1. "Light came out of this river since – you say Knights? Yes; but it is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker – may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday." (pg. 68)

Vivid imagery mentioned by Marlow. It describes the Thames using similes which compare its mightiness with fire. Light can be associated with peace and calmness, darkness is mostly associated with cruelness and evil as well. Now, the live in the flicker, in the lighted part and they as long as things continue this way, they will remain. However, in the past it was dark, the Thames hides dark secrets of the horrifying past. Last sentence foreshadows about the dark and cruelness the Thames witnessed and the reader will learn about further in the novel.

Reading strategy: Visualize, Infer

2."Trees, trees, millions of trees, massive, immense, running up high; and at their foot, hugging the bank against the stream, crept the little begrimed steamboat, like a sluggish beetle crawling on the floor of a lofty portico. It made you feel very small, very lost, and yet it was not altogether depressing, that feeling. After all, if you were small, the grimy beetle crawled on – which was just what you wanted it to do." (pg. 104)

Marlow is overwhelmed by the nature he is being witness of that moment. The jungle is astonishing. He allows the reader to visualize it; the trees, how big they are and how small he feels compared to them. Antithesis is present, when the comparing him and the hugeness of the trees and of the wilderness, he might be lost in it. There is a connection with nature, mother Earth; and maybe even if you are small you can still make thing work your way, just like you wanted to.

Reading Strategy: Visualize, Identify, Infer

3. "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!’" (pg. 138)

Marlow is hearing Kurtz yell to save the ivory, not so much himself. Ivory, represents Kurtz immortality and how powerful he became. Ivory is a symbol which represents how powerful men can get and at the same time how destructive they can be; Europeans all obsessed not only with obtaining it, but hoarding it. Also, show the greediness of the race, represented only by Kurtz.

Reading Strategy: Indentify, Connect

4. "He cried out twice, a cry that was noo more than a breath: 'The horror! The horror!'. I blew pout the candle out and left the cabin." (pg. 148)

When Marlow is in the last moment of Mr. Kurtz’, he cries out that key phrase, open to different meanings. There is repetition. When he says this last word what it made me think that he meant was that something was horrendous; what was horrendous?, his life. He was horrified of how cruel a person can get to be and how far he would have gone for power. His last moment was the one which he realized that that his heart was full of darkness (cruelty). It shows remorse and regret. Also, can be considered as how the Africans view the Europeans.

Reading Strategy: Question, Evaluate

5. “Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.” P 66

This descriptive passage explores the characterization given to Marlow by the narrator, it is very significant because it is the first impression the reader has about the main character. For the first moment the reader can tell Marlow is a very mysterious man that portrays calmness and peace, therefore the beginning of his adventure sounds interesting to the narrator. Many adjectives are applied on the passage to describe Marlow’s physic and lead it to his personality or attitude, at this point there can be several interpretations

of him that lead to expectations to his adventures.

Reading Strategy: Infer, Predict & Visualize

The reader is able to visualize the setting and create mental images of the impacting place. This description is a clue that Conrad provides the reader to fill gaps to draw conclusions about Marlow’s character and in what ways will he approach the sailors. Also this helps the reader to predict and form own interpretations of what will happen further in the novella.

6. “I came upon more pieces of decaying machinery, a stack of rusty rails. To the left a clump of trees made a shady spot, where dark things seemed to stir feebly. I blinked, the path was steep. A horn tooted to the right, and I saw the black people run.” P 80

The significance of the passage revolves around a description of the setting Marlow encounters as he arrives to the Company Station. Once again Conrad uses various epithets to define a particular place in Marlow’s journey. The

reader can tell the Company Station is not a very welcoming place, but it can actually be threatening. Marlow designates the Company Station as a chaotic setting where he can be in danger. There is absolutely no order in the Company Station and this impacts Marlow, including the black people running around, which he hasn’t expected.

Reading Strategy: Predict

The passage’s description helps the reader to predict what will Marlow come upon in the Company Station, considering the setting is not very pleasant and the man that held his job before died. The reader can predict something risky will happen to Marlow.

7. They were dying slowly-- it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now-- nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom.” P 82

This is a descriptive passage in which Marlow describes the natives. Marlow includes his impact as he recognizes the lives they go through in a direct way. In the passage Marlow calls

into question the lifestyle of the natives, but it is very personal as he describes them as innocent and poor, instead of discriminating them as the other colonizers of The Company. Marlow accepts the natives have a difficult life, which helps him with the rest of his journey. This also includes characterization about Marlow and the capacity he has to place himself in others’ feet.

Reading Strategy: Question

The passage calls Marlow into question but also the reader, who is also able to understand different points of view about the natives. This way the reader has more information about the character’s reactions and personalities and also own interpretation in the novella.

8. "Girl! What? Did I mention a girl? Oh, she is out of it - completely. They - the women, I mean - are out of it - should be out of it. We must help them to stay in that beautiful world of their own, lest ours gets worse." P 121

This is a passage in which Marlow narrates and describes his feelings towards women, it is significant because of the symbolic meaning women have on the novella according to Marlow. He believes they are innocent and naïve, so they are not supposed to be involved in conflicts and out of reality. This belief is also part of Marlow; therefore it is part of the characterization Conrad applies in the novella. Marlow finds women so peaceful and beautiful that he doesn’t want to disappoint them with the reality of the world, and thinks it is men’s responsibility to take care of their innocence.

Reading Strategy:  Evaluate

The passage holds a very polemic discussion about women and so the reader is able to evaluate the idea and connect to it somehow or have opinions about it. 

9. “I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace. What were we who had strayed in here? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn’t talk, and perhaps was deaf as well.” (95)

Reading strategies: Visualize and identify

Descriptive passage that shows how Marlow though nature is beyond human comprehension

Significance and meaning: has an essential importance to the story to understand the complexity of the setting. It shows how enormous and powerful the jungle can be, so that it is questioned whether it is good or evil. It also shows how insignificant people are in comparison to the greatness of nature. Thus it connects to the characterization of Kurtz and Marlow who have to live in this type of setting.

Personification: nature is given qualities such as the ability to look and to be a threat

Natural world theme

10. "Yes; I respected his collars, his vast cuffs, his brushed hair. His appearance was certainly that of a hairdresser's dummy; but in the great demoralization of the land he kept up his appearance. That's backbone. His starched collars and got-up shirt-fronts were achievements of character."(1.43)

Reading strategy: Visualize and question

Purpose of passage: description of an appearance and a physical aspect of the accountant but that has a much deeper meaning

Significance and meaning: quote describes how false the whole concept of colonization is and how the company wants to disguise the true meaning and realities behind it.

Themes of colonization and power

Symbolism of accountant: how the company wants to be seen

11. “It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly.”

Identity and colonialism themes: Marlow is able comprehend that natives because at the end, they were also humans but they are still classified as inferior and primitives because they were Africans

Characterization of Marlow: important point in which Marlow acknowledges the limits in his perception, his narration is biased?

Reading strategies: Visualize

12. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel, but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine. (1.9)

Reading strategy: question and identify

Purpose and meaning of passage: descriptive passage that shows how Marlow believes that in order to understand oneself, one must understand the environment and the people that surround one first.

Use of metaphor with the seed

Light and darkness symbolism and themes: Conrad uses a reversal to the typical light and darkness meanings. Light in this case means ignorance, corruption, greed and darkness means understanding, purity and ignorance.