Heart of Darkness Blog 1- Narrative Point of View

Heart of Darkness begins with a narrator which introduces several characters, but only gives one a name- Marlow. This is important because after the narrator speaks, the narration changes and Marlow becomes the narrator. This is rather strange, having two narrators, one whom is unnamed and the other who is. Who is this nameless author and why does Conrad introduce he/she?

The nameless narrator begins the story by introducing the setting, and other nameless characters. after a few pages, Marlow is the narrator and the nameless narrator begins to just listen to Marlow's story, along with the other unnamed characters. Given the importance that only one character on the boat is named and the others aren't; perhaps the nameless ones are simply an audience.

Because of Marlow's raw story telling, Conrad is limited in what he is to describe, and it happens to all be past tense, seeing as it's a story. Therefore Conrad may have simply introduced the nameless narrator as a way to be more flexible in his writings. The nameless narrator gives him outside coverage of Marlow's feelings, and the depiction of the Thames river, and not only Marlow's story. seeing as this narrator is nameless, perhaps we can infer that the nameless narrator is Conrad himself. Conrad could have introduced himself as a character/ narrator to give himself a more flexible way of writing and also to have the personal connection of being present on the boat.