“Marlow is the only one of us who still ‘follows the sea.’”

 The only man. This brings up the question, where are the women? What is the role of women in the story? As far as we’re concerned, they’re nowhere to be seen. And later on, for some odd reason, Marlow mentions the romans. He mentions, 

“. . .Light came out of this river since--you say Knights? Yes;...” 

Knights. Knights follow a code of chivalry, and thus follow the standard that men are the ones who are supposed to fight while women are supposed to stay home and take care around the house, and of the children. However, the knights may not believe that this is sexist in any way, for it was commonplace back then. It is inherently sexist, though, because they were denying women any real place in society. Women were denied any power, for fear that they would not be able to handle it. Marlow later speaks of the conquerors, who

 “...want only brute force--nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.” 

It’s common knowledge that on average, the woman is weaker than the man in terms of brute force. This, however, doesn’t mean that women are incapable of becoming just as strong as men. It’s ignorant to think so, and it is completely wrong. Just as there is an average, there are the two extremes. Surely, the strongest of women are many times stronger than the average man. Not only does that quote address brute force, it also addresses the fact that strength arises from the weakness of others. Such is a rule of nature. Feminists wouldn't argue this point because there’s nothing to argue about it. The truth is that not everybody is born to lead nor become the strongest person on earth. 

“Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.”

Such vague description makes it unclear whether or not there were any women among them. One can only assume that there weren’t any because the workers are doing harsh physical work in the mines; work much too harsh for women. Such is the stereotype that the white men probably followed. Further down the road, Marlow meets a white man. 

“I shook hands with this miracle, and I learned he was the Company’s chief accountant, and that all the bookkeeping was done at this station.”

Of course, another man is in power. Did Conrad not think that a woman was fit to be in a position of power? Was it too much of a stretch to think that a woman could survive in the dark forests of Africa? Would she not have enough authority to lead? Or even worse, for this position specifically, would she not be able to do math? Nowhere in the camps is a woman to be seen in any sort of position. It’s not hard to see why this is, for it’s been ingrained into our history that women are not usually in power. It’s been ingrained that women are to do the housework--which is precisely what the chief accountant taught a black woman to do.   

“‘I’ve been teaching one of the native women about the station. It was difficult. She had a distaste for the work.’ Thus this man had verily accomplished something.”

It’s degrading that he forced her to do it against her will. Then again, that’s slavery in a nutshell. This section is more of a problem for racism rather than feminism, but it can still be applied nonetheless. It’s insulting that successfully making someone obey your orders and clean your clothes is seen as an accomplishment. As something that deserves acknowledgment. It’s clear that most everyone at the station is racist, but to be misogynistic as well just adds to the problems that the psychoanalytic lens can psychoanalyze.  

“This was the foreman--a boiler-maker by trade--a good worker…. He was a widower with six young children (he had left them in charge of a sister of his to come out there)…” 

Is this how women are to be treated? Is this how children are to be treated? This man had left his wife, and by doing so, ruined the lives of his children. Undoubtedly the children were mocked, for having such a bad father that not only left his wife, but also left his kids. And where did he leave the kids? With his sister. With a woman, because women are supposed to take care of kids. It could be said, though, that perhaps he didn’t have anyone else to rely on. And it doesn’t sound like he doesn’t love his children, for he did take custody of them. 

“After work hours he used sometimes to come over from his hut for a talk about his children and his pigeons; …” 

Although he does seem to be affectionate to his children, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that they have to grow up without their mother. A mother figure is very important in a child’s life, for she is the one who shows tender love towards the child. Mothers and fathers both are very important to the development of a child. Yet these children will live, at least for a little, with neither of them. 

Later on in the passage, it shows that a group of new people come in on donkeys.

“This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to secrecy.” 

Guess what? There, once again, are no women to be seen. But would feminists want women to be included into this band? Their morals and intentions are outright outrageous, as their intentions are...  

“To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe.”  

Such foul people are detested by much of society. Yet including women in there would be carrying out justice, for representation doesn’t mean only representing the good, but also representing the bad. By showing that there are only men in that expedition, it is giving only men a bad name. If Conrad included women in there, it would be giving that sector of society a bad name. 

“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.”

Such thinking has good intentions, but is very insulting. It’s insinuating that women can’t handle the harsh reality of the world. It’s saying that women have no place in the world. It’s one of the main problems with society, and our history. Women have never been seen as good enough. Take for example, women in the army. Throughout history, a woman’s place in the front lines have been controversial. On one hand, there were the ancient warrior women. These women are proud and strong individuals who got the respect they deserved. On the other hand, there were wars in which women weren’t allowed to serve by fighting on the front lines, but could only help with their medical expertise. Even today, it’s hard for some people to swallow that women are fighting on the front lines for our country. 

Moving on, Kurtz mentioned his Intended.

“You should have heard the disinterred body of Mr. Kurtz saying, ‘My Intended.’ You would have perceived directly then how completely she was out of it.”

When on death’s door, it’s normal to think of your loved ones. From the way Marlow described it, it seemed like Kurtz was thinking of something in a world of it’s own. And that’s nice. It’s nice to think well of your intended, and to have fond memories of them. It isn’t necessarily good, however, because later Marlow mentions the other things that Kurtz mumbled in his half-conscious state. 

 “‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my--’ everything belonged to him.”

By putting all of these in the same category, it greatly reduces the weight of his Intended. She’s reduced to just another object that Kurtz seemed to have claimed control over. It’s sad to think that he thought so little of her, while he meant so much to her. 

Such an entrance is quite saddening. It makes women look bad, in the sense that she is weak. She can’t accept the fact that Kurtz is dead. She’s still obsessed over him, although it’s been an entire year since he’s passed. Such actions could apply only to her, but some may see it a representative of the entire population of women. They might use her as an example when oppressing women. And this isn’t to say that she should be stronger, but that we need to acknowledge that one person isn’t representative of half the population, give or take. Returning to the point that she’s obsessed over Kurtz, she remarked, regarding Kurtz’s death,

“ ‘What a loss to me--to us!’--she corrected herself with beautiful generosity; then added in a murmur, ‘To the world.’”

Such exaggeration could be representative of two things. The first of which is her love for him. Not only love, but also admiration and respect. She was fully in awe of him, and she thought very highly of him. The second of which the exaggeration could represent would be the way women always over exaggerate everything. Women, at least in today’s society, are notorious for always making a huge fuss over little things. It’s most definitely not true for all women, but the stereotype is there. One thing that Kurtz’s Intended did make a big deal of, however, were Kurtz’s last words. Once Marlow mentioned that he knew them, she implored him to repeat them. And so, Marlow said, 

“ ‘The last word he pronounced was--your name.’ ”

And this was where Marlow crossed the line; both his own moral line, and also the moral line of feminists. He despises lies, yet he told his biggest one there and then. He did so because he pitied her, and also because he was scared. It was my initial response to hate him for this, because he is doing her so much harm by not telling her--and I still believe that. It’s just that, now that I’ve gone over it again, I can see clearly that he is scared. He’s scared of how she would react. Not only because she is a ‘weak’ woman, but because she’s emotionally unstable right now. It isn’t his duty to help her snap out of her obsession over Kurtz, but it can be said that it is his responsibility to tell the truth.