Joseph Conrad is Marlow in Heart of Darkness
             A claim that has been made many times before is that Joseph Conrad is Marlow from the novel, Heart of Darkness. In 1890 Joseph Conrad sailed in Africa up the Congo River. The journey provided a basis for his novel Heart of Darkness. If the facts are looked at it can clearly be seen that Joseph Conrad reflected his own life with that of the character Marlow in his novel Heart of Darkness.
             Joseph Conrad and Marlow began sailing at a young age. Early in Heart of Darkness the narrator on the Nellie describes Marlow as "the only man of us who still follows the seas", and he began sailing at the age of 13. John Batchelor says Joseph Conrad experienced the life of a sailor when he was 17 and joined French merchant marine for four years. Conrad sailed on the Palestine in 1881-1882 when he was 20. Joseph Conrad and Marlow Being sailors enabled them to make a voyage to Africa.
             Both Marlow and Joseph Conrad had family members who influenced their lives. Marlow's aunt helps him get the job of being a skipper of a river steamboat when nobody else will. He states, "I Charlie Marlow, set the woman to work-to get a job". Marlow's aunt, "a dear enthusiastic soul", thought it would be a "glorious idea" and was willing to do anything for him. She knows "the wife of a very high personage in the Administration, and also a man who has lots of influence" with the company. His aunt "is determined to make no end of fuss to get Marlow appointed skipper of a river steamboat..." and, thanks to her, he gets his appointment very quickly. Joseph Conrad witnessed his mother's death resulting from exile at the age of seven. His father died soon after his mom. "Conrad the Orphan was placed under the guardianship of his doting grandmother, Theophilia Bobrowski, and his uncle Count Ladislaw Mniszek, but it was Conrad's unc...