- “I could see little ivory coming out from there, and I had heard Mr. Kurtz was in there … no more than if I had been told an angel or a fiend was in there. I believed it in the same way one of you might believe there are inhabitants in the planet Mars.” (p. 64)
Much talk is going around about Mr. Kurtz and his existence. Yet, because Marlow hasn’t seen him himself, he is having trouble generating an image based on his description. Throughout the beginning of the journey, Kurtz has simply been a voice or a character, and Marlow has not been able to associate a mental picture with reality. This is exactly why Conrad relates Marlow's situation to the belief of life on Mars; scientists claim there are different forms of life existing, yet it's hard to picture and believe until one has actually seen it with his/her eyes. Until Marlow has witnessed Kurtz’s existence, he has trouble believing the voice and image others have created.
excellent -- clear and articulate -- I like how you identify Conrad as making a deliberate choice here
ReplyDelete