Literally "Going Wrong"

I personally feel that if one is to connect two characters, one from Heart of Darkness, the other from Waiting for the Barbarians, they are Mr. Kurtz and Colonel Joll. First and foremost, these two characters occupy the same role in each story; they are antagonistic and still have many parallels to the title character, Marlow and the Magistrate respectively.

Most people would probably draw the connection to Mr. Kurtz and the Magistrate (as well as the Colonel, a sort of reflection of the Magistrate) as Douglas Kerr does in “Three Ways of Going Wrong: Kipling, Conrad, Coetzee.” However just because these are the characters to “go native” does not mean they are both the characters to go wrong. Yet, it is not simply a story of going right versus wrong, cut black and white, across a clear line, in either case. Simply, I disagree with the manner Kerr presents his idea because it puts so much of an emphasis on going native that is wrong; however, presented in both texts, in one case going partially native is what is so wrong and in the other refusing to even pretend to go native was the mistake.

As far as Waiting for the Barbarians is concerned, while we see that the Magistrate is a confused and imperfect being, we do not view him so much as “going wrong” as much just having been wrong. On the other hand, it is easy to see the Colonel as “going wrong.” He refuses to accept the help presented and out of ignorance and misguided or just plain bad values and literally goes wrong with the choices he makes. We watch him torture and kill innocent (or at least helpless) outsiders and lead an army into a dangerous situation for reasons clearly other than those fabricated.

Similarly Kurtz literally “goes wrong” as well. Granted, here Kurtz does go native, it is the retention of his European values and desires (greed, fame) that lead him to his “going wrong” and eventual demise. He accepts native culture in a way mirror to the way the Colonel refuses it. The Colonel won’t accept and makes foolish decisions in the absence of it. Kurtz accepts it but make foolish decisions (different to the Magistrates) in its presence.

While the Magistrate was no saint and did not necessarily go right. He grew from his original wrongness while Kurtz and the Colonel continue to go wrong until both destroy themselves in one way or another. (414)