Heart of Darkness #2

As Marlow continues to delve deeper into the jungle, elements of racism within the company are quick to shine through. When a colleague grows ill and has to be carried in a hammock slung under a wooden stick by African natives, a minor injury occurs. The "heavy pole had skinned [the man's] poor nose" (88) and he expects Marlow to kill a carrier to make his suffering right. The fact that the feverish man forces African workers to carry him around the jungle shows that he, and the rest of the company, believes that the natives are lesser people. If he had become sick back in Europe, it is not likely that he would force his white employees to carry him around. Even if he did, it is less likely that he would demand the end to a white man's life for a minor mistake. The company treats the African natives as their slaves, rather than their employees because it does not view the workers as uneducated equals. Racism is prevalent among the Europeans in Africa, and they do not try to hide their feelings towards the natives.

Marlow has not yet taken a strong stance on the racism issue within the company. Although he uses derogatory terms when speaking about the natives, he only uses degrading language because of the time period of the novel. Early twentieth century Europe was not a place of acceptance and equality, and Marlow is just conforming to society. He sees nothing wrong with his language because it is a social norm. When his colleague requests the murder of a carrier, Marlow's explanation for why he did not kill a native is that "there wasn't the shadow of carrier near" (88). Rather than admitting that killing an African worker for no real reason would be completely unnecessary, Marlow brushes past the incident like it was nothing important. His explanation makes it sound like he would have killed a carrier if there was one present. His insensitivity shows that he is not looking to stand up for better treatment of the African natives, but he is not looking to mistreat them, like other members of the company.