Heart of darkness | Joseph Conrad | full plot summary

The Heart of darkness by Joseph conrad

The heart of darkness was published by Joseph Conrad in the year 1899. The captain of a ship, Marlow, is a skilled navigator, whom the crew trusts. On board they have an accountant and a lawyer.

 The captain, secured the anchor, and watched the sun set. Marlow begins to tell a story. First, he talks about the famous knights and boats that have travelled the Thames. Some of these famous boats are the Golden Hind, Erebus, and Terror.

Then the story moves onto Marlow's early life. He explains that the darkness of a map has always fascinated him. Marlow wonders if the Romans that occupied Britain 1900 years ago felt like he did in his exploration of Africa. He realizes the Romans must have considered Britain a dark and savage place. Yet, he figures that he is far superior compared to the savage Romans.

 They pillaged mindlessly, he figures. While the Britons specialty is efficiency. Then, he tells us of his explorations. He recalls looking at the blank spaces ata map, and his desire to explore there.

 He got a captain's position on a boat after one died in a scuffle with natives. Marlow retrieved the captain's remains for burial then headed to London. The fact that the entire village had dispersed amazed him. At the company's headquarters he signed a contract. 

Then he boarded a French steamer to Africa. He takes a smaller steamer to an out post, then travels on foot. On his way, he passes a chain gang of slaves. He also sees a group of starving natives and gives one a biscuit. Then, he sees the Company’s chief accountant who works out of this station. Marlow notes the stream of manufactured goods flowing into this land, and the trickle of ivory flowing out. He waited at this station for 10 days. From the accountant, he learned about mr. Kurtz.

Mr. Kurtz was in charge of the most important trading post they had. The accountant has a dying man in his office. The accountant is trying to make journal entries, and he says the groans don’t help. Marlow travels for another 15 days and finally reaches the station on the Nile river where he is to pick up his boat. Unfortunately, it has sunk. Moreover, no one seems particularly worried about it.

 The disregard for life and suffering is a continual theme of this book. Marlow meets the manager of this station, who is a very weird guy through his utter averageness. Then they both learn that the most important station is in trouble. The station Marlow is at needs to send assistance immediately. The manager wants to know how long before  Marlow can set out.

Marlow has no idea as he hasn’t even seen the damage to the ship yet. The manager gives him 3 months to get the wrecked ship repaired and ready to go. Marlow was trying to repair his damaged ship, but he needed rivets. During his repairs, he found that he enjoyed finding himself through his work.

 The manager of the station that Marlow is at receives a visitor. He is the manager’s uncle, and leads a band of evil mercenaries. One evening, Marlow is laying down on the ship when the manager and his uncle pass by under him. They are conspiring against one of Kurtz’s men.

Later, Marlow sets off on his journey towards the center of Africa via the Congo River. One of Marlow’s biggest fears on his expedition is hearing the steam boat scrape the bottom of the river, or hit a root. His next biggest fear is traveling into the heart of darkness. This is the darkness of the unmapped Congo River, at the heart of Africa.

 During his Congo River voyage he comes to terms that these “savages” are still human. This is in despite of the vast environmental contrast he sees here versus in his native Europe. Then, he finds a pile of wood addressed to him with a warning for them to “Hurry up” and “Approach cautiously”.

They are within 8 miles but decide to wait for daylight to make their final approach. Then, they find themselves in dense fog andare unable to move. They go down a narrow water way and come under attack by arrows. The natives kill the helmsman with arrows, and Marlow suspects Kurtz must be dead at this point.

 Then, they find one of Kurtz men who is a Russian. He says that he met Kurtz when he had a piece of ivory that Kurtz wanted. Kurtz threatened to kill him, so he gave it up. From then on, he became a disciple of Kurtz and tended to his sickness. The Russian tells Marlow that Kurtz has assembled an army of native villagers. He goes on to say that Kurtz may be mad, ashe decorated his station with heads.

The Manager from Marlow's previous station says Kurtz methods have ruined this district. Yet, the manager admits that there is a remarkable amount of ivory at Kurtz station. We learn that Kurtz ordered the attack on the steamer as he didn’t want them to take him away. Kurtz returns to his station but then tries to escape in the night. Marlow brings him back to camp and they setoff the next morning.

 On their journey back up the river, the ship breaks down. Kurtz gives Marlow his private papers since he believes the manager is treacherous. Then, Kurtz dies. After Kurtz' funeral, a man from the Company demands the papers. Marlow gives him some of them, but refuses to hand over the rest as he suggest they are of no importance to the company.

Then, he meets with the woman that Kurtz wanted to marry. She asks what Kurtz final words were. Marlow lies and says that it was her name. Instead, Kurtz final words were “The horror! The horror” after thinking about the disintegration of all his thoughts, ideas, dreams and aspirations. The End.

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