morally miring stories before. When Marlow pauses, our narrator tells us that he waited for "the clue to the faint uneasiness inspired by this narrative" (27). This is almost like a ghost story to them. It makes them think, but it's distant. These men have no need to feel more than a faint uneasiness. When Marlow does bring it too close to them, they react. On the one occasion so far he has actually commented on the comical futility of their jobs in this whole system, one tells him to be civil. If this story sheds light on something in their life, they get something. If not, or if it shows them something they don't want to see, they can turn away from just another crazy story Marlow told.
ReplyDelete2. Kurtz is the best of Europe. He is intelligent, artistic, and has morals. He comes from the colonists who believe they must civilize Africa, what the brick maker calls the "gang of virtue" (25). What fascinates Marlow is that this man, an emblem of everything European and civilized, has turned his back on the same civilization that brought him there. Kurtz chooses to stay at the station rather than deliver his ivory. He has drifted somewhat from his job, and yet he is still the best at it.
1. Arguably, their “interest” could have started out as sheer boredom and willingness to let Marlow ramble. I had assumed up until this point that no one BUT the narrator was even really listening - until a second voice chimed in. “'Try to be civil, Marlow,’ growled a voice.”(34) After all this talk of slavery, starvation and blatant brutality, a quick jab at their professions results in a rebuke: a reminder to be “civil.” After all this, they still idealize their own behavior as civility. They want their beliefs confirmed or denied. They could have sneaking suspicions that maybe people who live in Africa really ARE people, that maybe it ISN’T the best idea to send businessmen there - that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn’t feel so good about profiting from it. Or, to be less optimistic, they are waiting for Marlow to get to his unspecified “unselfish belief in the idea - something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to….”(7) that will reassure them that really, at the core of it, there IS something that justifies all this nonsense. No doubt they’ve already heard a few recounts of the crimes against humanity committed for the sake of lining their pockets, and most likely that isn’t something they’re PROUD of - they are seeking validation, whether for their doubts in the expeditions’ moral and fiscal soundness or their greedy hope that they operate with some central, civil pillar that makes everything they do okay. They want answers, and to get those they need information - they need Marlow.
ReplyDelete2. Marlow is looking for Kurtz because he wants him to reaffirm his beliefs about the world and the Englishman’s place in it. Marlow came to Africa looking for adventure, and what he found were corrupt businessmen and dying slaves and - worst of all - INEFFICIENCY, of all things! Everything is terrible - workers are dying left and right, everyone is lying and being lied to, the ground itself is being blown up and ships are firing blindly into the jungle! Lo and behold, he hears story after story of Kurtz - upstanding, upward bound, and efficient; Kurtz is, no doubt, the Englishman that Marlow thought he’d see fresh off the boat on his marvelous adventure. He becomes obsessive, “Where the pilgrims imagined it crawled to I don’t know. To something where they expected to get something, I bet! For me it crawled towards Kurtz - exclusively.”(35) He begins to see Kurtz as some sort of end-all-be-all remedy to his confusion and doubt. He satisfies his ideals of both a prudent business manager and a fearless explorer who goes out into the wilderness in a dugout canoe. “The two fellows there seemed astounded at anybody attempting such a thing. They were at a loss for an adequate motive. As for me, I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time. It was a distinct glimpse: the dugout, four paddling savages, and the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home perhaps, setting his face towards the depths of the wilderness, towards his empty and desolate station. I do not know the motive.” (32) Marlow “sees him clearly,” “distinctly,” but doesn’t understand the motive: maybe he doesn’t see him as clearly as he thinks. They refer to him as “that man,”(32) but is Marlow really thinking any differently? He has begun to think of Kurtz as a last refuge of European sanity and English civility in an unending, silent world that seems to be trying to eat him. This was not the adventure he signed up for. Marlow’s worldview was shattered, and he needs Kurtz to pick up the pieces.
1. The story itself, whether it criticizes imperialism or not, is interesting because it is a story about a man going to a place that he and his audience have never been to. Marlow also makes the story very suspenseful by dropping abundant hints that what he will find at the end of his journey will be something shocking and transformative. Marlow’s audience is also interested in Marlow’s story because of Marlow’s detailed descriptions of the Congo, a place that is incredibly foreign and alien to these Londoners. More generally, maybe, the powerful people in the boat want to know exactly what is going on in these colonies that make their country and continent so powerful and wealthy.
ReplyDelete2. Up until Marlow overhears the conversation between the Manager and his uncle, he is not all that interested in Kurtz. He is interested in getting rivets for the boat not for the purpose of seeing Kurtz, but to continue with his journey because he is naturally adventurous. However, after overhearing this conversation that is almost entirely focused on Kurtz, Marlow “was then rather excited at the prospect of meeting Kurtz very soon” (33). The moment that causes Marlow’s interest to grow is when he hears the story about how Kurtz turned back to his station after he went part of the way back towards the coast. Marlow says, “They [the Manager and his uncle] were at a loss for an adequate motive. As for me, I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time.” (32) Marlow gets an image in his head of Kurtz and maybe this image, along with all the mysticism surrounding Kurtz, is what intrigues him. The mysticism surrounding Kurtz has been growing steadily since his name was first mentioned but it grows significantly after Marlow hears this conversation where the Manager and his uncle don’t use his name and instead call him “the man”. Above all, I think Marlow is wondering what is propelling Kurtz to stay by his station seemingly indefinitely.
The audience may find the story particularly interesting because it shows how civilization, which they find themselves immersed in at the start of the book, flounders and fails in the face of the wilderness of both nature and men. Marlow transports them to the Congo, under the rule of a horribly inefficient colonial company, and lets them see the pettiness in many of the white officers at the central station as they jostle for a chance to run their own outpost, the rapacious hunt for profit portrayed in the manager’s uncle, and the inhumanity of many of the whites as they whip and starve many, if not all, the blacks in their employ. But what can these professionals gain from listening to this damning tale of the failures of colonialism? I think that they are listening to justify their own colonial exploits, insomuch that their work is more humane, more purposeful than the hunt for profit, and includes more noble men. This can be inferred because the men on the boat still separate their work from the work Marlow has done. When Marlow compares both his job on the Congo steamer as well as their jobs to that of an acrobat, for entertainment and presumably a bit of futility, another man interjects and tells Marlow to “try to be civil” (57, Bantam Classics Edition). Here the man refutes Marlow’s assertion that their job is like his. And if the men are not listening to hear criticism of their own jobs, they must be listening to hear a story of colonial failure, which certainly they, aboard a yacht in the Thames, cannot be guilty of.
ReplyDeleteKurtz has been described to Marlow as the moral new guard of the company, the efficient and uncorrupt savior of the colonial effort. That is what Kurtz is: a final justification of colonialism, the pinnacle of European civilization as it educates, edifies, and civilizes the natives while still earning a profit (talk about efficiency). Marlow wants and needs to see Kurtz because he stakes all his justifications of what he is doing on Kurtz; somehow his mission is still humane, and that everything else he has seen was just a mistake. Kurtz, to Marlow, may yet absolve Europe of its futility in the rest of the continent, and ultimately absolve Europe of its colonial sins.
1. The men are captivated by Marlow’s story because he tells of something they will never experience. I also think it is entirely possible that the men may hear what they want to hear. I do not think that Marlow fully understands that what he has seen in Africa may list England to blame. I think Marlow blocks this out. Perhaps these men are just as capable of missing the point as Marlow is. Perhaps they just see this as an entertaining story to pass the time, but they do not want to comprehend the deeper meaning. On the other hand, something about Erin’s idea speaks to me as well; perhaps the men seek answers in Marlow’s tale, whether these answers confirm whatever doubts of imperialism they may have harbored previously or dismantle them.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Marlow believes that Kurtz might provide answers to any unknowns that crossed Marlow’s mind during his travels. I think Marlow has these ideas planted in his head about imperialism and he is programmed to agree with these ideas (as, perhaps are the men he is telling his story to). However, as he travels, Marlow experiences things that may unravel these beliefs. He is not sure what to think anymore. He seeks answers in Kurtz, the man who could make or break his beliefs. Perhaps Marlow is also looking for beauty in Africa. “An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine” (33). Every description Marlow utters of the land spits distaste and disgust. Even after the land has fallen into England’s clutches, Marlow cannot define any positive qualities. He wonders if England really has benefited this land. I think this connects to the hope that Kurtz may ease Marlow’s doubts about imperialism, but with another aspect of life in Africa.