Not So Different After All

Up to this point in The Heart of Darkness the natives are considered to be "savages". They are uncivilized cannibals that need to be taught and controlled by the white men who have come to save them. Yet, in section two we see a slight change in this view. Marlow even comments on the "suspicion of their not being inhuman". It is a new idea to him that perhaps these people are reasonable, even possibly more so than the white men. The conspiring Marlow witnesses and the stories of Kurtz's actions throughout his voyage lift up the rug on the true character of the white men and make the contrasting natives seem more civilized. Marlow isolates himself from the white members of his crew and begins to get better acquainted with his native crewmembers. He even notes that his fireman, a native, is basically the same as a poorly educated white man doing the same job. Even when told bluntly that the cannibals want to eat the people in the fog, Marlow's reaction is one of understanding. He knows that they did not have much food, so he seems to understand their desire to eat people. It is clear to me at this point that the devils Marlow will continue to encounter on his journey are largely the white men around him, but can we see signs that there will be native devils encountered? If not, will Marlow continue to get closer to the natives and maybe even become more like them? His friendship with the African helmsman resulted in Marlow throwing away his shoes, is this in some way symbolic or is Marlow just melodramatic?