Too, though, Africa is not only dark and mysterious, it is a lonely place for a westerner. The climate is far from comforting, the mode of transportation strange and unwieldy, and certainly, the lack of stability in government and economics both made it easy for many British to become wealthy, as well as to hoard resentment towards such a place. If we also think of the insects, constantly buzzing, spreading infection, we essentially have Mother Nature, at least in the geographic biography, also acting as an agent of contagion and mistrust -- perhaps even the contagion causing even more blatant sexism?

Others have suggested that the women in Heart of Darkness clearly represent death and this idea of contagion. We can look at Kurtz's African mistress as she embodies the "dead" African landscape. In fact, as we meet her, Marlow notes:

And in the hush that had fallen suddenly upon...
[ View Full Essay]