Heart of Darkness: Reading #2

“There was an air of plotting about that station, but nothing came of it, of course. It was as unreal as everything else- as the philanthropic pretense of the whole concern, as their talk, as their government, as their show of work” (Conrad 91).

            This quote attests to the complex narrative structure of the book. “Past tense” Marlow is in the process of getting sucked in to the corruptness of his employment. From the beginning, Marlow is portrayed as a naïve, innocent character whose sole purpose for taking the job in the Company is to explore unknown land. Upon arriving in the jungle, he sees the horrendous oppression of black men at the hands of his fellow white men. His common sense tells him that something in this situation is wrong, but neglects to do anything about it. In this quote, Marlow accuses his fellow colleagues of faking their virtue. The hypocrisy in this is that Marlow is a part of this faking. Although claiming to treat the natives better, he ultimately works for the Company. By association, Marlow’s intentions are just as fake as his fellow counterparts. Taking a step out of the past tense, “present tense” Marlow expresses a different view on the situation. Because this point of view comes after the time of the story, older, wiser Marlow has a more sophisticated opinion of his previous actions. With the naivety gone, he now realizes that the Company’s claim to help the natives was just a cover for their true aspirations of imperialism. The interjection of “present tense” Marlow in “past tense” Marlow’s story demonstrates “present tense” Marlow’s need to defend himself. He knows that his actions in the past were wrong and misguided, so while retelling his story Marlow inputs his new voice of truth and reason to outweigh the unspeakable actions of his past. The complex narrative structure makes it difficult for the reader to decipher which Marlow is speaking their mind, the one in the story, or the one telling the story. The opaque nature of the narrative structure parallels the opaque nature of the narrative voice.