Pat O'Hara
Ms. Duneman
AP English 3
9 December 2004
Response to Heart of Darkness Essay Question #4

	Marlow starts his narrative describing how the Romans first conquered Britain via the River Thames. He saying that the Thames has also been one of the darker places of the earth is not merely a statement; it is an assertion, with thought behind it. Marlow clearly had time to think about what he was going to say, and he stated it clearly. This is analogous to the beginning of serious independent thought and behavior in any adolescent.
	As Marlow's story progresses, we find him going to the 'whited sepulcher' of the Company headquarters in Brussels. Here is forced to deal with the two old ladies—“one fat and one the other slim”--possibly representing the condescending glare of society. The knitting-lady with the glasses and the glare seems to me to represent the attitude a parent would have with a completely hopeless and utterly unruly teenager. Marlow reveals his opinion of the ladies when he says, "Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes."
	At the very last, Marlow meets Kurtz in person. He has heard many people's impressions of the 'great man' himself, and now he gets to see Kurtz in the flesh—or at least in the little flesh that remains clinging to Kurtz.
	Kurtz is a walking (or should I say crawling?) paradox. He is different things to different people, but to none of the more 'civilized' people he is associated with does he seem to be a barbaric tyrant. He is seen as efficient, and of course no one can argue with his results.
	By this time, Marlow is fed up with people. He dislikes the manager, he is annoyed with the Russian, and the 'pilgrims' simply irritate him. It is at this point in the book that the most important analogy to real life becomes apparent: It is more important to have a choice, or, in Marlow's words, “a choice of nightmares”, then it is to have to deal with no nightmares at all. Freedom is the ultimate gift, the one thing that people strive for throughout their whole lives, and it is fitting that such an end should become apparent at the terminus of Heart of Darkness.