The novella Heart of Darkness was written in 1899 by Joseph Conrad explores the idea of self-discovery and can be described as a story of initiation. Marlow, the protagonist of the novella, undertakes a boat ride up the Congo River in search of Kurtz, the chief of the Inner Station, however this journey, which can be seen as a journey into the self, one's 'inner spirit'. Throughout Marlow's journey, as he progresses up the river the reader is able to see 'the changes that take place inside'. Through the use of the physical journey in Heart of Darkness, the reader can see the inner journey that the characters in the novella undertake and the effects that their unconscious has on their thoughts and actions.
             Marlow is conscious of the fact that throughout his journey his moral being is subjected to trial, and makes an effort to comprehend the importance of his experience. Unlike the other people, for example the members of the El Dorado Expedition who have also been put into an unknown environment and cut off from original background, Marlow tries to understand what he is going through. At the start of Marlow's story he refers to his meeting with Kurtz as "the culminating point of my experience. It seemed somehow to throw a kind of light on everything about me – and into my thoughts" (pg 22). Reflecting on the effect of work while repairing the steamboat he says "I like what is in work, - the chance to find yourself. Your own reality....what no other man can know" (pg 44) and upon his return to Brussels, he becomes annoyed with the complacency of people he meets as he feels that "they could not possibly know the things [he] knew" (pg 88). Marlow's journey from Europe, to the Outer Station and then to the Central Station tests his ability to distinguish between good and evil since he witnesses such proceedings that draw out a moral judgement from him. The com...