A pleasure ship (cruise ship) named the Nelly is at the mouth of the Thames waiting for the tide to die down. Five men are on the deck, relaxing and talking to one another. The captain of the ship, the lawyer, the accountant, Marlow, and the unnamed narrator. These men have been friends for a very long time " held together by the bonds of the sea". As night comes, the area is starting to appear " less brilliant but more profound", the men start to remember that this area that they are anchored in, was where men would set sail to go on explorations over seas. Suddenly, Marlow brings to the attention that this place was once one of " the darker places of the earth", that when the Romans first came to England, they saw nothing but a savage jungle. Marlow starts to remember his times as a fresh- water sailor when he was a young adult when he rode a steam powered ship up the Congo River. He said to the men that he first got this idea, coming back from a voyage to Asia where he saw in a shop window in London, a map of Africa, this sparked his fascinations as a young man about the "blank spaces" on the map. Marlowe starts to recall his job with the Belgian company that's profession is trading on the Congo River. The company was very excited about shipping Marlow to Africa because one of the past captains had been killed in the midst of a fight with a few of the area's natives. Marlow has made his voyage across the English channel to a city that he says reminds him of " white sepulcher". He arrives at the city to sigh. The paperwork for his new job, but first, he is told the story of the former predecessor named Fresvelen that had already gone into the African village and had been murdered over a fight about a few hens and how he struck the chief. The cheif's son stabbed Fresvelen and the natives left him there to die in the center of the village. Once Marlow arrived at the office of the company he was soon to be working for, he is taken to the room where he is to sign his contract and soon after is sent to a doctor to be checked before his journey to Africa. The French steamboat that has been taking Marlow on the coast of Africa, the boat stops every once in a whole to drop off and pick up soldiers, Marlow is not enjoying the ride at all. Once the boat arrives at the mouth of the Congo River, Marlow boards another boat that takes him another thirty miles upriver until he arrives at the company's landing. Marlow is shocked, the entire dock is a shambles, and there are black prisoners chained together. Marlow continues and finds dying native workers under a tree. He offers one of them bread and as he is doing this, he finds a string tied around one of their necks. Marlow then is introduced to the accountant of the company. Marlow waits for ten days for his caravan to the next company station. Marlow's caravan has finally arrived and they embark to go to the next station. One of the caravan members is a white man who becomes sick and is carried all the way by the natives. Marlow shortly finds out afterword, the steamboat he was supposed to conduct had sunk. Marlow is told that the ship was accidentally driven into some jagged rocks and the bottom had ripped open. Marlow is informed by the general manager who had broken the boat along with a volunteer skipper, that the was taking the boat out to go relieve the inner stations. Especially agent Kurtz's who is supposedly sick. A straw hut burns down with supplies and the natives are accused for it, one of the natives is beaten and then runs away into the forest. Later, Marlow eavesdrops on the manager's conversation with the brick master about agent Kurtz's appearance at the fire. After the manager leaves, Marlow starts talking with the brick master. The brick master tells him that Kurtz is actually a prodigy who was a favorite of the administration, that is how he started working as an agent for this company. Brick master talks about how he was ready to become manager until Kurtz arrived and stole the position. This confuses Marlow and sends him wondering the rest of the day about Kurtz.
So far, the main protagonist seems to be Marlow. He is against racism as far as I could tell, he was horrified at the sight of seeing the salves bound in chains and rotting in the sun. The antagonist seems to be the entire company he is working for! They all seem to be for slavery and the mistreatment of human beings that are not white. Marlow even thought that his boat was punctured by someone who didn't want him to travel to his next destination.
Marlow: a sea man who has recently sighted up for a job for a company and the main character if this story. He seems to be against racism.
The captain of the ship, the lawyer, the accountant and the unnamed narrator: All friends of Marlow, Marlow is telling the story to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment