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Kurtz may be regarded as representative of European attitudes because he is greedy. It is mentioned in the story that Kurtz greedy for ivory and even always looking for an audience. The self-contradictory aspects of so-called Western civilization that Conrad stresses in his story is that the greed is a dark sin yet Kurtz turns out to be close friends with the natives who live in the dark.
Kurtz could represent the Europeans lifestyle, furthermore the Europeans have been looking for power in order to reach the top. Kurtz represents a godlike figure in Africa, he took advantage of the Europeans and used them to achieve his power. The Europeans colonization is hungry for power and this has influenced Kurtz. Also, the fight for ivory can show greed and power within Kurtz and Europeans. They both express an attitude that is greedy and hungry for power. A self contradictory aspect of western civilization is that they are called "savages" and how the white man is supposed to act civilized and be well mannered, but Kurtz grew a relationship with the natives and could possibly become a "savage" of himself at the end.
Kurtz may be regarded as representative of European attitudes and European colonizing efforts by the way he uses the natives and takes the ivory for money. Even though Kurtz is nice and respectful of the natives, he harvests the ivory for money. Kurtz's main goal and motive is to collect as much money as he possibly can and to accumulate all the ivory that he can. Kurtz still views the natives as savages, even though he respects them and doesn't want to leave the Congo. Conrad stresses the self-contradictory aspects of the racism of the Western civilization. Even though he talks about the racism constantly throughout the book, he himself is racist by the way he portrays all of the characters.
Kurtz is basically an indirect representation of the Europeans, because he is greedy and wealth-driven. Throughout the entire book, he has a strong desire to obtain all the ivory he can. This is similar to how the Europeans only care about working to make money. Overall, Kurtz is obsessed with gaining as much wealth as he can, but this contradicts the aspects of Western civilization by the fact that the Europeans end up turning into savages and portray darkness.
Because Kurtz is a little bit of every European (by blood), this makes him a representation of European imperialism as a whole. Kurtz himself got the characteristics for imperialism. He is greedy, blinded by wealth, and desires power. Kurtz has the power to influence others, to change the beliefs of people, and make others follow his orders. Conrad stress the self-contradictory aspects of Western civilization through the comparisons of white and black. He often confuses good and bad with white and black to raise the questions: which side is good and which side is bad?
Kurtz can be regarded as a representative of European attitudes and of European colonizing efforts by his amount of how important of a person he is. He is an influential leader but at the same time is driven by greed and money and in this novel, the need for ivory. Self-contradictory aspects of so-called Western civilization that is stressed in this story is Kurtz westernization. Kurtz eventually becomes friendly with the Natives.
Kurtz is the perfect representative of the European colonizing countries. At first glance Kurtz is constantly praised and idolized, which is how Europe views the colonizing efforts in Africa. When further investigated you realize how Kurtz is corrupt and greedy just like the countries using Africa for its own personal gains. Conrad stresses how western culture sees themselves as civilized and moral yet the descriptions of how the Africans are treated show the gruesome and immoral.
Kurtz is shown as a hero and the opposite of a European imperialist to the natives in the story. In reality, Kurtz completely represents a European imperialist and demonstrates the conventions of desiring wealth and exploiting the natives in order to obtain that wealth. Kurtz cared deeply about the ivory which was what Europe cared deeply about, disregarding the natives. Kurtz death at the end of the book highlights the inevitable death of European imperialism in the future. Kurtz was a European and Marlow believed it to be true in the story.
Kurtz was very representative in the ideals of European culture. He went to Africa to make money and stopped at nothing until he succeeded. He made himself into a larger than life figure to the natives then abused this power in using them to gain more ivory and wealth. This is extremely contradictory to the typical ideals that Western culture claims to have. People in Europe believed they were benefiting the natives, showing them the true god to worship, and educating them in the proper ways to do things. In actuality they were just destroying the natives' way of life and uprooting them for their own self-centered gains.
Marlow's observation of Kurtz was literal and figurative in my opinion. Literal because it said that his mother was from European decent. More in depth with figurative, Kurtz does act and sound like a European in what he says and does. He's greedy about his skill level and the knowledge that he has gained. I also think that he has been brainwashed by the European ways and has seen that to get to the top, you have to be ruthless, which he is. I do think that it is quite ironic that Kurtz tries to play for both sides of the Europeans and the natives and until his death he pretty much had equal support.
Kurtz is a representative of European attitudes in Africa because he has many of the same ideals as them. He is motivated by the fact that there is a wealth like ivory to be extracted from Africa and the simplicity of collecting it being someone that has so much power and great influence over the African natives. Much like the Europeans occupied in Africa Kurtz is only interested in his own self-imporvement and gain in everything he does with the natives.The self-contradictory aspect of this so-called western civilization that Conrad shows is that while Kurtz is establishing this illusion that he is improving Africa making them more civilized he is actually making Africa even worse, enslaving its people, gaining power over the natives, and therefore making them even more like savages than they were before and having an evil view of the Europeans.
Kurtz can be regarded as a representative of European attitudes and colonizing efforts because he is seen as being of a higher power to the African people. The natives do view the Europeans as almost God-like, and, this is clearly reflected based upon how they view and treat Kurtz. He does have an arrogance to him and a sense of entitlement, like the European colonizing body as a whole. The Russian was talking about Kurtz to Marlow, saying,"Well, I had a small lot of ivory the chief of that village near my house gave me. You see I used to shoot game for them. Well, he wanted it, and wouldn't hear reason. He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him from killing whom he jolly well pleased. And it was true, too. I gave him the ivory"(100-101). This quote really displays not only Kurtz's mentality, but also the overall mentality of the European colonizers towards Africa and the natives. They want what they want, and, just like Kurtz said, nothing will prevent them from doing that. Towards the end of the story, when Kurtz is dying, he seems to come to a realization that what has been going on this whole time has been terribly wrong. He, unlike the majority of the colonizers, comes to the conclusion that the way that Africa and the african people are being exploited is not right. He is contradicting himself, because earlier, he had the mentality that he wanted what he wanted and was going to get it. Later, he realized that maybe it just doesn't work that way.
Kurtz is regarded as representative of European attitudes and colonizing efforts because he came into the Congo and created the Company and is essentially ruling the land there now. The European powers are well known for being imperialistic nations and Kurtz has done just as a European nation would have; he came in, colonized, and used the land and resources to create a profit for himself and his people. Conrad stresses that enlightenment is contradicted by Kurtz in this story, because instead of expanding and spreading knowledge and helping others, he expanded and ruined a civilization of Natives.
Kurtz can be regarded as a representative of European attitudes and of European colonizing efforts because like many of the European colonists he is greedy and hungry for power. Kurtz travels to Africa with the intention of making money and eventually gaining more ivory becomes the only thing that is important to him. In Kurtz's case he also is greedy for power and attention. Kurtz befriends the native people enough so that they practically worship him like a god. This is could be self-contradictory to other aspects of Western civilization because not all people in western civilization are as greedy as Kurtz or go the extremes that he did.
Marlow describes Kurtz as being “hollow” many times throughout the story which is an excellent parallel to the European attitude at that time. Many Europeans were ignorant to the reality of horror and brutality that was present in colonized Africa at that time, and embraced the ‘ignorance is bliss” attitude. They merely lived their own lives and whatever was happening in Africa was not their problem. Of those who were actually aware of the brutality and rampant racism, very few saw it as anything outside of what was considered the “norm” at the time. That is where the term “hollow” comes into play. The Europeans had to portray the natives as animals, rather than actual people in order to not feel compassion or disgust for what they were doing to the innocent people. Human inclination is to feel compassion for those experiencing pain or suffering. The Europeans had to ignore their conscience and remain hollow in order to not be as affected by their experiences. The self contradictory aspects of so-called Western civilization that Conrad stresses in his story that stood out as a reader was his portrayal of the Westerners keeping up their modern appearances and treating each other with respect, and then treating the natives like animals; viewing them as entirely non-human entities.