Conscience

In Conrad’s novel, the “Heart of Darkness,” the natives are considered savage by the

white men, but Marlow realizes that their culture is more free and independent. This is because

they have no set rules to live by are able to make their own choices. The only thing guiding them

is their consciences. The natives are used to having to make their own decisions every day unlike

the white men who rely on civilization to tell them what is right and wrong. When they go out

into this wilderness and their consciences are tested, many of them do things they would never

have dreamed of doing. The most obvious example of this is Kurtz. Marlow tells us some of the

evils Kurtz was involved in:

But this must have been before his - let us say - nerves went wrong, and caused him to
preside at certain midnight dances ending with undspeakable rites, which - as far as I
reluctantly gathered from what I heard at various times - were offered up to ...