Jason Xu
Mark McGugan
George Harris
April 12, 2013
Heart of Darkness Notes- Ivory
What is its significance?
Ivory, usually in the form of elephant tusks.
· Reward of all the efforts of materialism, greed
· Pilgrims (white men) worship ivory, seeking it, corrupting them such as Kurtz
· Whiteness of the ivory signifies death and is found in the heart of the darkness of Africa.
Quotes:
● The Company men’s quest for ivory comes at the cost of the pain and suffering of the
natives. The pilgrims will do anything to the natives in exchange for just a little bit of
ivory. It is unknown what happens outside the stations, only ivory returns.
○ “Strings of dusty niggers with splay feet arrived and departed; a stream of
manufactured goods, rubbish, cottons, beads and brass-wire set into the depths of
darkness, and in return came a precious trickle of ivory.” (Conrad 85)
● Ivory is what the Company men are all in Africa for. They are doing their jobs for
nothing but the pay they will receive and ivory embodies that. They are entranced by and
worship ivory as if it is a deity and are addicted to it as if it is an opiate.
○ “The word ‘ivory rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think
they were praying for it.” (Conrad 91)
○ “Sometimes we came upon a station close by the bank, clinging to the skirts of the
unknown, and the white men rushing out of a tumble-down hovel, with great
gestures of joy and surprise and welcome, seemed very strange- had the
appearance of being held there captive by a spell. The word ivory would ring in
the air for a while- and on we went again into silence…” (Conrad 107)
● Kurtz’s obsession with ivory tempts him to change into a corrupted man with no morals,
turning into someone who is less that a civilized human. He believes he is a god, and can
do anything he pleases. It gets to a point where the his appearance starts to reflect the
ivory he craves.
○ “The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball- an
ivory ball; it had caressed him, and- lo! – he had withered; it had taken him, loved
him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to
its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation.” (Conrad
125)
○ “Ivory? I should think so. Heaps of it, stacks of it. The old mud shanty was
bursting with it. You would think there was not a single tusk left either above or
below the ground in the whole country,” (Conrad 125
○ “It appears these niggers do bury tusks sometimes- but evidently they couldn’t
bury this parcel deep enough to save the gifted Mr. Kurtz from his fate.” (Conrad
125-126)
○ “You should have heard him say, ‘My ivory?’ Oh, yes, I heard him. ‘My
Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my---’ everything belonged to him.”
(Conrad 126)
○ “‘Shoot you!’ I cried. ‘What for?’ ‘Well, I had a small lot of ivory the chief of
that village near my house gave me… Well, he wanted it, and wouldn’t hear
reason. He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then
cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and
there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased.”
(Conrad 136)
■ Kurtz is willing to kill the Russian for the ivory, it has corrupted him to
the point where he believes he can perform evil acts, and no one can stop
him.
○ “Evidently the appetite for more ivory had got the better of the- what shall I say?less material aspirations.” (Conrad 137)
○ “It was as though an animated image of death carved out of old ivory had been
shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men made of dark and
glittering bronze.” (Conrad 140)
○ “At this moment I heard Kurtz’s deep voice behind the curtain: ‘Save me- save
the ivory, you mean. Don’t tell me. Save me!” (Conrad 143)
○ “But there is no disguising the fact; Mr. Kurtz has done more harm than good to
the Company. He did not see the time was not ripe for vigorous action.
Cautiously, cautiously- that’s my principle. We must be cautious yet. The district
is closed to us for a time. Deplorable! Upon the whole, the trade will suffer. I
don’t deny there is a remarkable quantity of ivory- mostly fossil. We must save it,
at all events- but look how precarious the position is- and why? Because the
method is unsound.” (Conrad 143)
■ Even the Manager, who wants ivory, sees Mr. Kurtz as a dangerous man
who is doing no good.
○ “Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I
saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of
craven terror- of an intense and hopeless despair.” (Conrad 153)
■ Kurtz has become nothing more than the ivory he has relentlessly hunted.
○ “And later on I seemed to see his collected languid manner, when he said one day,
‘This lot of ivory now is really mine. The Company did not pay for it. I collected
it myself at a very great personal risk. I am afraid they will try to claim it as theirs
though. H’m. It is a difficult case. What do you think I ought to do- resist? Eh? I
want no more than justice.” (Conrad 159)