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any Station on his way to the Congo. He describes the natives as “ants” which are decomposers. Marlow is describing the natives as creatures that do nothing but break down and destroy the land. When Marlow tries to get away from this scene of natives he steps “into a gloomy circle of some Inferno…Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair…They were dying slowly…they were nothing earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloom,” (Conrad, pgs.1968-1969). Marlow characterizes the natives as “unearthly creatures” that have been abandoned from society. It has been accepted that they do not deserve to live like regular human beings. They must live in “abandonment and despair” because they are criminals. Marlow depicts them as slowly rising out of the earth as if they were horrid creatures that only come out in the darkness because no one can bear to see them in the daytime. Marlow also describes the natives as “bundles of acute angles sat with their legs drawn up…one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink. He lapped out of his hand, then sat up in the sunlight crossing his shins in front of him, and after a time let his woolly head fall on his breastbone,” (Conrad, pg. 1969). This is utter degradation of a human being. At this point, one does not even see the natives as human anymore. They have been described not only as acute angles but also as dogs that lap up their water on all fours. How more degrading can one be to a race of people? The one distinguishable native in Heart of Darkness is the helmsman. Although, he is not important enough to be given a name, he is given a title, ...

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