Light-Dark-Light-Dark. Oh! The Horror! The Strobe-Induced Seizure!

One dichotomy Conrad depicts throughout his novel, is that of darkness and light. By the end, he convinced me of the death of all primary colors, and nearly managed to induce an imaginary seizure in my imaginary blackboard of imagination.

Typically, darkness represents bad, and light represents good. Conrad would never attempt to convey such a bland message,

especially when depicting a predominant theme in his work. Thus, he applies it with flexibility.

When Marlow describes Mr Kutz's darkness as "an impenetrable darkness" (129), we relate it to Mr Kurt'z hopelessness as he dies. At the moment of his passing, when Marlow "was considered brutally callous" (131) for proceeding with his meal, "there was a lamp in there—light, don't you know—and outside it was so beastly, beastly dark" (131). Here, Conrad depicts light as a symbol of progress, of intellect, and lack of secrecy the beastly darkness conveys. If he were to remain in Africa, he would meet nothing but an uninviting environment. His path is clear.

When Marlow "blew the candle out and left the room" (130) after hearing Mr Kurtz's final words, he marks the silence of an illuminated mind as nature extinguishes its fragile vessel. Conrad illustrates life and death, further employing the dichotomy, when he describes death as an "unexciting contest" that "takes place in an impalpable grayness" (131). Death always triumphs against a struggling opponent. The grayness represents a state of vagueness where the person is neither illuminated by life, nor overshadowed by death.

The lighted home of Mr Kurtz's grieving woman contrasts with her darkened appearance, and, by extension, soul. Marlow "had to wait in a lofty drawing-room with three long windows from floor to ceiling that were like three luminous and bedraped columns. The bent gilt legs and backs of the furniture shone in indistinct curves. The tall marble fireplace had a cold and monumental whiteness. A grand piano stood massively in a corner, with dark gleams on the flat surfaces like a sombre and polished sarcophagus" (139). "She came forward, all in black" (139). Here, we see happiness and unhappiness contrasted. A simple joyous surrounding is not enough to enlighten a dark heart. "But with every word spoken the room was growing darker, and only her forehead, smooth and white, remained illumined by the unextinguishable light of belief and love" (141). Belief and love kindle the remnants of light within her. Why does Conrad place this illumination on her forehead? Why not her eyes? Why not her mouth? Why not her hands?

Conrad mentions light and darkness each time with a different connotation. With each description, the dichotomy represents something new. We must also note that in each page where the word 'darkness' is written, so is the word 'light', and vice versa. They go hand in hand in the illustration of some of Conrad's contrasting themes such as hope and hopelessness, knowledge and secrecy, nature and its destruction, construction and destruction, life and death.