As I reflect upon the ending of The Heart of Darkness I realized how pertinent it is to the traveling theme. Marlow embarks on an expedition to colonize but ends up in a journey to find himself. He is constantly in a border between insanity and discovery that drives him to find the unknown. This motivation is juxtaposed with the danger that Africa seemed to be for Europeans. They too, wanted to explore and go beyond the normal routine. This need to travel finds its roots in curiosity. As I read about the Europeans in King Leopold’s Ghost I found that they were very similar. A quest for knowledge plagued the Europeans and led them towards Africa. The continent serves as a portal to nature and leads to an uncivilized world.
Marlow explores the Congo in search for Kurtz, and in this journey experiences the power of the wild: “But when one is young one must see things, gather experience, ideas; enlarge the mind” (128) We can clearly see that Conrad is telling the reader to explore. Like Marlow a reader can be young and inexperienced, he has to look for new ways to learn and explore. For the Europeans in King Leopold’s Ghost Africa was the place were they could learn and explore.
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