many African workers. Marlow witnesses the terrible impact that European lust for ivory brings to Africans at the Outer Station, when he witnesses the deplorable conditions of the chain-gang workers. Kurtz, the most prosperous and successful of The Company’s ivory merchants, obtained his wealth through brutal means. In Part II of Heart of Darkness, Marlow discusses Kurtz’ views on ivory and the world:

You should have heard him say, "My ivory." Oh, yes, I heard him. "My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—" everything belonged to him.

Kurtz’s attitude towards ivory encapsulates the European view of Africa as land and people to be exploited. This use of ivory as a symbol highlights Conrad’s distaste of European colonial projects in Africa.

Conrad also uses the symbol of bones and ivory to condemn European society as corrupt. When Marlow visits Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the headquarters of The Company, he repeatedly calls it the “sepulchral city.” This is an allusion to the Biblical story of Jesus lambasting his opponents in Matthew 23:27.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. (NIV)

When Conrad alludes to this passage, he uses the symbolism of bones. He claims that, while European cities may be attractive, the colonization of the world has decayed the souls of the people who inhabit them. I hope this helps!

The two are very closely linked in so many ways. After all, it is ivory that the wealth within Africa is based on, and it is ivory that gives Kurtz his success and his reputation. As Marlow discovers as he reaches the heart of darkness, what Kurtz did was to dominate one tribe of Africans and use them as an army to conquer other African tribes nearby and take their ivory. This ivory was so highly prized and valued that it gave him immense importance and power, attracting the attention of his superiors. Ivory is therefore a symbol both of death--as it necessarily involves the death of the animals who yield the ivory--but also of wealth, and wealth in particular that fuelled other civilisations and countries, such as was the case through colonialism. Note how this symbolism is hinted at through the description of the accountant, who is playing dominoes when he is introduced at the beginning of the novella:

The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones.

The dominoes would have been made out of ivory, and it is no accident that another nickname for dominoes was "bones." What is suggested by the Accountant (the capital letter suggesting he, just like the Lawyer, is a type of person meant to represent the powers of civilisation) "toying architecturally" with these dominoes is that Western civilisation is built on the exploitation and appropriation of ivory. In other words, our wealth and prosperity has a foundation of death and unjust seizing of resources that do not belong to us.

In Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, ivory is an ironic symbol.

Marlow is the main character and the narrator of the story. He has been hired by the Company to go deep into the territory that was then known as the Congo in order to retrieve Kurtz, an agent for the organization that has not been out of the jungle for over a year.

The Company is becoming richer and richer in this new "empire," where they ship natural resources out of Africa back to Europe—especially ivory which is used to make things like fans, piano keys and billiard (pool) balls. Ivory is owned by the well-to-do, and there is a great demand for it.

While the civilized and wealthy enjoy the presence of ivory in their daily lives, the cost of obtaining the ivory is enormous—most especially in terms of human life. Marlow sees terrible things on his journey. He sees blatant destruction at the Lower Station, where men are blasting dynamite for no apparent purpose. Machinery is discarded all over, rusting in the grass. Worst of all, the natives are enslaved by the Company: they are shackled, starving and sorely mistreated—they appear to Marlow like walking death. These men are treated like animals, and the death of a native is barely noticed—all for the sake of the ivory.

When Marlow finally arrives at the Inner Station, and catches up with the brilliant, admired and successful Kurtz—who has collected and shipped more ivory than all of the other agents combined—Marlow is appalled at what he finds. Outside of Kurtz's living and working quarters are poles that Marlow first thinks are wooden decorations.

...its first result was to make me throw my head back as if before a blow. Then I went carefully from post to post with my glass, and I saw my mistake...food for thought and also for the vultures...They would have been even more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house.

Marlow discovers that the natives worship Kurtz like a god. There is evidence of human sacrifice, and Kurtz himself is mad. He is also unwell, and dies not long after Marlow forcibly removes him from the station.

Ivory is white, which is a color, ironically, symbolic of purity. Ivory had many elegant uses and was highly prized by those wealthy enough to own objects made of it. It is an ironic symbol because as much as it symbolizes wealth and success, it also symbolizes "moral corruption," madness and death. While it served to build one empire, it was also destroying the land, culture and people of the Congo.

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is at the Inner Station; the only way they know that he is still alive (because he has stopped corresponding) is because he continues to be enormously successful in shipping irovy out of the heart of the jungle for the Company to sell.

The Company makes a great deal of money because of the ivory it exports from Africa. For a long time, there was a high demand for it around the world: piano keys used to be made from ivory.

A prevalent feeling among Europeans of the 1890s was that the African peoples required introduction to European culture and technology in order to become more evolved. The responsibility for that introduction, known as the ‘‘white man's burden,’’ gave rise to a fervor to bring Christianity and commerce to Africa. What the Europeans took out of Africa in return were huge quantities of ivory. During the 1890s, at the time Heart of Darkness takes place, ivory was in enormous demand in Europe, where it was used to make jewelry, piano keys, and billiard balls, among other items.

Although the white government and society presented a facade of concern for the African people, financial gain was at the root of much of the interaction with the continent; it was much more about what the white businessman could take from Africa than what it would bring to the native population.

In 1892, King Leopold of Belgium, who had taken over the vast [Belgian] Congo territory proclaimed that this land—more specifically, its natural resources (such as ivory)—belonged to him, and people could take what they wanted no longer dealing with African traders. In the face of this change, Belgian traders moved deeper into the heart of Africa to find more ivory.

One of the furthermost stations, located at Stanley Falls, was the likely inspiration for Kurtz's Inner Station.

Today the area Conrad wrote about is free from Belgian rule, and is known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Throughout history ivory has been used in many different cultures for a wide range of religious, secular and utilitarian objects, for jewelry...and even, when burnt, as a pigment...Its popularity has been due to its attractive colour, its smooth, translucent appearance and the ease with which it can be carved and coloured. Also, for many cultures the exotic origin of ivory has made it a prestigious material with symbolic and magical associations.

For long periods of time ivory was used also for many things: for artists' carvings and for making ladies' fans and other adornments. Its texture, ability to be fashioned artistically, and its ability to withstand the ravages of time made it extremely sought after. When elephants became endangered because of the ivory trade, the taking of ivory was banned, though it is still illegally taken and traded on the black market.