Greed: A Pathway to Corruption
“The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion” (Conrad 1015). This excerpt is taken from the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. At this point in his journey, Marlow approaches the Central Station after a twenty-mile walk from the Outer Station. He is greeted by the station’s general manager whose “seal” of a smile invokes uneasiness in Marlow. While he is waiting for his boat to be repaired, Marlow notices some men he describes as “faithless pilgrims bewitched inside a rotten fence” wandering around with their “absurd long staves” (1015). As he nears them, he observes and reflect...
