Conrad Study Questions

Part One (the first numbers refer to the Dover edition, the second to the Reader's Library edition)

1. Discuss the narrative setting of the novel established in Part One. Who is telling what to whom and under what circumstances? Is it important that this is a retrospective account?

2. What kind of a storyteller is Marlow? How does he differ from other seamen in this regard? (see 3/4)

3. As he begins his story, what does Marlow emphasize about England's history?

4. Marlow says, "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. . . . something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to" (4/6). What does he mean? Is this a justification of imperialism and colonialism?

5. Comment on Marlow's discussion of maps in Part One. How does this relate to colonialism?

6. Before Marlow heads for Africa, he visits a doctor, who measures his head. Why does the doctor do this?

7. What does Marlow observe and comment on as he travels along the coast toward the entrance to the Congo River?

8. How is the chain gang Marlow sees described?

9. Shortly after this encounter, what does Marlow foresee and perceive as a warning?

10. What does the Company’s accountant say about “those savages”?

11. What does the agent supposedly in change of brickmaking say about Kurtz?

12. Comment on the following: "You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world" (34).
    Why is this ironic? Which philosopher is mentioned earlier in part one who might help us to reflect on Marlow's attitude toward lies?

13. How is Marlow described as he narrates his story? (see especially in Part One)

14. What is the significance of the breaks in Marlow's narration near the end of Part One?
    He asks his audience if they can see Kurtz, if they can see his story, but he then says that it is impossible. Why is it impossible to convey the essence of someone's existence? He then adds that his audience can see more now than he could then. What does he mean?

15. How is the Eldorado Exploring Expedition described? What eventually happens to it?

Part Two

1. How does Marlow learn more regarding Kurtz at the beginning of Part Two?

2. After commenting on the departure of the Eldorado Expedition, what metaphor does Marlow use to describe going up the river? In the paragraph that follows, what does he say about the surface, reality?

3. What does Marlow comment on regarding the Africans’ humanity?

4. What do the Africans working on the boat want Marlow to do with the Africans they hear in the darkness? What does Marlow wonder regarding the Africans on the boat?

5. As they wait for the pending attack from the shore, what does Marlow say regarding the nature of the attack?

6. After recognizing the possibility that Kurtz might already be dead, what “strange discovery” does Marlow make regarding his view of Kurtz?

7. Marlow mentions the girl briefly for the first time, then is silent “for a long time.” What does he then say about Kurtz?

8. Marlow's story has progressed for many pages without interruption by the first narrator. Why does the first narrator re-enter again at this point in the story?

9. Why does Marlow say that all of Europe went into the making of Kurtz?

10. How does Kurtz conclude his report to the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs?

11. Whom does Marlow meet at the end of Part Two?

Part Three

1. Why does Marlow refer to the Russian as an “insoluble problem”? What does he say about the Russian’s devotion to Kurtz?

2. What does the Russian say about judging Kurtz?

3. What does Marlow realize about the ornamental knobs now that he sees them up close?

4. What does Marlow mean by “subtle horrors”? Why do those seem more threatening that “pure savagery”?

5. How is Kurtz described when Marlow first encounters him being carried on a stretcher?

6. Who appears from the edge of the forest? How is she described?

7. What are the Manager’s conclusions about Kurtz’s actions? How does Marlow respond?

8. What memory does Marlow recall as he goes in search in Kurtz?

9. How does Marlow comment on his brief conversation with Kurtz?

10. As they steam away with Kurtz again on board, what does Marlow say about the Africans’ shouting?

11. What does Marlow say about Kurtz right before Kurtz’s last words?

12. Marlow refers to a threshold and says that Kurtz had taken the last stride and stepped over the edge. What threshold? The edge of what? What about Marlow?

13. What does Marlow say that he heard again, a long time after Kurtz had gone?

14. How does Marlow describe the Intended? What do they discuss? How does she seem to view Kurtz?

15. What does Marlow mean by the “saving illusion” and what does he say to the Intended in the end?

16. How is Marlow described in the final paragraph?

General Questions

1. Why are most of the novel's characters given only descriptive titles, and not actual names? (e.g., the accountant, the brickmaker, etc.)

2. Why is even the narrator who introduces us to Marlow unnamed? Why does he appear to play such a small role in the novel? What function does he then serve?

3. Conrad refers to London as a monstrous town and several times to Brussels as a "sepulchral city." Why?

4. How are Africans portrayed? How does Marlow feel about them? He seems not to think that skin color is significant, but does this mean that he is not a racist? Does he feel that they have been corrupted by contact with Europeans?

5. What does Marlow seem to think about colonialism and imperialism? Does he view Africa as a special case?

6. In the few times that they are mentioned, how are the women in the novel characterized? How does Marlow seem to view women?

7. What mythological and biblical elements can you find in Heart of Darkness?

8. Kurtz, apparently, had hoped to conquer the wilderness. Has he succeeded?
   Look especially at pages 53/80 and 63/95.

9. Marlow refers to Kurtz as a voice (or his words, his talking, his eloquence, his discourse) many times (63-65, 94, and others). What does he mean?

10. If Kurtz's words are so important, why does Marlow sometimes withhold the contents of their conversation, as when he carries Kurtz back to the ship? How much of Kurtz's voice do we actually hear?

11. How does Conrad utilize opposites throughout the text, especially those relating to white/black, light/dark, inside/outside, and surface/depth?

12. Peter Brooks has written about Conrad's novel that it seems "as if someone had designed a machine to produce work far smaller than the energy put into it." Discuss this as a characterization of Heart of Darkness.

13. An important characteristic of storytelling is that narrators often end up telling a story different from the one they intend to tell. Does this apply to Heart of Darkness? If so, what is that story?

14. Many readers, even professorial types, have commented on the "murkiness" of Conrad's novel: the descriptions are often very hard to follow in time and space, and many of the descriptions are difficult to make out and contain an abundance of adjectives such as "inexpressible," "invisible," "unspeakable," etc. Is Conrad simply flawed in his prose at times, or might there be a method to this style?

15. What is "the horror"? The "heart of darkness"?