“It was unearthly, and the men were – No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it – this 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 jus the thought of their humanity – like yours – the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly.” (58).
This quote symbolizes Marlow’s and Kurtz’s descent to the heart of darkness. In this scene they are passing the natives by steamboat, and so are being praised by them. Marlow questions the natives’ inhumanity, but even more importantly, the kinship he and the men on the steamboat feel with this darkness.
This is another example of a quote Chinua Achebe may have had an issue with in regards to prejudice towards Africans. The natives are being described as dark forms and masses, as savages of the heart of darkness. It is in this scene where Marlow gets his first glimpse of the heart of darkness. He speaks of how the natives’ movements are frightening and ugly, yet he relates himself to that. This symbolizes how there is an ugliness within all people, and how Marlow is no exception. The suspicion of their not being inhuman brings fear to Marlow because he wants them to be inhuman. He does not want to be able to relate to them in any way, but in reality, he knows that they all share a common dark bond.
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