What is the importance of ivory throughout the novel? How does it function as both a literal and figurative image?
Throughout the novel, the business of ivory and the lust for power through possession is evidence of the ivory's symbol of greed. The trading company's praise of Kurtz for his ability to procure the ivory from the region where he is stationed is painted in an eerie manner, as the company's only ultimate goal is make money from the rare material. Controlling the distribution of the ivory is comparable to being in a position of great power and responsibility. The company wants to control the ivory and, thus, wants all the power that comes with it.
Even Marlow, who is perceived as a character with a great moral compass, is a beneficiary of the trading company's interest in the ivory, as it gives him the opportunity to travel to a place that has fascinated him since childhood. While he is not directly linked to the greed associated with collecting and distributing the ivory for monetary reasons, he is bound to the greed by his alternative motive of travel and exploration.
The greed associated with the ivory is not all monetary, as the fight to secure ownership of the ivory has put the natives in a path of destruction. The trading company uses them for their own gain, but the natives are greedy by taking the lives of the innocent tribes of people who get in their way. Greed has many faces, and one is life loss, especially when a life is stolen by a gun or knife.
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