Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness is told within a narrative framework, which is one of the contributions to the complexity of the novel. Conrad employs an unknown narrator who narrates the external image and Marlo, who narrates the internal image of the novel. Marlow narrates the novel's darkness as he ventures into the Congo River as an employee of "The Company" where he collects ivory and meets Kurtz. During Marlo's adventure, Conrad uses an expansion of incredibly ambiguous and blatantly obvious symbols. Conrad's use of symbols illustrates the pervasiveness of darkness, ambiguity, and a destructive factor in colonization. The novel begins and ends with a dark and disturbing setting aboard the Nellie. “And this too,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth” (Heart of Darkness p. 65). Here, Marlow highlights England just before participating in his story about the Congo. Marlo then illustrates the opening of his journey: “The conquest of the earth, which above all means taking it away from those who have a different complexion or a slightly flatter nose than us, is not a beautiful thing when we look at it from the inside out. too close.” (Heart of Darkness p. 67). This highlights Conrad's idea that colonization can be seductive, but ultimately discrimination takes place, which obviously leads to destruction. Conrad uses various symbols to emphasize the omnipresence of darkness. The ivory that Marlow collects for “The Company” embodies gluttony toward the destructive nature of humanity. The only concern and hope of "the Company" is to acquire endless quantities of ivory, which leads them to forget their ethics and their so-called projects of civilizing the natives. Not only "the Company contributes...... middle of paper ......'s] soul was mad. Being alone in the desert, he had looked into himself, and by heaven, I tell you, he had gone mad. (Heart of Darkness p. 66). This reveals that Kurtz's dark side, because he is no longer content with being a human being or a mortal, therefore converts into no longer feeling content with just being a mere mortal, but instead transforms into a divine or supreme human. Finally, Kurtz's inclination toward madness is completely stabilized when he cries, "The horror!" The horror! » (Heart of Darkness p. 107). Overall, Joseph Conrad uses symbols to recognize and communicate with his audience. Through the complexity of diction and syntax, Conrad clearly manifests the omnipresence of darkness, ambiguity and the destructive factor of civilization. Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print.