Question: What do you know about the Manager of the Central Station in Heart of Darkness?
Ans. The Manager of the Central Station in Heart of Darkness epitomizes the hollowness and moral degradation of the pilgrims, or the white Company agents in Africa. Marlow's appraisal of the Manager serves both as a character sketch and as a satirical comment on the European who has lost all human dignity and has been reduced to a mere appearance of civilization.
The Manager is rooted in hypocritical, mean-spirited avarice. Unlike Kurtz, he is ruled by caution. He is never ill, never departs from his sinister routine of intrigue, and never manifests a single sign of humanity. He has, in fact, nowhere to fall, unlike Kurtz, who falls from a considerable height. He is apathetic and does evil by neglecting the moral values and obligations of a human being.
According to Marlow, the Manager is directly or indirectly to blame for all the disorder, waste, cruelty, and neglect that plague all three stations, since he is in charge of all of them. Marlow suggests that the Manager arranged to wreck the steamer in order to delay sending aid to Kurtz. He prevents rivets from coming up from the coast to complete the boat's repairs.
Further, at the Manager's command, the Negro boy is beaten mercilessly for the fire that burned a shed full of "trash" (though the boy is probably innocent). The Manager's conversation with his uncle further reveals the treacherous nature of both men.
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