a black cloth lurking in the background. The possibility of reverting back to savagery is seen in Kurtz. When Marlow meets Kurtz, he finds a man that has totally thrown off the restraints of civilization and has de-evolved into a primitive state.Marlow and Kurtz are two opposite examples of the human condition. Kurtz represents what every man will become if left to his own natural desires without a protective civilized environment. Marlow represents the civilized soul that has not been drawn back into savagery by a dark, alienated jungle. This darkness that Conrad writes about can also mean the wilderness in which the story took place. The wilderness, where the natives live in, continually watches for the "fantastic invasion" (58) of the White man. The activities of the White people are viewed throughout the novel as insane and pointless. Conrad feels that they spend their existence looking for ivory or plotting against each other for position and status within their own environment.Marlow comments, "The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to itI've never seen anything so unreal in my life" (44). In contrast, the wilderness appears solid, immovable, and ominously threatening. During Marlow's stay at Central Station, he describes the surrounding wilderness as a "rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready tosweep every little man of us out of his little existence" (54). It is difficult to say, however, what the intentions of the wilderness actually are. Through Marlow's eyes, it is always somewhat of an enigma. It is "an implacable force brooding over and inscrutable intention" (60). Lai 4Conrad pictures the wilderness as not just an remote force that is unconcerned with anything else but itself, but rather, a mirror in which one can see clearly the darkness hidden in one's heart. The environment of the jungle, in contrast to the Eur...
