In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the main character, Charles Marlow, goes to the Congo to work for a Belgian company, inventively name The Company. The Company operates trade along the river, with Marlow being the riverboat captain. Throughout his journey, Marlow learns about Kurtz, a greedy ivory trader who was employed by the Company and also learns about greed has changed Kurtz into somewhat of a demigod. Rumors float around in the book. Who is Kurtz? Why are the Europeans oppressing the natives? Why does everyone seem insane? The mystery here really is solved by only one simple question: What happened? As Marlow went deeper and deeper into the Congo, observing the natives and their treatment by the Europeans. Seeing the megalomania the Europeans possess and how they abuse their power on both the natives and the environment in acts of terror astounds Marlow. He sees greed, uncomprehensible amounts of greed, consuming the Europeans. Ivory is the main source of power in the Congo. The more ivory you have, the more enemies you had. Abusing the Chinese middle-class's desire for ivory and the ease of access to it with just a rifle and a few bullets, some Europeans began to have delusions of grandeur. With power comes the lust for more power, and with this lust, …show more content…
Kurtz remains a mystery the whole novel, with some questions remaining unanswered, even up to Kurtz's abrupt and not-so-tragic death. In Kurtz's death, he screams of the horror, which is implied to be him seeing the error of his ways and having judgment passed upon him. All of the needless killing and greed that he allowed to rule his life. For power, he gave up his humanity. He gave into the call of the wild, making him just as much of an animal as the elephants killed for ivory. Indubitably, Kurtz was consumed by