“ ‘To speak plainly, he
raided the country,’ I said. He nodded. ‘Not alone, surely!’ He muttered
something about the villages round the lake. ‘Kurtz got the tribe to follow
him, did he?’ I suggested. He fidgeted a little. ‘They adored him,’ he said”
(Conrad 135).
Throughout the entire book Marlow claims not to be
excited about meeting Mr. Kurtz. Marlow is actually intrigued by Kurtz because
Marlow does want to know how he is able to get more ivory than all the other
managers combined. Marlow in some ways assumes that Kurtz is cruel to the
natives, even more so than the other places Marlow has visited. This quotation
puts this idea to rest because Kurtz actually treats the natives with respect
and the natives even want to help Kurtz. By putting more of a value on the
natives, Kurtz is able to produce more ivory than everyone else. Kurtz was
still the leader of the tribe, but he did not boss them around and made them
want to help him by being kind. As a result a more effective station was
created because no one was being abused and treated with disrespect. This
comments on Europe’s imperialism as a whole because the other agents could have
possibly been as effective as Kurtz, if they had not assumed they were so
superior to the natives.
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