- “A continuous shower of small flies streamed upon the lamp, upon the cloth, upon our hands and faces. Suddenly the manager’s boy put his insolent black head in the doorway, and said in a tone of scathing contempt - ‘Mistah Kurtz - he dead.’” (p. 116)
When Kurtz dies, flies immediately flood the ship illustrating a main symbol in the story. The flies arriving right after the incident symbolize death. However, it is not a destructive type of death that ends on the spot; it represents a lingering, decaying death much like flies create as they eat and pick away at dead matter. Kurtz’s final words, “The horror! The horror!” seem to be more sensitive and meaningful than the incredibly different words of the servant - “Mistah Kurtz - he dead.” - where Conrad intends the tone to be harsh, yet realistic.
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