7/2/2023 0 Comments Heart of darkness cliff notes![]() First, Marlow "slipped through one of the cracks" to enter the building, implying that the Company is figuratively "closed" in terms of what it allows the public to learn about its operations. The first glimpse Marlow and the reader have of the Company's headquarters hints at the organization's sinister, evil, and conspiratorial atmosphere. ![]() ![]() Marlow dwells in the realm of wishful thinking, wanting to believe that the Company has no imperialistic impulses and is simply an economic enterprise, much like the ones to which he is accustomed as a European. Uncomfortable with his aunt's ideas, Marlow suggests that the Company is simply "run for profit" before he sees how these profits are acquired, he is blissfully unaware of the Company's depravity. Marlow's aunt, who talks to him about "weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways" serves as an example of how deeply the Company's propaganda has been ingrained into the minds of Europeans. The Company, like its headquarters, is a similar "whited sepulcher," proclaiming its duty to bring "civilization" and "light" to Africa in the name of Christian charity, but really raping the land and its people in the name of profit and the lust for power. When Marlow visits Brussels to get his appointment, he describes the city as a "whited sepulcher" - a Biblical phrase referring to a hypocrite or person who employs a façade of goodness to mask his or her true malignancy. ![]()
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