Journal- March 3, 2003
It will be foolish, if not absurd, to say that Marlow is the hero of the Heart of Darkness.
I believe that for a character to be a hero of a certain story, he (or she) must have done something remarkable, different, and unforgettable in the story. That character must have changed the course of the story in so many ways. And I don’t think that Marlow fits the description of a hero.
Indeed, Marlow was seeing all the suffering, hunger, and death of the slaves around him. He reacts by providing insights on how unjust the white European colonizers treat their slaves. But, surprisingly, he does not anything to do to stop or voice out his disgust of that situation of the slaves. If we recall, Marlow gave a piece of biscuit to this slave, but that act of pity will not suffice to make him the hero of the Heart of Darkness. There was also this instance when his helmsman died from an ambush near the Inner Station and Marlow, in a way felt very sorry for the waste of that man’s life. But mourning the death of a certain person in a story does not make a character a hero of the novel. If at least he did something to generally change or alleviate the disposition of the slaves, Marlow may have been a hero in a sense.
Basically, Marlow’s status in the novel was merely an observer and story teller. He has not made a very big impact on the story as a whole and that limitation has made Marlow unfit to become a hero.
