True, he had made that last stride, he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot. And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible. (Part III)
Marlow’s reflection captures the essence of the difference between him and Kurtz. Whereas Kurtz gave in to the “awakening of forgotten and brutal instincts,” Marlow simply “peeped over the edge.” Though able to observe and understand the banal forces that controlled Kurtz, Marlow found the restraint to master his emotions and remain sane. This is the essence of sanity, the power of the Id over the Ego, that keeps humans from killing each other to extinction. But what gave Marlow this strength of will? What was the source of his restraint? Marlow’s own words reveal the answer: his work ethic and attention to the everyday necessities of life, the “infernal mess of rust, filings, nuts, bolts, spanners, hammers, ratchet-drills” focus his daily attentions, provide meaning to his life and an ethical basis for sanity.
Marlow informs the reader of the high value he places on work early in the novel, as he introduces us to the daily routine at Central Station: “I went to work the next day, turning, so to speak, my back on that station. In that way only it seemed to me I could keep my hold on the redeeming facts of life.” (Part I) He disdains the European workers as “men strolling aimlessly” (Part I) and complains that all he really wants is to be able to do his job: “What I really wanted was rivets, by Heaven! Rivets. To get on with the work – to stop the hole.” (Part I) The more time he spends in the company of the listless overseers of Central Station, the more distant he grows from them and the more attached to his own work, "It was great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, the battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat… I had expended enough hard work on her to make me love her. No influential friend would have served me better…" (Part I). And then, after revealing that he prefers the company of his work to the Europeans at Central station, Marlow makes his most profound comment on work:
No, I don’t like work. I had rather laze about and think of all the fine things that can be done. I don’t like work – no man does – but I like what is in the work – the chance to find yourself. Your own reality – for yourself, not for others – what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means. (Part I)
This is the core of Marlow's work ethic. His work defines him. It provides meaning and definition to his existence. Work is Marlow's path to inner discovery.
In contrast, though he maintains a condescending view of the “savage natives,” he holds those that work on a higher level. “I had to look after the savage who was fireman. He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler…A few months of training had done for that really fine chap.” (Part II) Later, on the steamboat, he again elevates the “working” native to the status of a friend: “Well, don’t you see, he had done something, he had steered; for months I had him at my back – a help – an instrument. It was a kind of partnership. He steered for me – I had to look after him…” (Part II).
Finally, when he dances close to the edge, deeply attracted to the raw power inherent in Kurtz’ denial of restraint, Marlow falls back once again to the comforting arms of his work to save himself from stepping over the edge:
But I had not much time to give him, because I was helping the engine-driver to take to pieces the leaky cylinders, to straighten a bent connecting-rod, and in other such matters. I lived in an infernal mess of rust, filings, nuts, bolts, spanners, hammers, ratchet-drills – things I abominate, because I don’t get on with them. (Part III)
The satisfaction of work well done, a completed project, and the respect that earns from peers, is a powerful motivating force. It keeps us on the road to progress, allowing us to achieve our goals. The restraint required to avoid temptation is one way to stay sane. I understand Marlow’s disciplined work ethic because that same force sustaines me.
(The image at the top was created recently by a happy client of my software.)
