No summary, no dissecting out of a “subject”, is adequate to express the intention and significance of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”. The theme is not schematic; it is embodied in the metaphors, in the structural pattern, and the step-by-step flow of the narration. However, Conrad does have one identifiable chief concern. As he himself stated in a letter to F. N. Doubleday on June 2, 1924: “I think that an author who tries to ‘explain’ …showed first 75 words of 1368 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1368 total…uncover meaning in both “Heart of Darkness” and Marlow as a character. In Marlow’s eyes, the most one could desire for out of life is self understanding or self- realization, and that perhaps the most absolute knowledge comes just at the flash of death, as seems to have happened with Kurtz by his last words. Ultimately, it becomes evident that his real journey has been to the center of the human soul. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**