opean form of society from which the White men have come, imposes no restraints upon the behavior of an individual. It is a harsh environment that tests one's ability to hold onto sanity without an organized structure of society. The people who are successful in fighting the wilderness are those who create their own structured environments. As long as they keep themselves busy with surface activities, they cannot hear the whispers of the wilderness, and the darkness in their hearts can remains buried. Marlow himself must face the truth that the wilderness reveals to him. He sees the wild dancing and chanting of the natives, and though he says at first that it is incomprehensible to him, upon reflection he admits that he does feel some kind of connection to the "passionate uproar." He says, "[The earth] was unearthly, and the men were-No, they were not humans. Well, you know, that was the worst of it-this suspicion of their not being inhuman" (62). But, even in the great demoralization of the land, Marlow's work, piloting and repairing the steamboat distracts him from such thoughts.Kurtz, the fabulously successful chief of the Inner Station who has come from Europe to civilize the natives, surrender to the savagery of the wilderness. He gives up his high aspirations, and the wilderness brings out the darkness and brutality in his heart. All principles and desires of the European society are stripped from him, and the unspeakable passions and greed of his true nature are revealed. He collects a following of loyal natives who worship him as an idol, and they raid surrounding villages to collect a huge amount of ivory. The full significance of the wilderness can be seen only through Kurtz, because he gives in to the powers of the wilderness. Conrad writes that Lai 5through the influence of the wilderness, basic human nature is revealed to him. At his death, he sees the true state of mankind. His gaze is "piercing enough ...
