Essay Database

Heart of Darkness by: Joseph Conrad Setting: The author placed the novel's setting on a stream boat on a river near London. "The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest" (1). Then the narrator tells his story in a flash back which he tells about Marlow's experiences in the African jungle specifically on the Congo river. The majority of the story is told in flash …

…he stayed they longer he realized the savage beast was present all over the so called "civilized" world. Theme: The darkness, the mysterious unknown, and opposing all progress were the major themes in the novel. According to Conrad, the will to give into the uncivilized man does not reside in Kurtz alone. Every man has inside himself a heart of darkness, but is drowned in a bath of light shed by the advent of civilization.