Map/River: Katrina Post and Sam Kim

Map:
The references to maps on pages 8 and 10 give insight into Marlow's desire for glory because he states in his own words that he will not go to the North Pole and other places because "The glamour's off" and the only place on the map of the world he has "a hankering after" is the "biggest" -- Africa. Also, because he explicitly says he is "going into the yellow" (Belgian Congo, not a British colony as would be expected because of his previously expressed love for his country), he expresses his idea in him continuing the "real work" being done in the rest of Africa by the British. The line, referring to the Congo, "Dead in the centre" is quite ambiguous because instead of saying "Dead centre," he uses "in" connoting that someone, or something, has or will actually die in center of the blank, big, white space that is Africa. This line really evokes the reader's question as to the ambiguousness of the title "Heart of Darkness": What is the heart? Where is it? Is it the center, or the actual root of evil?
River:
The Congo River that Marlow speaks so lovingly about is compared multiple times to a snake. However, the fact that Marlow uses a simile to compare the river to a snake, not a metaphor, shows again his inability to commit. Instead of saying the river is a snake, he says that it is like a snake, a big difference that exhibits Marlow's "inconclusive experiences." Also, the diction in describing the river like a snake ("fascinating" and "deadly") denotes a biblical allusion, though in this sense, it is not a direct connection because earlier Marlow states that "the snake had charmed me." This role reversal again shows Marlow's indeterminancy in his experiences and life because usually, the snake is charmed by the human charmer. Also, because the balance between master and subordinate is skewed, Marlow (at least in his mind) can place blame on the river, and does not have to accept responsibility for his actions, much like Victor Frankenstein in the eponymous novel. The last conclusion we came to about the snake is the cryptic nature of its description in the idea that its tail is "lost in the depths of the land." Because there is no visible or forseeable end to the river, one could assume that there is no forseeable end to imperialism in Africa because the one factor of decipherability in the map -- the river -- has no apparent finish.