giftbang.blogg.se - Heart of darkness symbols ivory

Well, everyone except the woman, who is apparently unperturbed by the whistle.Marlow prevents disaster by blowing the steam-whistle and scaring everyone away.Suddenly the warrior woman breaks through and shouts at the departing steamer, riling up everyone.A group of Africans gathers on the shore. The next day, they all leave aboard the steamer.Finally, after threatening to kill Kurtz if he calls out to the Africans, Marlow cuddles the man in his arms like a baby and brings him back out of the jungle.He watches some native Africans dancing and confuses the drums with his own heartbeat. Marlow ignores Kurtz and lets himself be drawn in by the hypnotic spell of night.He's very bitter about his fight with the manager, since his dreams of greatness have now been smashed to pieces. After all, the guy is sick and probably crawling through the jungle, so he can't have gone that far. Instead of raising the alarm, Marlow goes after Kurtz himself.Hours later, Marlow wakes up around midnight and goes to check on Kurtz who, in a dramatic and suspenseful moment, is not there.Marlow again remarks on the remarkability of the man.Despite the mistrust, Marlow very helpfully provides him with a few spare items (shoes, cartridges, etc.) before the harlequin leaves.Which, we think, is the third explanation we've heard for the poison arrows, so we really don't trust this guy now. Before he does, he reveals that Kurtz ordered the earlier attack on Marlow's steamer.Marlow kisses his career goodbye by taking Kurtz's side, and at this point things get a little too hot for the harlequin, who decides to peace out.After leaving Kurtz, he tells Marlow that Kurtz's method of collecting ivory is "unsound" and he wants to remove Kurtz from the interior.Plus, the harlequin wants to shoot her for maybe being Kurtz's lover, since that's a … crime? Too bad she's super sad and never speaks-just gestures at the sky and then disappears into the wood.

Now, it could be that Marlow hasn't seen a woman in several months, but he describes her as wild and gorgeous, a warrior woman, with brass trappings to boot.

In the meantime, a group of native Africans has gathered outside.

But first, the manager shows up, and Marlow leaves the two alone to chat.

Kurtz knows who Marlow is and is stoked to have some company.

That, and the fact that's he's tall (even though "Kurtz" means "short" in German.) Marlow calls him "that atrocious phantom." The only substantial thing about him is his voice. In fact, he's grotesquely thin and ghostly, like Death personified.

Suddenly, a party of native Africans arrives carrying a man on a stretcher.

Marlow's eyes roll involuntarily at the word "rebel.".

The harlequin tries to justify Kurtz's actions by saying those skulls "were the heads of rebels.".

We're feeling a little critique of colonialism coming through here.

In this light, Kurtz is an obsessed, lustful, maniacal imperialist who didn't mind perpetrating horrific cruelties for ivory and other treasures he found in the African land.

Marlow begins to reflect that Kurtz, whose reputation is larger than life, has violent, ruthless, "savage" qualities-and a "hollow core"-that even Kurtz himself may not realize consciously until the end of his life.

In fact, he despises it so much that he'll make reference to this "lack of restraint" at least two more times before the end of the book.

To Marlow, these skulls show that Kurtz "lacked restraint," a fault that Marlow seems to despise.

The "knobs" on the ends of the stakes he noticed from a distance are not ornamental.

At this point, Marlow makes a gruesome discovery.

We discover that the harlequin nursed Kurtz through two bouts of sickness and is rather proud of himself for doing so.

He's so obsessive about ivory that he even threatened to shoot the harlequin one day unless he handed over his own personal supply of ivory.He even gets the native Africans-who adore him-to help out with the raids. In his expeditions, Kurtz raids various villages for ivory.But for the most part, Kurtz wanders alone among the Africans. Apparently, Kurtz keeps the harlequin around so he has someone to listen to him.