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Heart of Darkness In the classic novel Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad takes us on a journey into the soul of man. When the character of Marlow travels into the jungle of Africa to find Kurtz, he realizes that he is in a place where the rules of society no longer constrain human nature, and the frightening truths about human beings can be observed first hand. Marlow finds that human nature is something terrible and …

…continued to be, in his mind. Kurtz was great because he answered the question of human nature that haunts everyone. He found truth and fought the battle of good and evil, and in the end was still able to judge himself with his own harsh words: “The horror!” One is truly able to see this internal struggle in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, as Kurtz struggles between his conscience and his tendencies towards evil.