"It was too dark, too dark all together...."

"It was too dark, too dark all together..."



The line, "it was too dark, too dark all together" truly caught my attention as I finished reading "Heart of Darkness." After Marlowe lies to the Intended about Kurtz's final words and justifies his lie by saying it would have been too dark to even admit, I finally realized the meaning of the novel's title. We initially see the wilderness as being an "empty stream, a great silence, an dimpenetrable forest" (59) as well as "monstorous, free, and unearthly" (62). As Marlowe is describing the beautiful aspects of the earth, the reader is almost blinded by the fact that the wilderness can also bring darkness, terror, and greed. Throughout the entire novel, events unfold to show that maybe even the most serene parts of life are not always as perfect as they may seem. People are human; therefore, human nature brings many imperfections. While Marlowe is both reliable and trusted throughout his storytelling, he tells a terrible lie to the Intended at the end of the novel. Likewise, the reader initially sees Kurtz as an idol to others: a man almost let Kurtz shoot him. However, we learn that once Kurtz saw that he could have power in the jungle, he ran with the idea. The title makes perfect sense: things that can seem so real, so true to the heart can still be plagued by darkness (as seen through the wilderness).