International Journal of
English and Literature

  • Abbreviation: Int. J. English Lit.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-2626
  • DOI: 10.5897/IJEL
  • Start Year: 2010
  • Published Articles: 281

Article in Press

Exploration Light and Darkness in Conrad`s Heart of Darkness

Alkhafaji Weam Majeed

  •  Received: 02 July 2015
  •  Accepted: 17 September 2015
This paper deals with two contrary aspects ( Light and Darkness ), and how Joseph Conrad deliberately used these aspects in his novella Heart of Darkness. He takes advantage of several important literary techniques during the story. One predominant method of his storytelling is his use of light and dark symbolism. Throughout the story, the narrator, Marlow, portrays Europeans and Europe in terms of light and white, comparing them with civilization and knowledge, but he describes Africans and Africa in terms of darkness and blackness, comparing them with savagery and ignorance. It was Conrad's thoughts in characterization and employment of these contradictions to form an aesthetic frame, for example how to describe a grave decorated with bright white stone, but at the same time inside this tomb there is a decadent and rotten corpse, or as a pearl which has been made of precious material, but the core of it is something cheap or decayed.