As a reader transgresses through the novel, he or she is continually taken back to the paradoxical title, 'Heart of Darkness'. The title in itself is very suggestive, for the noun 'heart' is, in a literal sense, characteristic of pure substance, and is very distinct, and on a metaphorical level it conveys that the novel works on an emotional scale. On the other hand, the adjective 'darkness' displays something much more inconclusive and equivocal, just like Marlow. Therefore, a reader'

Conrad's technique of raising the expectation's of a reader is often achieved through his use of hyperbolas. For example, he uses the phrase, 'an interminable waterway', to describe the Thames, which aids in giving the novel a form of undeserved mysticism and adventure. This is furthermore demonstrated through the following quotation: 'The old river...a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth...into the heart of an immense darkness'. The manner in which the narrator chooses to describe the Thames is not merely coincidental. There is a subtle suggestion that Marlow is uniting the Thames, and the other great river of the story, the Congo, for the languages he adopts to describe the 'old river' is rather glorified, and would seem more appropriate describing a river in an exotic country, such as the Congo. Marlow juxtaposes the Thames and the Congo to remind a reader that our own civilised country, where nature is 'the shackled form of a conquered monster', was once a darkness 'monstrous and free' and we were once the savages, like the primitives of the Congo. Therefore, a reader is already made to question imperialism and its consequences, for we are given an insight into how civilisation can model societies into producing the 'biggest, and the greatest, town[s] on earth', where the sea is the colour of 'lead', and the sky, the 'colour of smoke'. The message of the novel in just the opening pages seems to be that sometimes, man is 'fit for nothing but placid staring' rather than 'toying architecturally with...bones'. This quotation serves as a perfect metaphor in demonstrating that there is no real incentive one can acquire from exploration because as the noun 'bone' symobolises, it only ends up in aggregated murder on a mass scale. The verb 'toying' also suggests that imperialism involves playing with death, when there is no strong moral in doing so. This allows a reader to ponder on the morals of imposing foreign rule upon a country, and whether it is aimed at benefiting society, or in making the explorers themselves better off. In a sense, this question is answered, as Conrad presents a reader with the example of Sir Francis Drake and

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Approximate Word count = 1456
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)