Madness & the Devil

 After getting into groups on Thursday, I was able to hear about other people's topics and I think that helped me somewhat better understand my own topic.  For example looking back on the repetitive use of imagery of the devil, it often described how the madness of Kurtz not only resulted from the his own greed for ivory, but also how the surrounding wilderness and the fact that he ventures alone into the jungle contribute to the ability of the darkness of the jungle to almost swallow his original humanity and drive many of his later actions during his insistent solo exhibition into the wilderness for more ivory.  For example on page 109 (Part II, paragraph 28, when Marlow is talking to the Russian-English man who has colorful patches all over his clothes that make him look like a “harlequin”), as the man recalls to Marlow how Kurtz became the way he was when Marlow, the manager, and all the other pilgrims finally reach him by steamboat, he describes Kurtz and says that, “The wilderness had patted [Kurtz] on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball—an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and—lo!—he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation…It appears these [natives] do bury the tusks [ivory tusks] sometimes—but evidently they couldn’t bury this parcel deep enough to save the gifted Mr. Kurtz from his fate.” (Part II, paragraph 28).  The contrast in the way the first sentence in the quote begins and ends adds the irony of it that seems to show how Kurtz’s obsession with obtaining more and more ivory may seem at first like a favorable, successful accomplishment, that causes many of the other pilgrims to be jealous of him, but in the end, it’s also an outwardly appealing accomplishment that comes at a inwardly scarring price.  Marlowe seems to describe his descent to madness through his obsession with the ivory hunt as almost akin to selling his soul to the Devil? As he says later on that same page (Part II, paragraph 28), “You should have heard him say ‘My ivory.’… ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—‘ everything belonged to him…The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own…He had taken a high seat among the devils of that land—…Of course you may be too much a fool to go wrong—too dull even to know you are being assaulted by the powers of darkness.  I take it, no fool ever made a bargain for his soul with the devil: the fool is too much of a fool, or the devil too much of a devil…” So in a way it almost seems that Kurtz had to sacrifice a part of his inner humanity perhaps in order to achieve so much success in the ivory hunt and become the wilderness’s “favorite child” (Part II paragraph 28).  Another aspect I was also wondering about though was Kurtz’s feelings towards the natives; does he simply use them to obtain more ivory or does he also somewhat care for them especially since they respect him so much?

On another more cheerful note though, I hope Ms. Marcy feels better and gets well soon! :D