Heart of Darkness character study : the Helmsman

A detailed Summary of Heart of Darkness character study : the Helmsman

Throughout his voyage, Marlow encounters the helmsman. Although we do not know precisely how old he is, Marlow describes him as athletic. Thus we may conjecture, that the helmsman cannot be older than a man in his prime. Marlow meets him, on the ship that is taking them to Kurtz's station; the helmsman is in charge of steering the ship.

When Marlow first sees the helmsman, he sports a pair of brass earrings and wears a blue cloth wrapper from the waist to the ankles. We can infer from his clothing, that he might not have any desire to integrate European civilization, for he wears his tradition al coast tribe's clothing.

Marlow paints the helmsman's personality. He describes him as an "unstable kind of fool, who thought aIl the world of himself". Marlow criticizes his way of steering. According to him, the helmsman, "steers with no end of a swagger white you are by; but if he lost sight of you, he would become instantly the prey of an abject funk, and would let that cripple of a steamboat get the upper hand of him in a minute". It is only in a few lines, in which Marlow portrays his companion in a rather pessimistic and intolerant way.

However, Marlow's convictions about his companion are verified when the steamboat is

attacked. The helmsman becomes mad, "his hands on the spokes, was lifting his knees high, stamping his feet, champing his mouth, like a reined-horse, his mouth foamed a little." When Marlow and his crew are caught in the fog and hear "savage discords till their ears". the white men start panicking. Their faces " twitched with the strain, the hands trembled slightly, the eyes forgot to wink" " a curious look of being painfully shocked by such an outrageous row". On the other hand, the natives "had an alert, naturally interested expression, but their faces were essentially quiet".

Marlow's attitudes towards the helmsman can be contrasted with those of he brickmaker and the chief accountant .Marlow is in the beginning very intolerant towards the helmsman, however, at the end, when he holds the dead helmsman in his arms, he feels that there is a kinship and respects him. On the other hand, the description of the brickmaker and the chief accountant, starts with a positive view "gentlemanly (the brickmaker)", he was amazing (the chief accountant)", but ends with a negative one, "this papier-mache (the brickmaker)", "hairdresser's dummy (the chief accountant)ť .

Although at the beginning, Marlow seems to treat the helmsman in a contemptuous and condescending

Some common words found in the essay are:
, chief accountant, brickmaker chief accountant, natives culture, white men's, values perspectives, helmsman overboard, brickmaker chief, towards helmsman,

Approximate Word count = 852
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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