Marlow's description of his helmsman is a perfect example of Chinua Achebe's "junior brothers" in the novella Heart of Darkness. Achebe details the words of African Missionary Albert Schweitzer, a man who devoted his life to service in Africa, however, reared to the Africans as his "junior brothers". In Heart of Darkness, Marlow exemplifies this lofty, pretentious, European viewpoint of being superior to the Africans when he speaks of his dead Helmsman. Marlow says,


"Well, don't you see, [the helmsman] had done something, he had steered; for months I had him at my back -- a help -- an instrument. It was a kind of partnership. He steered for me -- I had to look after him, I worried about his deficiencies, and thus a subtle bond had been created, of which I only became aware when it was suddenly broken" (124).

The helmsman is portrait as merely a tool, and "instrument" to Marlow. His attitude towards the helmsman, in that Marlow "look[ed] after him, [and] worried about his deficiencies" (124), is just like Europe's seemingly didactic relationship with the Africans, their 'junior brothers'. Marlow does not see the helmsman as an equal to him, he feels as if he is a junior brother, someone inferior to his righteousness.