Power of the Feminine
In this story, the women carry a significant role but are viewed by many as powerless and weak. I did not find this to be the case for any of the women that Conrad wrote about. The first woman that I recollect in the story is the Aunt. She is an agreeable woman who is referred to by Marlow as “a dear enthusiastic soul!” (Page 8). She knows people in high places and is able to pull strings for her nephew by influence. This tells me she is not just some frail little weak woman holed up in her parlor. The Aunt symbolizes everything happy, jolly and of good intention. She sees for her nephew an wonderful opportunity, an adventure for her young nephew. She symbolizes the idealism of colonization.
The second time we are exposed to women in the novella is when Marlow goes to the Company Office to take care of his paperwork and runs into the two women who sat knitting. They did not engage in conversation with him but they had the power to make him feel uneasy. (Pages 9-11). These women symbolize the evil to which Marlow will be exposed as he signs his life over to the Company. There will be danger and all manner of evil that he will not only witness but even to the point of almost taking his very life.
