Joseph Conrad born Jozef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski December 3, 1857 in Poland. Conrad was an only child, his father was a political activist, and when Conrad was four his father was arrested. His mother passed when he was seven and his father when he was ten. He was then passed off to his uncle. There was not much stability to Conrad's youth; a childhood surrounded by turmoil could easily provoke him to consider human nature in the context of good and evil. It is not the int

Along with color to represent good and evil, Conrad uses vision or the lack there of, to convey a sense of evil. In one instance Marlow describes the Congo River as a large coiling snake leading into the interior of the darkness, which would indicate a limited amount of vision. The snake a long time symbol of darkness and deceit. For example during the journey on the river at many junctures Marlow cannot see past the bends in the river, much like being blinded by darkness, or kept from enlightenment. Along these lines are the dark jungle banks which the bronze natives hide ready to attack. Perhaps yet another is the dense fog rendering no visibility at all. A virtual surround of darkness in which Marlow is rendered powerless, and cannot move his boat. Nor is he able to discern the dangers that lie past the sides of his boat.

Another fascinating character in the book is the man Marlow is in search of, namelingly Mr. Kurtz. Kurtz is portrayed as starting out as a civilized man, and then due to his exposure to the darkness, becomes converted to the dark ways. Kurtz is in charge of a station in the interior of the African darkness, his mission is to remove as much of the ivory as he can. It seams that by the time Marlow is going after him that he has already been consumed by the darkness. Conrad uses Marlow to portray the seemingly good-hearted man that gets caught up in the conflict of making money or keeping his moral ethics. It is no accident then, that Marlow would be going to save the darkened Kurtz. As well as Kurtz entrusting Marlow with his personal papers, in this manner Kurtz can haunt Marlow even after death. This would keep just a small dark cloud over Marlow. It is during this journey that the reader becomes aware that perhaps all is not what it seems, Conrad is exposing the white men as being dark and the natives as being light. It becomes apparent that the civilized are not really civilized at all and the uncivilized are really the civilized. Take for example the accountant training the native woman to wash and starch his shirts, is this an act to show the native how to be civilized, no this has nothing to due with a native being civilized, one, it is enslaving a native, which is not a civilized concept, and, two from the natives prospective the shirts have nothing what ever to due with civilization. A much stronger example would be the native heads on sticks that surround Kurtz's station. How civilized is having native heads on sticks? Anyone that could extinguish humans for the purpose of lawn ornaments, in an attempt to demonstrate his god like qualities has reached the darkest of the da

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1775
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)