• Thoughtful
• Observant
• Curious (primarily about Kurtz)
• Knowledgeable (he seems to reference historical events quite offen)
• Morally sound
• Determined (especially with the rivets to fix the boat)
I believe Marlow's most noticeable characteristics are his instincts. He describes his feelings about going into Africa as ominous because the man that used to have his job was murdered there. I believe this may be foreshadowing; that is to say something bad will most likely happen on his African adventure. After the incident with the shed burning down, Marlow overheard the brickmaker saying, “Take advantage of this unfortunate accident.” (Conrad 34). Although these words are out of context, Marlow believes there is something odd going on when the brickmaker approaches him later. He realizes the brickmaker must have read some confidential mail to know the information that he knew, but Marlow decides to play along with the brickmaker’s interrogations to find out what he’s really after. Marlow realized that something more important was going on, beyond the petty woes of the Company staff.
Marlow isn't like the other members of the Company. An example would be the level of racism. The Company's staff are quite racist whereas Marlow has no hatred toward people based on their skin colour. In fact, Marlow does not hate much, he says, “[…] I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie.” (Conrad 38). This shows that he has some form of a moral compass, he goes on to say, “There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies – which is exactly what I hate in the world – what I want to forget.” (Conrad 38). Although, this distaste of lies does not stop Marlow from deceiving others, like the brickmaker; he wanted to squeeze some information out of the brickmaker about Kurtz and the only way to do that was to make the brickmker think that he had connections. Furthermore, when Marlow saw a starving black slave, he attempted to give the man some food, despite his colour. Other members of the Company would not be so caring.
