Heart of Darkness Women and Femininity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

"She turned away slowly, walked on, following the bank, and passed into the bushes to the left. Once only her eyes gleamed back at us in the dusk of the thickets before she disappeared." (3.16)

Like the wilderness, the warrior woman seems content only to show off her power, not to actually harm the pilgrims...yet.

Quote #11

"'If she had offered to come aboard I really think I would have tried to shoot her,' said the man of patches, nervously. 'I have been risking my life every day for the last fortnight to keep her out of the house." (3.17)

The harlequin feels threatened by the warrior woman, so much so that he works to keep her away from Kurtz.

Quote #12

"There was an eddy in the mass of human bodies, and the woman with helmeted head and tawny cheeks rushed out to the very brink of the stream. She put out her hands, shouted something, and all that wild mob took up the shout in a roaring chorus of articulated, rapid, breathless utterance." (3.31)

The warrior woman seems to speak for all the native Africans, which makes us wonder if she's actually their leader. Wouldn't that be crazy—a woman leader! Nonsense. Next you'll be telling us that a woman might be president some day.