This quote displays the emphasis and significance the “pilgrims” placed on ivory. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. Part 1 -Marlow when arriving at the central station The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed.Conrad does not include the third fate over the duration of Heart of Darkness intentionally due to the fact that the third fate is supposed to represent the death of a man and we don’t know the true fate of Marlow, we only know that he is alive at the end of the novella. She may not have paid attention to Marlow because she was spinning Kurtz’s fate. The slim one who gets up is described as a somnambulist or sleep-walker that is so occupied in her spinning that she does not pay much attention to Marlow. Conrad uses the two women knitting black wool to foreshadow Marlow’s horrific journey into colonial Africa. The Fates, being Greek immortals, have foresight and can see every man’s fate. The third Fate cuts the thread when the time comes for the man to die. Two of the three Fates spin the life-thread of each human being. Her dress was as plain as an umbrella-cover, and she turned round without a word and preceded me into a waiting-room. Part 1 – at Brussels The slim one got up and walked straight at me – still knitting with downcast eyes – and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up. Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool.He even notices how ironically the savages act more civilized than the pilgrims do as they journey to Kurtz’s station. Even more profound is that he finds similarities between the savages and the whites, a kind of “kinship”, later on in the story, even though the savages are dehumanized so significantly. This is seen throughout the novella with Conrad’s intentional dehumanization of the Africans by giving them animal qualities and contrasting that with the personification of machinery. They are treated inhumanely, and because of this, Marlow sees them as less-than-human. As Marlow encounters “savages” throughout the novella we see the true horrors of imperialism and conquest: mistreated and overworked slaves who are left to die outdoors, given no food, care, or medicine. Marlow describes it as “greenish gloom” instead of another color because green emphasizes the connotation of sickness and disease, which undoubtedly consumed the Africans. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now-nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom.” Part 1Īs Marlow notices the slaves chained together and indifferent to their surroundings, knowing nothing but their labor, he views them as being hardly considered dangerous enemies. “They were dying slowly-it was very clear.Overall, we see that in actuality one cannot hide away from the “heart of darkness” by being blind to it because the evil lies within the depths of the human soul. They refuse to see the darkness beneath their surface for the chance at power and wealth. These characters choose not to see the horror in truth and instead cover it with false righteousness. Blindness is chosen over sight by the pilgrims. Here, it is keeping the people from seeing the true cause and result of their actions. Blindness is a condition that hinders the ability to see, and Conrad uses it to describe many characters. In this quote we are also introduced to the use of blindness as a motif throughout the novella. Their actions are a result of trying to cover or hide the evils, pilgrims, as well as giving into it, Kurtz. The horrors that they create are driven from the anger and wildness within. Upon further examination, the darkness that they are tackling does not only refer to the uncivilized world around them, but also to the darkness within themselves or the human race in general. On one hand the darkness can represent the people and the wilderness in the unknown world within the Congo. The use of the word darkness in this quote holds a double meaning. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind- as it is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got.