Inhumane to Humane

    As Heart of Darkness progresses, so do our characters. We now see open criticism to imperialism as the idea Marlow had embedded in his head is challenged by the true reality of the natives he's come to meet. To his surprise these cruel demon spawns that live in this despicable place have much more to them and we now find strong contradictions between what Marlow wants to believe and what he's experiencing around him.

"He was an improved specimen...He ought to have been clapping his hands and stamping his feet on the bank, instead of which he was hard at work...full of improving knowledge."

     Marlow is referring to the steam operator in his boat. The native or poor devil, as he calls him, is challenging the African stereotype of ignorance and erratic behavior. As his own thought process in obscured by this strange fellow he comes back to justify this explaining the man has been instructed and thats all to it. It doesn't come to his own merit as he is still a local devil, it was the europeans that taught him and took advantage of this naive creature. What Marlow can't see is that his own ideas are struggling to keep the colonial mentality weaved together and maybe as he progresses through Part III he'll understand reality in its true perspective.