Heart of Darkness post 5 (pages 145-end)

At the end of Heart of Darkness Marlow goes to the house of Kurtz’s Intended. Even though it has been a year since Kurtz’s death, the Intended is still dressed head to toe in black in mourning. She wants to know what Kurtz’s last words were, but Marlow cannot bring himself to tell the Intended the truth. Instead, Marlow lies to the Intended and tells her, “The last words he pronounced was-your name” (164). Marlow detests liars more than anything, but in that false confession he deliberately put himself in the same category as liars. However, there was reasoning behind the lie. One detail Marlow and the Intended agree upon about Kurtz are that his words will never die. When Marlow does not tell the Intended Kurtz’s real dying words, he is putting the uncivilized Kurtz to rest in the process. Kurtz, to the Intended, will be remembered as an incredibly intelligent, but also loving husband to the very end. She will remember Kurtz as he once was before he travelled into the Congo, for her perception of him will not be skewed by accounts of the monster he became at the inner station. Kurtz’s words are remembered from the powerful reports Kurtz wrote from the company, not from the insanity that overcame him in the Congo.