The character of The Brickmaker in Heart of Darkness from LitCharts | The creators of SparkNotes
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Heart of Darkness
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Themes
All Themes Colonialism The Hollowness of Civilization The Lack of Truth Work Racism
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Marlow Kurtz General Manager The Russian Trader Narrator The Brickmaker
Symbols
All Symbols Women The Sepulchral City Dark and White
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Heart of Darkness

The Brickmaker Character Analysis

The General Manager's most trusted agent. A sly, lazy, power-hungry fellow who despite his title seems to have never made a brick, the Brickmaker cares only about his own advancement and therefore sees Kurtz as a threat. He also thinks that Marlow and Kurtz are somehow allied within the company. Marlow describes the Brickmaker as a "papier-mâché Mephistopheles."

The Brickmaker Quotes in Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness quotes below are all either spoken by The Brickmaker or refer to The Brickmaker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Colonialism Theme Icon
). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Dover Publications edition of Heart of Darkness published in 1990.
Part 1 Quotes
I let him run on, this papier-mache Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my fore-finger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.
Ie quote placeholder white box
Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), The Brickmaker
The Hollowness of Civilization Theme Icon
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:

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The Brickmaker Character Timeline in Heart of Darkness

The timeline below shows where the character The Brickmaker appears in Heart of Darkness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1
Colonialism Theme Icon
The Hollowness of Civilization Theme Icon
The Lack of Truth Theme Icon
Marlow follows the Brickmaker back to his quarters, which are much nicer than any but the General Manager's. As... (full context)
The Hollowness of Civilization Theme Icon
The Brickmaker, whom Marlow now calls a "papier-mâché Mephistopheles," continues to speak about Kurtz, and asks Marlow... (full context)
The Lack of Truth Theme Icon
...like "biting something rotten," Marlow pretends to have as much influence in Europe as the Brickmaker thinks he has in order to get the Brickmaker to speed up the arrival of... (full context)
The Hollowness of Civilization Theme Icon
The Lack of Truth Theme Icon
Work Theme Icon
Marlow resumes his story. When the Brickmaker leaves, Marlow boards his broken steamship, which he has come to love after putting in... (full context)
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