The forces of light and darkness in Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness explores something truer and more fundamental than a simple personal narrative. It is a nocturnal journey into the unconscious and a confrontation with oneself. Certain circumstances of Marlow's journey, seen in these terms, take on new importance. Marlow insists on the dreamlike quality of his narrative. "It seems to me that I am trying to tell you a dream, making a vain attempt, because no report of a dream can convey the sensation of the dream." Even before leaving Brussels, Marlow felt as if he was "about to leave for the center of the earth", not the center of a continent. The introspective traveler abandons his familiar rational world, is "cut off from understanding" of his surroundings, his steamer proceeds "slowly on the verge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy." As the crisis approaches, the dreamer and his vessel move through a silence that "seemed unnatural, like a trance; then they enter a deep fog." Ultimately, there is a symbolic unity between the two men. Marlow and Kurtz are the light and dark selves of a single person. Marlow is what Kurtz could have been, and Kurtz is what Marlow could have become. Much of the meaning of Heart of Darkness is found not in the center of the book, in the heart of Africa, but on the periphery of the book. The story Marlow tells centers on a man named Kurtz. However, most of what Marlow knows about Kurtz he learned from other people, many of whom have good reason not to be truthful with Marlow. Therefore Marlow must reconstruct much of Kurtz's story. Slowly we learn more and more about Kurtz. Part of the meaning of Heart of Darkness is… the medium of paper… the human condition. Kurtz represents what every man will become if left to his own intrinsic desires without a protective and civilized environment. Marlow represents the civilized soul who has not been dragged into the wilderness by a dark and alienated jungle. The book implies that every man has a dark heart that is usually drowned out by the light of civilization. However, once removed from civilized society, the raw evil within his soul will be released. Works Cited and Consulted Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Norton, 1971. Greene, Graham. The heart of the matter. New York: Penguin, 1984. Hawthorn, Jeremy. Joseph Conrad: narrative technique and ideological commitment. New York: Arnold, 1990. Murfin, Ross C., ed. Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness": A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. New York: Bedford-St. Martin, 1989.