nent. Pop, would go one of the six inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech---and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives---he called them enemies!---hidden out of sight somewhere. (17) Marlow is watching this occurrence. He sees the Europeans firing "tiny projectiles" (17) and hears the pop of the cannons. The Europeans, however, see themselves fighting an all out war against savage enemies in the name of imperialism. The Europeans feel that this is an honorable battle, so they are excited and fight with all they have. Marlow, however, sees it differently. He is now in Africa where reality broods. It is lurking everywhere. The only thing one has to do to find it is open the mind to new ideas. He looks at this event and reduces it from the European's image of a supposedly intense battle, with smoke and enemies everywhere, to a futile firing of "tiny projectiles" into an empty forest. For the first time, Marlow recognizes the falsity of the European mentality and their inability to characterize an event for what it is. At the end of the passage, his fellow European crewmember assures Marlow that the allied ship is defeating the enemy, and that they just could not see them because they are hidden from sight. In actuality, they were shooting at innocent natives who had probably fled from the area of battle already. Marlow is beginning to realize that what makes sense in Europe does not make sense in Africa. With that passage, Conrad informs the reader of Marlow's realization...
