Blog 4: Heart of Darkness

In paragraph 103, Marlow continues to digress from his account of the events leading up to the death of his helmsman, as he pauses frequently and quickly changes the subjects he describes. Contemplating, Marlow mentions details of his journey and the people he meets in anachronistic order. His lack of ordered thoughts suggests that the remembrance of the events he describes have severely traumatized him. To him, his journey towards the deeper land has psychologically damaged him, as he faces incomprehensible danger and the manifestation of human darkness from living among the dangerous natives and death, far away from the comforts of civilized home. As Marlow comments, the listeners of his story cannot comprehend the psychological toil the journey has on civilized men like him; with many external protections like the developed morality of civilization and police establishments, man can refrain himself from dwelling in the evils of the unconscious and the evil, primal traits of the mind. Without these external influences, Marlow believes that inner strength only stands to stop one from falling captive to the "powers of darkness."