Heart of Darkness Questions

1. The narrator of the book is Marlow.  He is telling the setting of the book and he is also telling about his adventure on the Congo River.  The story goes back and forth; one minute he's telling the story to people on board, the next minute he's explaining and narrating the actual story.  On The Nellie there were four people and the captain, called the Director of Companies.  

2. Marlow emphasizes that there are many people who have come from England who were adventurers.  The Thames has held such people as Sir Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin...many different and noble people from England.  The Thames has a history with the English.

3. Marlow is trying to say that when people are conquering and exploring the Earth, they are bound to take away land from the people who are lower than them and those who have less power.  He understands that this is bad...he knows that he shouldn't take it from them because it was theirs but it makes them feel better when they know that they have the land.  They just don't think about the idea of taking land from different people.  He is justifying the colonization of land; he thinks that it is okay because he is setting up a place for people to live.

4. I don't think that he wants to use maps.  He wants to explore just like his ancestors and the people who have been explorers before him.  They did just fine and he realized that he could explore without them.