ll sense of reality and humanity. He lived by no rules, only his will and whim. He allowed the tribes to practice terribly inhuman rituals, which they seemed to offer to Kurtz, himself. The most striking example of Kurtzs complete loss of humanity and his obsession with his image as a deity is presented with Kurtz, who was on his death-bed and unable to walk, literally, crawling on his hands and knees towards the pagan rituals of the natives, which were being offered to him. Marlowe confronts him and we learn that the most shocking part of this man, is that he is aware of what he is doing, and proceeds with it, regardless of his former humanity. In his final words, The horror! The horror!, Kurtz finally comes to the realization of what he has become. He realizes that he has succumbed to the savagery and inhumane acts that he and the European society had deemed their responsibility to erase. Kurtz sees in his final moments that this place nor the natives are the true heart of darkness, but is is himself and his European contemporaries. Not only is this a culmination for Kurtz, it is a climax for Marlowe and the reader himself. Marlowe, who had been slipping towards the edge of humanity and his heart of darkness, sees what awaits at the end of that path and steps back from the edge. The reader recognizes that the Congo is not the heart of darkness, but it is actually the heart and soul of every human. One learns that the natives in their primitive and brutal ways are actually more pure and good, than the Europeans and their greed. Conrad uses Kurtz, an ideal human of remarkable mettle and impervious morals, and demonstrates what lies beneath all men, the evil that is present and waiting in all of us. Marlowe walked down that path, along with all removed from civilizations constant reminders of morality and restraint. The reader even grows numb as we traverse the river with Marlowe, towards Kurtz and the recognition ...
