Heart of Darkness Seminar Response Week 3

            In the book, women are portrayed as peacekeepers and the emotions of what is going on. In the end, Marlow meets up with Kurtz's intended and is with her during her suffering. The odd thing is that she is still mourning a year after Kurtz's death so that shows women as being emotional in the culture. Oddly, towards the end of section 3, a woman comes up to the boat dressed in rags as if she was trying to confront the whites. This part shows that men weren't the only ones effected by what was happening in the Congo and as the book portrays, women are standing up for themselves and proves that they are not helpless during this conflict. Also in section 3, Kurtz gives Marlow a picture of a woman, and Marlow thinks the picture is amazing and that no artificial light would replicate the picture. Here the book portrays a sort of connection felt by white people with the Africans.

          When Marlow says that women are "out of touch with truth" he means that women don't always have the smarts or know what is going on. I think that he is trying to get at the fact that women in this book are on the sidelines and are not really talked about a whole lot. With that, Marlow thinks that the women don't really know what is going on in the Congo and all of the bad things that are going on. In the end, Kurtz's intended love mourns over his death, but she most likely didn't know what he was doing in the Congo and all of the bad stuff he was doing.