Why is kurtz sick

This little narrative interruption drives home just how important Kurtz's voice is. Now consider this: Marlow, sitting on the Nellie and telling his story in the pitch-dark, is explicitly described as "no more to us than a voice" to the men that listen 2. And then, When he finds an "appeal" in the "fiendish row" of the Africans dancing on shore, he negates it with the claim, "I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced" 2.

So is this voice business merely another tool to establish connections between Marlow and Kurtz? If Marlow's voice is never silenced, what about Kurtz's?

The guy dies, after all. But are his last words resonant for us? Does Heart of Darkness end on a note of "horror"? The native Africans worship Kurtz like a god, even attacking to keep Kurtz with them. But here's the irony: we're not sure whether Kurtz orders the attack or whether the native Africans do it on their own we get conflicting stories from the harlequin.

Kurtz may be a god, but he's also a prisoner to his devotees. He can order mass killings of rebels, but he can't walk away freely. Ready for some more irony? Kurtz was apparently seven feet tall or so although we figure Marlow was riding the hyperbole train here. But his name means "short" in German—which Marlow makes sure to point out, just in case we're not caught up with our Rosetta Stone cassettes.

So, his name contradicts his god-like height, a discrepancy that reflects the big fat lie of his life and death, and which we're thinking means his life as a god was also false. First, is Kurtz mad?

Um, yes. We think that jamming a bunch of heads on sticks might qualify, but if that weren't enough, Marlow makes sure we know that, although the man's intelligence is clear, Kurtz's "soul [is] mad" 3. He returns more ivory than all the other stations put together, and does so through the use of absolute force.

Marlow remarks that "All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz," and Kurtz's very existence proves this to be true: Like the Europeans involved in enterprises such as the Company, he epitomizes the greed and lust running wild that Marlow observes in the Congo. However, unlike the Company, Kurtz is not interested in his image or how he is perceived by "noxious fools" such as the Manager.

While Brussels is a "whited sepulcher" of hypocrisy, Kurtz is completely open about his lusts. In fact, he refers to all things witnessed and done throughout his stay in the Congo. Willard, a paratrooper and Army intelligence officer, to journey up the Nung river and kill Kurtz. He also wants to know more about him, because of the way he has to die. A trader of ivory in Africa and commander of a trading post, he monopolises his position as a demigod among native Africans.

Marlow is in many ways a traditional hero: tough, honest, an independent thinker, a capable man. Another major figure of the novel is Marlow. He has a symbolic role in the novel. He symbolizes the spirit of adventure and a love of knowledge.

He stands for the thoughtful observer of human life and a student of human nature. They appear following the death of the slave in Chapter 1, and more notably after the death of Kurtz in Chapter 3. The flies also suggest inferno and hell imagery. The symbolic meaning of light and darkness play the central role in the novel Heart of Darkness. If we try to see the meaning of light it means bright, knowledge, capable in every field, life, perfection, etc.

At the end of his journey, Marlow learns that everyone has a dark side to them, but some people can conceal it better than others. The pilgrims are disdainful, and Marlow, for the most part, is left alone with Kurtz. As he had done with the Russian trader , Kurtz takes advantage of his captive audience to hold forth on a variety of subjects. Marlow is alternately impressed and disappointed. See Important Quotes Explained. The steamer breaks down, and repairs take some time. Marlow is slowly becoming ill, and the work is hard on him.

Kurtz seems troubled, probably because the delay has made him realize that he probably will not make it back to Europe alive. The horror! He joins the manager in the dining hall, which is suddenly overrun by flies. The pilgrims bury Kurtz the next day.