Shedding Light on Prejudices or Tolerance?

Marlow is a character who views the world around him in an objective manner. We find out in the novel's first chapter that to him truth is the most important of virtues, which only serves to support his reliability as a narrator. Although Marlow relays events and his surroundings dependably, his observations, specifically concerning Africa's native inhabitants, are sometimes contradictory. In chapter two, Marlow discusses the "remote kinship" he feels between the white race and the supposed savage race, and comments on their undoubtable humanity. However, several paragraphs later, he remarks on the simlarities between the steamboat's fireman and ". . . a dog . . . walking on its hind legs." Marlow later describes how the workers on the steam boat have been literally starving for the past months, but have showed enough restraint not to revolt. The narrator seems to hold this restraint in high respect, but through his language still shows disdain for those who he calls savage. Because of Marlow's contradictory thoughts and observations, the line between prejudice and tolerance is blurred. Do you think Conrad intended Marlow to be a racist character? How does the time period and culture in which the novel was written affect how it deals with race? What do you think Conrad intended; was he attempting to unearth the horrors of British colonization or was he emphasizing a need to "humanize" Africa's indigenous peoples?