"Darkness is all around us and also inside us," is clearly a concern of elements of the novels Fly Away Peter by David Malouf and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. However, it can be seen that it is individual's choices, actions and ambitions, which determine whether we embrace this darkness, and furthermore, there are also optimistic elements portrayed to counter this pessimistic view. Both develop the idea of an internal and external darkness which must be faced, yet show that such a darkness is not inevitable and can be overcome, such as can be seen through the contrasting dark and peaceful settings in each case, and with the struggles which the main characters have against the darkness.
             It is evident that in both texts that there is darkness all around us. In both cases, there is a journey from a relatively safe, peaceful setting to a dark, sinister, and malevolent surrounding. In Fly Away Peter, the darkness of the whole war is evident all around, as it becomes a metaphor for the murky and malevolent elements of the soul. When this darkness touches Jim it is always in a vile way, in which all nature is seen as evil, a shocking contrast to what has been seen in the sanctuary, in particular with the water and mud, which causes footrot among the troops as well as live burials. Furthermore, the only other things to really touch him are death and destruction. He comes into contact with two specific corpses, the first, which he scrapes, and the second, which he embraces, again emphasising the darkness that surrounds the war and similarly, human nature. Similarly, Heart of Darkness provides a deep focus on dark settings and the darkness around us.
             Despite this however, the darkness is also negated and justified by other lighter, peaceful settings, namely the sanctuary, ocean, and even Jim's own death sequence. In the sanctuary, before the war, Jims, "d
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