At the start of Marlow's journey to the heart of the Congo, he meets the company's chief accountant; later, he and his crew find an abandoned cabin, once occupied by a "white man". In these two scenes, Conrad foregrounds a series of contrasts that resonate with broader themes of the text: his philosophies of work and faith. The Accountant, whose village teems with many forms of life and death, proves to be a touchstone for each of Marlow's subsequent encounters. It is here that Marlow first hears of the "very remarkable person" that Kurtz is, and here that Marlow begins to form the basis of Conrad's fundamental credo that when everything "is gone, you must fall back on your own innate strength, on your own strength.” capacity for fidelity” (123; 148). Marlow understands this "ability" precisely because he first observes a fervent adherence to a European ideal in the accountant, then later sees the remains of a seemingly similar man who was left to his own devices in the deep jungle . to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay The Accountant resides in a train station far removed from the hustle and bustle and chaos of the inner station, but nevertheless in an overgrown place by great “demoralization” (122). Despite this, Marlow notes, the accountant maintains his appearance: he is "stunning" with "a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket" and "a clean tie" (122). Marlow makes sure to convey his admiration for the accountant, and Conrad's diction in describing the accountant's clothing suggests that the accountant belongs to the "light" and not the "darkness." Furthermore, Marlow notes that the accountant's attention to detail represents his "backbone," that "his starched collars and dress shirt fronts were achievements of character" (122). This idea, however, is a weaker mark of Conrad's "capacity for fidelity"; Even if the accountant proves that he can preserve his superficial values ​​of organization and “apple pie order,” he is still far from the epicenter of darkness, the inner station (122). Although he has defended the European class structure in the face of "demoralization", he has not yet faced the true face of evil, since his position is at least "fifty feet" above the "grove of death” (123). While Marlow praises work for its psychological effects ("I like what is in work – the chance to find oneself. One's own reality – for oneself, not for others"), he withholds his judgment when he is in the position of accountant (131). Marlow speaks primarily of Kurtz, whom the accountant speaks of as a "very remarkable person" (123). What is remarkable is the extent to which his European air of superiority and the nature of his work in finance have worked together to form a man who appears to Marlow as "a kind of vision" (122). The accountant's job is to "keep books" and he is obsessed with keeping the books perfectly organized (122). He declares: “When you have to make correct grades, you come to hate these savages,” because when they are sick, they “divert [his] attention.” And without that, it’s extremely difficult to guard against clerical errors in this climate.” (123). The accountant's work thus suggests to him daily that human lives are useless in the quest for perfect logic. His work focuses on mathematics, a subject governed by flawless logic; its strength lies in “correctly capturing perfectly correct transactions” (123). As a result, the accountant considers Kurtz outstanding, probablybecause he “sends as much ivory as all the others combined,” and he likes to keep the books on these larger numbers (123). Although Marlow initially describes the accountant using words associated with light, he may only do so because the accountant is not yet innocent and has not yet understood the true costs associated with his blind faith in work. After Marlow reaches the river, he and his crew arrive at a cove with "a reed hut" that looks "melancholy" and flies a flag with "unrecognizable tatters" (138). The dwelling is “disassembled” with a “rude table” and a “heap of rubbish” (138). The hut is both physically and metaphorically the opposite of the accountant's hut: it is made of reeds and sits low in the depths of the jungle rather than above the canopy; it is empty and shows the signs of an abandoned life; there's a sign outside that looks like it was written by a fool, and not with the precision of an obsessive-compulsive accountant. More importantly, Marlow finds a book titled “An Inquiry into Certain Points of Seamanship” near the door. The pages of the book are “illuminated with a light other than a professional light” (138). In this book, Conrad finds a symbol that unites his "capacity for faithfulness" with his idea that work is spiritually redemptive, for the book displays "a single intention, an honest concern for the right way to go to work" and Marlow offers something that the professional light of the accountant could not allow: “something incontestably real” (138). This real thing is proof to Marlow that Towson, the author, took "serious inquiry" into a subject as seriously as Marlow inquires into the journey to find the truth about his own soul (138). Work for Conrad is therefore a means of exploring oneself in order to reach that level where a man can see his own innate strength and "capacity for fidelity". The book found by Marlow can also be read as a symbol of the soul of man. Even though the book has "lost its covers" and the pages have been "thumbed through to a state of extremely dirty softness", the way in which it expresses its "singularity of intention" completely redeems it, positioning it as an "extraordinary find ". (138). The book demonstrates discipline and restraint even when stripped of its protective outer layer. Like a man stripped of his cultural facade, the book has only its interior, its soul. Kurtz is therefore like a book that has dissolved, leaving only the binding. He has no inner self, as he is only focused on expressing the facets of himself that he believes will give him the most power. The man who once possessed the book must have felt the same power as Marlow; he feels that putting the book down is "like tearing myself away from the shelter of an old and strong friendship", and he also imagines that the book offers a glimpse of the light that darkness drowns out ( 139). If Marlow lived in the cabin, one could imagine him sitting amidst the chaos of the jungle, reading the book to himself as a means of survival, basking in the comfort of its brightness. Perhaps the accountant, in the same situation, would crunch numbers to reiterate his belief in perfect logic. These two scenes demonstrate Conrad's philosophies of fidelity and hard work, but also emphasize the motif of the significance of exteriors over interiors. Near the beginning of his story, the narrator says of Marlow: "[he] was not typical...and for him the meaning of an episode was not inside as a core but in the exterior, enveloping the story which only brought it out as a core. "The glow brings out a mist, like one of."