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Civilization rests on forgotten cruelty and dark wilderness

Aboard the Nellie anchored on the Thames, Charles Marlow recalls obtaining a command through his influential aunt to pilot a steamboat for a Belgian ivory trading Company. Arriving at the coastal Outer Station, he witnesses chain-gangs and dying laborers abandoned in a grove, contrasting sharply with the chief accountant's spotless white clothes. At the Central Station, Marlow discovers his steamboat has been sunk, forcing a delay while he waits for repairs amidst scheming company agents.

Madness deepens as the river winds toward Kurtz

Overhearing the manager plot against Kurtz, Marlow finishes repairing the steamer and navigates deep into the interior accompanied by native cannibals and greedy traders. Dense fog envelopes the river, followed by an arrow attack from the jungle that kills Marlow's native helmsman. Pushing past the ambush, the vessel reaches the Inner Station, where an eccentric Russian trader clad in patchwork clothes greets Marlow and reveals Kurtz's terrifying sway over the region.

The darkness inside human nature triumphs in the end

Marlow discovers human skulls mounted on posts outside Kurtz's hut, revealing the absolute tyranny Kurtz exerted over the local populace. A dying Kurtz is carried aboard the steamer, where he utters his famous final whisper, "The horror! The horror!" upon facing his own moral decay. Returning to Brussels, Marlow meets Kurtz's grieving Intended and chooses to lie, telling her Kurtz died with her name on his lips to preserve her comforting illusion.

Book

Heart of Darkness

A journey up the Congo River uncovers the brutal hypocrisy of European imperialism and the fragility of human civilization.

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