His interest in Kurtz grows during this period. He finds that his steamship has been sunk and spends several months waiting for parts to repair it. Marlow arrives at the Central Station, run by the general manager, an unwholesome, conspiratorial character. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man’s settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness. The native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company’s service, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company’s agents. As he travels to Africa and then up the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company’s stations.
Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities.
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