Marlow finds darkness inside him; however, he is able to overcome it. Marlow finds his darkness within him when he realizes that Africans do not need to be civilized. They already are. Marlow says, “We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearth

ly, and the men were—no, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of I—this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one.” (62) The author uses long sentences with pauses in them. The breaks in the sentences allow the reader to focus in on the point that Africans are not inhuman and that Marlow realizes this in an ongoing process. The connotation of “shackled form of a conquered monster” shows what Marlow thought of the Africans. He dehumanizes the natives. A monster is something that people hate, and to keep them shackled is like imprisoning a wild and dangerous animal. The natives are not dangerous, “Fine fellows–cannibals-in their place. They were men one could work with, and I am grateful to them. And, after all, they did not eat each other before my face: they brought along a provision of hippo meat.” (61) The light, humorous diction “fine fellows” and “grateful” comes through in a cheerful tone to the scene. Marlow realizes how civil and humane the natives really are. He is able to overcome his darkness, representing fear and hatred of the natives, by coming to under

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