s moral victory. He is true to himself.! On his voyage, Marlow notices at one of the stations, a picture that Kurtz had drawn when he was there. It is a "sketch in oils on a panel representing a woman draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch. The background was sombre---almost black"(40). At the time, Marlow didn't really know what it meant. However, this is a precise representation of Kurtz himself. Firstly, the background was "sombre---almost black". This is a manifestation of Kurtz because his life is full of darkness. He kills, he steals, and he is worshipped as a god. Kurtz cannot be without blackness and survive. In addition, the picture displays the lesson itself. It is a picture of the lady of justice holding a torch. This is Kurtz's role. Unlike Europe, which imposes their principles upon others, he is merely there to "illuminate"(79). Kurtz is there to expand the peoples minds, to introduce them to a broad new spectrum of reality. However, he does not impose his own reality upon them. Hence, he is blindfolded in the picture. To him, they make a subjective decision and they find their own truth, regardless of what that truth may be. That is his lesson. Eventually Marlow realizes that Kurtz's picture was in essence, a self portrait. The same thing which Kurtz conveyed with 'the horror', he conveyed with this picture. Marlow's realization is evident with this remark. "I don't like work---no man does---but I like what's in the work---the chance to find yourself. Your own reality---for yourself, not for others"(47). Marlow learns the essence of 'naming' and understands what it means to 'be yourself'. However, Marlow has encountered two extremes. The European mentality, which is completely oblivious to reality, and Kurtz, a man who has found his reality, but it is one of horror and no restraint from any wrongdoing. He is now returning to his home to deal with his former world, however, he now posse...
