Binary Oppositions in Heart of DarknessIn Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad used a series of traditional inverted binary oppositions to convey the theme that each man has his own heart of darkness that is simply masked by the superficial light of civilization. The short story focused primarily on adventurer Charlie Marlow's journey to the African Congo, but dealt with broader themes. Marlow was from Europe and understood the basic premises of imperialism, but was unprepared for the world he encountered in the wilderness. The world of the African jungle did not, at that time, respect the same laws that Marlow had been raised with. There was an inherent wildness to the jungle that he had never encountered before and for which he was unprepared. This first appears when Marlow encountered the shady grove of death early in his travels. Marlow saw the natives suffering greatly for what seemed like nothing - their work seemed pointless - but he did not speak up or stop his journey. This is also the first time the reader gets a glimpse of the broader binary oppositions within the text. Marlow glanced at one of the dying natives, one of them with a piece of white European thread tied around his neck. In the area that is the Outer Station, white Europeans had control over the natives - and by proxy over the nature of the jungle, as the natives became symbols for the lands surrounding each station -. In this case, the color white, usually associated with purity or goodness, became the symbol of the evil that was imperialist colonialism. The black of the native's skin, which bears the color often associated with evil and inner darkness, contrasts sharply with the white of the thread. The fact that Marlow responded with q...... middle of paper ...... oppositions, it becomes clear that only by claiming to be a civilization is humanity capable of resisting the internal darkness inherent in its nature. However, the intensity of civilized behavior is directly related to the physical and moral environment in which humans are placed, and is therefore unstable. Through Kurtz and Marlow, and their underlying binary oppositions, Joseph Conrad proved that every man has a dark heart that is often obscured by the false illumination of a civilized society. Works cited and consulted Adelman, Gary. Heart of Darkness: In Search of the Unconscious. Boston: Little & Brown, 1987. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. 17th ed. New York: Norton, 1988. Levenson, Michael. “The value of facts in the heart of darkness.” 19th century fiction 40 (1985):351-80.