finally confirmed by the representation of the wilderness, of which she is the embodiment, as cannibalistically devouring him. The play between metaphorical and literal imputations of cannibalism establishes that it was Kurtz's own urge to devour the jungle and all of its holdings that leads his own self to be swallowed by the wilderness. The very same wilderness he lived in and made money off of was what destroyed Kurtz in the end. The metaphors of cannibalistic desire are combined with the representation of the wilderness to present Kurtz's predicament as the result of an encounter with an all-powerful feminine sexuality that is the cause of his loss of masculinity. And if Kurtz's transgression of sexualized boundary leads to a loss of self-identity, Marlow's story concludes by affirming the value of maintaining sexual identity by keeping women in their proper place. Marlow's own way of dealing with this issue results in his keeping the truth away from the women and allowing them to live in their own world. The lie Marlow tells at the end of the story also personifies the femininity of the wilderness and the women that Marlow comes in contact with, and he tries hard to find restraint and security within the jungle. It is his lie to the "Intended" that enables him to finally secure his own integrity and resist the embrace of the "Other." Marlow's resistance to the "Other" mirrors that of the wilderness, which was the undoing of Kurtz. Marlow confirms his view of a feminized wilderness and the discourse of cannibalism when he speaks of Kurtz:The wilderness had patted him on the head, and behold, it was like a ball...it had caressed him...he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. (p. 64)Marlow has begun to come to the conclusion that Kurtz has been absorbed and consumed by the wilde...
