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WHO IS KURTZ p roclaimed to be? “On my asking who Mr. Kurtz was, he said he was a first-class agent; and seeing my disappointment at this information, he added slowly, laying down his pen, 'He is a very remarkable person. ' Further questions elicited from him that Mr. Kurtz was at present in charge of a trading-post, a very important one, in the true ivory-country, at 'the very bottom of there. Sends in as much ivory as all the others put together . . .' He began to write again. The sick man was too ill to groan. The flies buzzed in a great peace.” page 21, when talking to The Accountant “To my question he said Mr. Kurtz had painted this… Mr. Kurtz was a ‘universal genius’” page 29-33, when staying in Central Station “'How did that ivory come all this way?' growled the elder man, who seemed very vexed. The other explained that it had come with a fleet of canoes in charge of an English half-caste clerk Kurtz had with him; that Kurtz had apparently intended to return himself, the station being by that time bare of goods and stores, but after coming three hundred miles, had suddenly decided to go back, which he started to do alone in a small dugout with four paddlers, leaving the half-caste to continue down the river with the ivory. The two fellows there seemed astounded at anybody attempting such a thing. They were at a loss for an adequate motive. As to me, I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time. It was a distinct glimpse: the dugout, four paddling savages, and the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home -- perhaps; setting his face towards the depths of the wilderness, towards his empty and desolate station. I did not know the motive. Perhaps he was just simply a fine fellow who stuck to his work for its own sake. His name, you understand, had not been pronounced once. He was 'that man.'” page 38, when eavesdropping on Manager and uncle “I was cut up to the quick at the idea of having lost the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted Kurtz.” page 57
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WHO IS KURTZ really? “‘What can you expect!’ he burst out; ‘he came to them with thunder and lightning, you know – and they had never seen anything like it – and very terrible. He could be very terrible. You can’t judge Mr. Kurtz as you would an ordinary man. No, no, no! Now – just to give you and idea – I don’t mind telling you, he wanted to shoot me too one day – but I don’t judge him.’ ‘Shoot you!’ I cried. ‘What for?’ ‘Well, I had a small lot of ivory the chief of that village near my house gave me. You see I used to shoot game for them. Well, he wanted it, and wouldn’t hear reason. He said he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased .’” page 69. “I am not disclosing any trade secrets. In fact, the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz's methods had ruined the district. I have no opinion on that point, but I want you clearly to understand that there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him -- some small matter which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his magnificent eloquence. Whether he knew of this deficiency himself I can't say” page 79 “I suppose it did not occur to him that Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine .” page 71 “At this moment I heard Kurtz's deep voice behind the curtain: 'Save me! -- save the ivory, you mean. Don't tell me. Save ME! Why, I've had to save you. You are interrupting my plans now. Sick! Sick! Not so sick as you would like to believe. Never mind. I'll carry my ideas out yet -- I will return. I'll show you what can be done. You with your little peddling notions -- you are interfering with me. I will return. I. . . .‘” page 76
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IS KURTZ? WHO WHY
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THANK YOU works cited Apocolypse Now . Dir. Francis F. Coppola. Perf. Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando. American Zoetrope, 1979. Film. Conrad, Joseph. The Heart of Darkness . London: Everyman, 1995. Print. Hawkins, Hunt. "Conrad's Critique of Imperialism in Heart of Darkness." PMLA 94.2 (1979): 286-99. Print. Stewart, Garrett. "Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness." PMLA 95.3 (1980): 319- 31. Print. Raskin, Jonah. "Imperialism: Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Journal of Contemporary History 2.2 (1967): 113-31. Print.