Elizabeth Underwood

Period 5

 

 

Heart of Darkness Précis

 

1.      The novella starts out with the narrator sitting on a ship with Marlow, a lawyer, an accountant, and the Director of Companies, and then Marlow starts to tell about his past experience on the Congo River as a steamboat captain.

2.      Marlow talks about going to the Company’s office to sign up for the position, meeting with the doctor that measures his head, and then thanks his aunt for finding him the job before heading off to Africa.

3.      Marlow travels along the coast of Africa before reaching the Company station where he meets the Chief Accountant, who is the first to mention Kurtz, and then begins his journey on the river.

4.      He finally reaches the Central Station after walking two hundred miles to find that the ship he is to command sunk, possibly on purpose, and no one is willing to fix it any time soon. 

5.       As he is waiting for his ship to be repaired, Marlow overhears the manager of the station and his uncle talking about Kurtz and the Russian trader, but not long after his ship is fixed and he is on his way along the river.

6.      Along the way Marlow picks up wood the Russian trader has left, and not long after natives, who kill the helmsman in the fight, attack them, but Marlow scares them off with the ship’s whistle. 

7.       Marlow throws the body of the helmsman overboard, disappointing both pilgrims and cannibals, before the ship continues on and eventually reaches the inner station and Marlow meets the Russian trader.

8.       Marlow and the Russian talk about Kurtz before the Pilgrims bring Kurtz, who is deathly sick, onto the ship to prepare to bring him back.

9.       Kurtz, that night, escapes off the boat and is pursued by Marlow, who convinces Kurtz to forget the natives and come back with him. 

10.   As they travel back down the river, Kurtz’s illness grows worse until he finally dies, and not long after Marlow also becomes ill. 

11.   Marlow barely survives his illness, and when he is healthy again he returns to England and meets with a representative of the Company, Kurtz’s cousin, and a journalist before he leaves to meet with Kurtz’s intended.

12.   This ends Marlow’s tale and the narrator looks off into “the heart of an immense darkness”.