” Conrad tells us that Europe made Kurtz what he was Africa merely gave him the opportunity to embrace who he truly was. , and in fact Conrad states “all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz. It is not that Africa is a place that makes men wicked, there are most definitely wicked men living in Europe, however Africa happens to be a place where the wicked men of Europe do not encounter the checks and balances that keep their wickedness curbed. Having been to the Congo and having seen the atrocities that Europeans are capable of Marlow has had firsthand experience of the darkness. This darkness resides in the hearts of people, and with some careful prodding it can be set loose. We live in the flicker – may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! ” In this passage it seems as though Marlow is saying that there has been darkness in this place and that darkness shall return to this place and that the present time is the flicker of light in the darkness. Conrad seems to say though that the darkness never truly leaves a place Marlow states “it is like a running blaze in a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. Achebe states that Conrad is worried by the similarities that the river Thames shares with the river Congo England too was once one of the dark places long ago before it was conquered by the ‘civilised’ Romans. “Arguments against Racism in Heart of Darkness”Īchebe discusses the opening scene in which The Nellie is at rest on the river Thames which is calm and tranquil.
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