Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

The emphasis of Marlow's story shifts in Chapter Two.  While Marlow describes several incidents, including a conversation in which the manager reveals his distain for Kurtz because of his "high ideals, that occur at the second station, he quickly leaps forward to describe his final approach to the third station (Kurtz' station).

As the steamboat makes its slow approach to the last station, Marlow feels as if he's travelling back to the beginning of time.  He and his crewmen--a boilermaker, a helmsman, several pilgrims, several deckhands (cannibals), and the manager of the second station-often hear the roll of drums behind the blanket of trees that cover the river's edge.  The drums draw Marlow and inspire him to reflect on the nature of man.  He realizes that Africans are human and that white men must admit the common bond that links everyone.  Conrad illustrates Marlow's changing perspective in a scene involving the cannibals.  Although the hippo meat that the cannibals brought with them to eat quickly turned rotten in the jungle heat and was tossed overboard and they were not paid enough to afford to buy rations at the periodic stops, the cannibals refrained from attacking any of their fellow crewmembers.  Marlow realizes that these cannibals have a code by which they live that prevents them from attacking the men on board.  Marlow, who lives by his own strict code of ethics, admires the strength he sees in the cannibals' fortitude. 

Conrad also illustrates Marlow's growing empathy for the men he once called "savages" during a scene in which a band of followers sent by Kurtz attacks the steamboat with flying spears.  As the white men on the steamboat grab their guns and return fire, Kurtz' black helmsman continues to try to steer the boat through shallow, treacherous water.  When a spear rips through the helmsman's body, Marlow grieves and reflects on the bond that had formed between himself and his helmsman.  Marlow wonders if the trip to hear Kurtz is worth the life of the black helmsman-a notion that would have been unthinkable to him had he not made this journey into the "heart of darkness."

At this point, Marlow's story moves forward to describe Kurtz then back to his dead helmsman at his feet on the steamboat.  Kurtz, Marlow states, is emaciated and sick.  Kurtz, whose station overflows with ivory, has built his own army of natives who view him as a god.  According to Marlow, Kurtz has been overtaken by the wild darkness.  Once a great man, artist, poet, musician, writer, and orator, Kurtz has lost his humanity and now rules with cruelty and hate. Kurtz' insanity is evident in the statement, "Exterminate all the brutes!" he scrawls at the bottom of a report he wrote for the Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs.  Kurtz had come to the jungle with the intent to civilize but now he faces his death as an empty, hateful, vengeful man.

Chapter Two ends as Marlow and his crew set anchor at Kurtz' station.  To greet them, a Russian man runs to the dock and showers Marlow with stories of Kurtz.  The animated Russian, who stands in stark contrast to his impenetrable surroundings, explains that he has been wandering the jungle for years, completely unencumbered.  He came upon Kurtz and became one of Kurtz' followers when Kurtz "enlarged" his mind.