A claim that has been made many times before is that Joseph Conrad is Marlow from the novel, Heart of Darkness. In 1890 Joseph Conrad sailed in Africa up the Congo River. The journey provided a basis for his novel Heart of Darkness. If the facts are looked at it can clearly be seen that Joseph Conrad reflected his own life with that of the character Marlow in his novel Heart of Darkness.

Joseph Conrad and Marlow began sailing at a young age. Early in Heart of Darkness the narrator on the Nellie describes Marlow as "the only man of us who still follows the seas", and he began sailing at the age of 13. John Batchelor says Joseph Conrad experienced the life of a sailor when he was 17 and joined French merchant marine for four years. Conrad sailed on the Palestine in 1881-1882 when he was 20. Joseph Conrad and Marlow Being sailors enabled them to make a voyage to Africa.

Both Marlow and Joseph Conrad had family members who influenced their lives. Marlow's aunt helps him get the job of being a skipper of a river steamboat when nobody else will. He states, "I Charlie Marlow, set the woman to work-to get a job". Marlow's aunt, "a dear enthusiastic soul", thought it would be a "glo

Joseph Conrad reflected his own life with the character, Marlow, in his work, Heart of Darkness. "Conrad was able to dig deep into himself and write, in the last year of the century, his troubling masterpiece". Marlow and Conrad had a lot in common. They both had influential family members, became sailors at a young age, ventured to Africa and saw all the horrors there. Joseph Conrad even related the characters in the novel to his own family members. "His relationship with his father was like Marlow's relationship with Kurtz and his relationship with his uncle, Bobrowski, was like Marlow's relationship with the chief accountant". Perhaps Joseph Conrad wrote about himself by using Marlow "to confront his own psychological illness".

Both Marlow and Joseph Conrad saw horrors on their journeys to Africa. Marlow is very upset with they way the imperialists treat the savages. When he sees a chain of six black men he thinks, "I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong lusty red-eyed devils". Seeing the horrid sight of six black me with their ribs and joints sticking out and being chained together makes Marlow realize how selfish and greedy the white men are. When Joseph Conrad went to Africa he realized that the Belgians were the same way, he said, "Belgians working in the Congo are inadequate and greedy people, the organization that has brought them here is cruel and corrupt". In Marlow's adventure to find Kurtz, he sees a fence of heads surrounding Kurtz's house. Conrad wrote, "...there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and, with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow line of white teeth, was smiling too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal slumber". Marlow was disgusted by this act and says, "they only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts". Josep

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Approximate Word count = 1350
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)