When Marlow arrives at the second station he finds that the steamboat that he was supposed to captain was wrecked at the bottom of the river. Marlow turns to the manager of the second station for help. The manager, who inspires uneasiness and distrust in Marlow, explains that an inexperienced captain had wrecked the steamboat days earlier when he and the manager started up-river to pick up Mr. Kurtz, the manager of the third station, who was reportedly gravely ill. Marlow sets about looking for rivets to repair the steamboat. The agents and manager at the station are oddly unwilling to help Marlow. One night, an agent confides in Marlow that others at the station are weary of him because they view him as similar to Kurtz. According to the agent, Kurtz and Marlow are both from the "new gang of virtue." With that insight, Marlow's disgust and uneasiness with his white colleagues grows as does in interest in meeting Kurtz. Before he can meet Kurtz, however, Marlow must remain at the second station for several months to repair his boat.
Chapter 2
The emphasis of Marlow's story shifts in Chapter Two. While Marlow describes several incidents, including a conversation in which the manager reveals his distain for Kurtz because of his "high ideals, that occur at the second station, he quickly leaps forward to describe his final approach to the third station (Kurtz' station).
As the steamboat makes its slow approach to the last station, Marlow feels as if he's travelling back to the beginning of time. He and his crewmen--a boilermaker, a helmsman, several pilgrims, several deckhands (cannibals), and the manager of the second station—often hear the roll of drums behind the blanket of trees that cover the river's edge. The drums draw Marlow and inspire him to reflect on the nature of man. He realizes that Africans are human and that white men must admit the common bond that links everyone. Conrad illustrates Marlow's changing perspective in a scene involving the cannibals. Although the hippo meat that the cannibals brought with them to eat quickly turned rotten in the jungle heat and was tossed overboard and they were not paid enough to afford to buy rations at the periodic stops, the cannibals refrained from attacking any of their fellow crewmembers. Marlow realizes that these cannibals have a code by which they live that prevents them from attacking the men on board. Marlow, who lives by his own strict code of ethics, admires the strength he sees in the cannibals' fortitude.
Conrad also illustrates Marlow's growing empathy for the men he once called "savages" during a scene in which a band of followers sent by Kurtz attacks the steamboat with flying spears. As the white men on the steamboat grab their guns and return fire, Kurtz' black helmsman continues to try to steer the boat through shallow, treacherous water. When a spear rips through the helmsman's body, Marlow grieves and reflects on the bond that had formed between himself and his helmsman. Marlow wonders if the trip to hear Kurtz is worth the life of the black helmsman—a notion that would have been unthinkable to him had he not made this journey into the "heart of darkness."
At this point, Marlow's story moves forward to describe Kurtz then back to his dead helmsman at his feet on the steamboat. Kurtz, Marlow states, is emaciated and sick. Kurtz, whose station overflows with ivory, has built his own army of natives who view him as a god. According to Marlow, Kurtz has been overtaken by the wild darkness. Once a great man, artist, poet, musician, writer, and orator, Kurtz has lost his humanity and now rules with cruelty and hate. Kurtz' insanity is evident in the statement, "Exterminate all the brutes!" he scrawls at the bottom of a report he wrote for the Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs. Kurtz had come to the jungle with the intent to civilize but now he faces his death as an empty, hateful, vengeful man.
Chapter Two ends as Marlow and his crew set anchor at Kurtz' station. To greet them, a Russian man runs to the dock and showers Marlow with stories of Kurtz. The animated Russian, who stands in stark contrast to his impenetrable surroundings, explains that he has been wandering the jungle for years, completely unencumbered. He came upon Kurtz and became one of Kurtz' followers when Kurtz "enlarged" his mind.
Chapter 3
The Russian, who nursed Kurtz through two illnesses, views his leader as a guru. Marlow finds the Russian interesting and refreshingly free. In fact, the Russian is the only white man in the jungle who is there to experience and learn rather than exploit and plunder. While the Russian rambles on about Kurtz, Marlow notices that the decorations he had noticed when he docked his steamboat are actually dried heads of native rebels. Following this dramatic scene, Marlow turns to find a group of men carrying Kurtz on a stretcher. Kurtz bellows some words to the group of natives who have amassed near the river then lies back on his stretcher as the men carry him to Marlow's steamboat.
With Kurtz on the boat, Marlow finally got his chance to speak face to face with the infamous man. As Kurtz utters his first words to Marlow, "I am glad," natives again gather at the river's edge. An ethereal black woman emerges from the crowd and stands firm while the others scatter after the crew sound their horn to scare the natives. The woman clearly has a strong connection to Kurtz and one assumes that she had, at one time, been his mistress. A series of covert conversations follow the strange scene on shore. First, Marlow hears Kurtz berate the manager for interfering with his plans at the station. Next, the manager tries to turn Marlow against Kurtz. Finally, the Russian asks Marlow to help him flee because he fears that the manager wants to kill him. Marlow helps the Russian escape into the jungle and laments the corrupt and chaotic state of his situation.
Conrad follows the chaotic scene on the shore and the strange conversations on the steamboat with a nightmarish scene in the jungle. Marlow follows Kurtz into the jungle where he has crawled toward a fire started by his vigilant followers. Marlow describes Kurtz as a man who has "looked over the edge." This scene, however, is short-lived as Marlow skips ahead to the next day—his day of departure from Kurtz' station.
With Kurtz on board the steamboat "waiting for death," the steamer sets sail down river. Kurtz' followers, including the beautiful woman, again gather on the shore. The white men aboard the ship fire blindly into the crowd as they leave. As the boat steams down the river, much faster than it had moved up river, a pall of death and quiet falls on the crewmen. When the steamer breaks down again, Kurtz realizes that he has lost his last chance for survival. Marlow sits at his side as Kurtz takes his final breaths. Kurtz hands a package of personal documents to Marlow and, with his last gasps, he whispers, "The horror! The horror!"
Returning to London, tired and sick, Marlow guards Kurtz' package diligently. Three people inquire about Marlow's package: a man claiming to be Kurtz' cousin, a journalist, and an agent for the company looking for insight into the areas explored by Kurtz while he was at the station. Marlow give the journalist Kurtz' Suppression of Savage Customs report then decides to give the rest of the documents to Kurtz' "Intended" (his girlfriend or fiancé). Face to face with Kurtz' Intended, Marlow finds himself lying about the man Kurtz had become. Marlow finishes by telling the woman that Kurtz' last words were her name. Marlow realizes that he lied to save the girl from the darkness that had consumed Kurtz. With that, Marlow ends his story aboard the Nellie. Bobbing about on the Thames, the narrator spies incoming clouds and remarks that even the river upon which they now sit flows "into the heart of immense darkness." Marlow and his fellow journeymen now realize that the heart of darkness lies within men.
