Through his (and thusly Marlow's) prejudiced perspective, negative, animalistic characterization of the African country and its natives and idolization of the Europeans, Conrad condones and embraces the racism that ran rampant during his lifetime. Both Conrad and his character, Marlow, felt great apprehension upon their first encounter with a member of the opposite race. When Marlow first witnesses the natives of Africa, he admits that he, as well as the other he is journeying with, are "secretly appalled" by the natives clapping and stamping and swaying. These men, like many other of their time, felt a morbid fascination with the African people, which draws them to delve further into the depths of the jungle. Each native Marlow encounters along his journey seems to have distinctly bestial characteristics to him or her. Marlow depicts the native's countenances as "grotesque masks." The natives are so wild and appalling it almost hurts Marlow and his counterparts to look at them. In his characterization of Africa a wild dreamland, Marlow makes Europe a foil in that it is the sane land of ideals. Marlow begins his story by telling his shipmates that Europe "has been one of the dark places on earth," but unlike Africa, it has grown beyond that savagery. Africa's vices are that it is untamed and wild, while Marlow seems to believe the Europeans have grown beyond these foibles. Marlow is presented under the guise of a man whose journey made him more aware of how the horrors of the untamed wildness effect us, yet he seems to feel no remorse when categorizing the people who have spend their lives in the jungle and vile uncouth creatures, no where near as godly as their European counterparts.
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