ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is basically to understand how Joseph Conrad, in his famous novella Heart of
Darkness (1899), explores the intimate relation between the colonizers and the colonized from the
perspective of Marlow who has the specific role given by Conrad as a colonizer himself and literally to
reclaim a colonizer, Kurtz, as well. Heart of Darkness holds a very special place in English Literature in
terms of particularly touching upon the isolation and alienation of individual through criticising
European colonialist and imperialistic endeavours. Therefore, Conrad presents the British audience of
his time with one of the earliest portrayal of the colonisation process of African people and colonial
affairs going on in the ‘Dark Continent’ through apparently criticising eyes. Literally, the heart of
darkness is Africa, where cannibalism, barbarism and savagery exist hand in hand, but psychologically,
the heart of darkness is in our minds. It is hidden and disguised under the civilised society that survives,
for Conrad, only between its ‘police and butcher’. Thus, heart of darkness is nowhere but inside us, in
our subconscious. Joseph Conrad, as a modernist writer, chooses frame narration technique. By
presenting us a storyteller, Conrad takes our attention to the relativity of perception. There is a layered,
dense narration and multiple symbolic suggestions without a particular conclusion to remind us the
improbability of narrating truly. Taking the intentional choice of frame narration of the novella into
consideration, it will be helpful to ask whether Conrad reclaim the colonized or the colonizers?
Keywords: Joseph conrad, Heart of darkness, Colonialism, Congo, Dark continent, Horror.