Heart Of Darkness Essay Questions

1. How does Marlow feel when he hears the tribesmen howl and watches them dance? How does he explain that feeling? What keeps him from joining the tribesmen?

Marlow identifies with the howling, dancing tribesmen, feeling that he and the tribesmen have a “remote kinship” that he believes all white men need to recognize and acknowledge. He claims that the only reason he does not join the men is because he has too much to do already.

2. What book does Marlow find in the reed hut in the jungle? How does he feel when he puts the book away? Why? The book Marlow finds in the hut is a navigation manual with indecipherable notes scrawled in the margins. The notations, which are written in a language and script Marlow and the men cannot interpret,

For what society does Kurtz write a report? What attitude toward the inhabitants of the Congo does he display in the report? What change in attitude is indicated by the handwritten note at the end of the report?

Kurtz writes a report for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs, in it, conveying an attitude of respect, almost, towards the inhabitants of the Congo. However, in his handwritten note, informally scribbled at the end of the report, he adds that “the brutes” should be “exterminated.”

5. Who attacks the steamboat as it approaches the Inner Station? Why?

The Africans in the jungle attack the pilgrim’s steamboat under Kurtz’s orders because he fears the ship is coming to take him away.

6. In Part II Marlow reaches the Inner Station, but he does not meet Kurtz. What effect does Conrad create by withholding the meeting until part 3?

By delaying the highly-speculated meeting, Conrad creates a suspenseful and almost dejected mood, as Marlow is still anticipating meeting the elusive Kurtz but also wonders if he might already be