trophic. After observing these names which bare no true meaning, as well as degrade a person's character, Marlow understands that he can not continue in his former ways of mindlessly giving random names to things for fear of diminishing the essence of the subject. Therefore, Marlow finds himself unable to label something for what it is. For example, while under attack, Marlow refers to arrows being shot in his direction as "sticks, little sticks," and a spear protruding from a man as "a long cane" (45,47). When Marlow arrives at the inner station, he sees "slim posts [. . .] in a row" with their "ends ornamented with round carved balls" (52). In truth, these are poles with skulls on top of them. Marlow can not comprehend the reality of these things. Looking back on his voyage, Marlow realizes how mindless and meaningless the labels the Europeans use to identify things are. He wants to be able to identify properly everything he encountered on his voyage. Kurtz is the chief of the Inner Station. He is a "universal genius, a prodigy, an emissary of pity science and progress" (28). Kurtz teaches Marlow how significant labels are: The man presented himself as a voice[. . .] of all his gifts, the one that stood out preeminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words---the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating [. . .]. (48) Kurtz was "[. . .] little more than a voice" (48), but there was no one with a voice like his. He could speak with remarkable eloquence, he could write with such precision, and he could name with true meaning. "You don't talk with that man [Kurtz]--- you listen to him" (53). Marlow has heard enough about Kurtz to know that he can give Marlow insight into the nature of the world. Indee...
