ty rags---rags that would fly off at the first good shake. No. You want a deliberate belief. An appeal to me in this fiendish row---is there? Very well. I hear, I admit, but I have a voice too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced. (38) Marlow has learned that objective standards alone will not lead him to recognize the reality of life. One can not depend on another's principles to find reality because they have not had to bear the pain and responsibility of creating it. Principles are acquisitions, which, like other things we acquire rather than generate, are easily shaken off. A judgment must be made from one's own internal strengths. That is why Marlow says, "for good or evil, mine is the speech that cannot be silenced” (38). As Kurtz taught him with his own judgment, a judgment of truth overpowers morality. To find ones own reality one must not rely solely on other people's morality or principles; one must assess his own life. Kurtz shows Marlow that regardless of whether the truth is good or bad, one must face his reality. He must face his own actions even when the conclusion is "the horror.” By doing so, he will find his true reality. Marlow understands that being true to you is not following another's moral code, but being able to judge one's self honestly to discover a true reality. Because of his newfound understanding, Marlow claims that Kurtz's last words serve as "[. . .] a moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats..." (70). Despite Kurtz's immoral ways, he is victorious. Because he did not run away from the truth, he won a moral victory (McLauchlan 382). Marlow learns the essence of naming and understands what it means to search for the truth within himself. Marlow encounters two extremes while on his search: the European mentality, which he finds completely oblivious to reality; and Kurtz, a man who has found his horrible and unrestrained reality. With this extraordinary knowledge...
