Discussion on the Heart of Darkness

Hello again reader!

So, I've been asking my friends who was on the January 2012 intake about what was the most frequently ask question for the Heart of Darkness. Referring to my previous post , there are 3 events that I wanted to highlight and discuss with all of you.

Lazy to read my previous post? Don't worry, I'll post it here because all of you are GOOD STUDENT ☺

So the first one is " Knowing that the cannibal would eat the helmsman, Marlow threw the helmsman body in the river and said that IT WAS A PROPER BURIAL ". Now, in the story, the cannibals didn't even argue as to why Marlow threw their "food" away. If we think logically, if someone threw our food away, it would be a waste and we would be angry because that action is so rude. So think, dear reader, why do you think that they do not oppose Marlow's action? 

• This is because that THE CANNIBALS ARE MORE CIVILIZED THAN KURTZ IS. They knew that it would be disrespectful if they were to feed on the helmsman body in front of Marlow. They also knew that the helmsman had been a great help to Marlow in his search of Kurtz. Comparing to Kurtz, he at first was on a mission to bring civilization to the native suddenly became a savage himself and brought himself to believe that he was a deity and a superior among the savages.

Next is " But then, Kurtz yelled "The Horror! The Horror!" and eventually drew his last breath ". Now, there are a few opinion on this particular question.

1. Kurtz realized what "horror" that he had done, particularly on his mission and his cruelty towards the people.
•  His mission was to bring civilization into the village. The villagers renowned him as a deity from above because of his superiority and his ability to spark their spirit in fighting. As such, he forsakes his mission and became one of them.
• By gaining the villagers trust, he somehow became their leader. He abused his power by decapitating those who oppose him and mount their head on a fence.

     2. Perhaps Kurtz saw an angle of death

Lastly "Marlow lied about how Kurtz died and said that Kurtz mentioned her name before he died. " This is because Marlow did not have the heart to tell her the ugly truth. Imagine, if Kurtz's fiancee heard about how tragic his death is and how he not mentioned her name instead. Obviously, it would be devastating for her. And so to help her ease her pain, he lied saying Kurtz mentioned her name instead of yelling "The Horror"


That's all from me. Thank you ☺

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