A World of Lies in Heart of Darkness

Abstract

—In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad depicts a horrible picture of western colonization in Africa. Through Charlie Marlow, the young protagonist's journey into the depth of the primeval land and his confrontation with Kurtz, the most capable ivory collector in the Congo, Conrad exposes the cruelty and avarice of western civilization and its destructive power on both Europeans and Africans. In the meantime, Conrad brings both Marlow and the readers to discover another more agonizing truth that everyone lives in the illusions and deceptions on different levels.