Light and Dark in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essays -- Heart Da

Light and Dark in Heart of tail Every fabrication has a plot, but not every story has a deeper meaning. When viewed superficially, Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is a tragic tale of the clean mans journey into the African jungle. When we peel away the layers, however, a different journey is revealed - we venture into the soul of man, complete with the warts as well as the wonderful. Conrad uses this depicted object of light-hearted and darkness to contrast the civilized European world with the wolf African world in Heart of Darkness. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses light and dark to symbolize good and evil, respectively. It is whiteness that is truly sinister and evil, for it symbolizes the unchaste scramble for loot by the unscrupulous and unfeeling Belgian traders in ivory and human flesh the whiteness of ivory is also contrasted with the total darkness of the natives whose lives must be destroyed for its sake (Gillon 25). Two central themes lead in Conrad s Heart of Darkness. The first is the struggle between the white pack and the native tribes, which plays in... ...ok and also provides its title. In Heart of Darkness, there is a authentic contrast between what is light and what is dark. These contrasts work within a cosmos of civilized and savage. It appears that light represents the civilized, and dark represents the uncivilized, but truly, white is evil, and the dark is unbiased and virtuous. Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Middlesex, England Penguin Publishers, 1983. Gillon, Adam. (1982). Joseph Conrad. Twaynes English Author Series Number 333. Kinley E. Roby, ed. capital of Massachusetts Twayne.