unnamed narrator first describes the scene the sunset the men on the ship and Marlow s pose After that Marlow begins to tell the story This man listens while Marlow speaks Marlow sits with friends The unnamed narrator says Marlow sat cross-legged resembling an idol This shows his role He is like a prophet He does not tell a direct tale He reflects and explains Through this frame Conrad makes the story mysterious The light of the Thames connects with the darkness of the Congo Outer Station First Hints of Darkness Marlow s role as narrator starts with shock In Brussels he calls the city the White Sepulchre symbol of hypocrisy In the Outer Station he sees starving Africans He also sees a useless French ship firing into the forest He observes that the empire is not light but cruel Here he meets the Chief Accountant The man is clean and white like a vision but around him is death This contrast is Marlow s way of showing irony Central Station Waiting and Listening At the Central Station Marlow finds his boat broken It takes three months to repair At this time he hears many stories of Kurtz The Manager and the Brickmaker both envy and fear Kurtz Marlow narrates For me it crawled towards Kurtz exclusively His role here is to prepare us He builds suspense He makes Kurtz a mystery before we see him Inner Station Meeting Kurtz At last Marlow reaches the Inner Station The Russian Trader welcomes him dressed in colorful rags He says Kurtz is like a god to the villagers When Kurtz is brought out on a stretcher the people cry out Yet Kurtz silences them with only his weak voice This shows his power Marlow sees the African Mistress decorated and proud She is Africa itself wild and strong At night Kurtz tries to crawl back to the forest Marlow stops him On the return journey Kurtz dies His last words are The horror The horror As the narrator Marlow gives this moment deep meaning He sees it as the truth of the empire and man s soul Return to Europe The Lie to the Intended Marlow himself becomes sick but survives In Europe he meets Kurtz s Intended She believes Kurtz was noble She asks him about Kurtz s last words Marlow lies He says The last word he pronounced was your name Here Marlow is not just a teller of facts He protects her dream He hides the horror But he shows the reader the truth His role is interpreter of both reality and illusion From the Thames to the Congo from Outer Station to Inner Station Marlow is more than a sailor He is a narrator a thinker and a guide He shows irony in Brussels fear in the Central Station horror with Kurtz and illusion with the Intended Through Marlow Conrad s tale becomes not just a story of Africa but a story of the darkness of the human soul