Independent Readings ( Heart of Darkness, Important Quotes)

**I felt that the Novel Heart of Darkness was a very challenging piece of literature that required much thought and analysis. If given the chance to choose another novel to study I may have done so, simply based on the fact that the novel was very complicated as well as hard to follow. If given a different novel I feel that I would have been able to deliver a better analysis of the book, which is where I really struggled with this piece of literature. That being said I feel that I was able to grasp why the following quotations held merit within the novel.

3 Important Quotes and there Significance

1) “I was within a hair’s-breadth of the last opportunity for pronouncement, and I found with humiliation that probably I would have nothing to say. This is the reason why I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to say. He said it . . .. He had summed up—he had judged. ‘The horror!’ He was a remarkable man.”

Explanation: When Marlow becomes ill, he wonders whether or not he would have something profound to say, as Mr. Kurtz did. This thought makes him realize that Mr. Kurtz really was a remarkable man since he was able to push through the realization of death to say something meaningful.

2) “The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life.

Explanation: This quote shows how Marlow really feels about the company along with the men who are employed there. Throughout the novel it becomes clear that the majority of the companies employees are fueled by greed and the hunger for ivory. To them the more Ivory they have, the more money they make and the higher up the company ladder they will climb. This is not the way Marlow chooses to live his life and that is the reason why he is so alarmed by what he witnessed.

3)  “The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time . . .. I saw the time approaching when I would be left alone of the party of ‘unsound method.”

Explanation: When the steamer is finally loaded with the ivory as well as Kurtz, which is most likely the most precious cargo as far as Marlow is concerned, the brown river is the only thing pushing them back towards the river. As they travel down this river the water begins as a brown murky current representing the struggle and suffering that goes on within the stations, as the water becomes increasingly clearer and the ship moves closer to the ocean it symbolizes the group moving closer to civilization. The increasing clarity in the river could also represent Marlow’s increased understanding for Kurtz.