Marlow: Homosocial or Homosex

Sharon Johnson Queer Theory Paper Marlow: Homosocial or Homosexual or both? In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the central character, Marlow, is sexually ambiguous, but an argument can be made that Marlow is a homosexual with heterosexual tendencies. The only women in this novel appear to be self absorbed the cause of man’s downfall, or just mere weavers in every sense of the word. The female characters are not characters at all; they …

…interested in Kurtz indeed and his interest grew when the manager and his nephew mentioned Kurtz’s name. Marlow used the men he met during his journey. They were there to spend time with him, entertain him, provide him with company, and become his intimate on one level or another. Marlow envisioned himself as a man’s man and he was indeed, just not in the manner in which he wanted to believe he was.