"The history of an oppressed people is hidden in the lies and agreed upon myths of its conquerors. Women are the oppressed people, and its conquerors are men. Joseph Conrad accurately depicts this aspect of colonial history in the novel Heart of Darkness. The series of images of femininity in the novel serve to comment that women are blind to the truth. The delicate nature of a woman is protected by the more powerful gender through lies and the lack of exposure to other cultures, ideas, and boundaries. Although Marlow's aunt, the two women knitting, the painting of the blindfolded woman, Kurtz's "savage" lover, and the "Intended" are very unique, they all share the broad commonality of being sheltered.
Marlow's aunt is ignorant to the truth. She is influenced by the location in which she lives, the colonial time period, and the conquerors that provide their choice of information. The aunt is evidently very comfortable and ensconced in privilege in her parlor in Belgium. She is sufficiently affected by the print and talk of the time, which is controlled by the lies of the more powerful gender. In turn she gains a limited, ideologically saturated, and public knowledge of colonialism, just as the Company wishes the female population to have. The information released to the aunt keeps her delicate nature intact, she remains calm, orderly, and happy without moving beyond the domestic space of her own parlor (McIntire, 2).
While visiting with his aunt, who secured him a job in Africa, Marlow makes a comment on the nature of women.
.
"It's queer how out of touch with the truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over (27).
