Heart of Darkness: A Psychological Journey

Heart of Darkness is not about the physical journey of a man traveling in Africa, but rather the psychological journey of a man traveling in an unkown, hostile land. As the story progresses, so does Marlow's psychosis. Marlow is meant as more of an everyman main character than anything else. He is simply a vehicle for the intense mental reshaping that takes place while on the Congo. Starting out very sophisticated and elaborate, his writing style becoming more disjointed and nonsensical. He struggles with what he is seeing and Conrad wants the reader to struggle understanding what Marlow says just as he is struggling with what he sees.