A much revered and criticized book is Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It deals with many issues, the two most forthright being the themes of Racism, and the difference between light versus dark. Through two contrary sources, and insights on various cases of symbolism, the book or "novella" as it is referred to, will actually be seen as one mans struggle to recognize the plight of civilization and race relations. Running throughout the book is the book is theme of deconstruction. This is a key concept to understanding the concept of light versus dark throughout the book.
             Deconstruction is one way of viewing the book. "It is most complex and forbidding of contemporary critical approaches to literature, but in fact almost all of us have, at one time, either deconstructed a text or badly wanted to deconstruct one"(Murfin 215). Deconstruction basically states that there is more to perceive from the book than what is first perceived. The Deconstructive view shows Conrad and his fleeting psychological images portrayed through images of the uncivilized jungle which is his own personal darkness. It ties very closely into the stories light versus dark theory, because it shows the jungle as something dark and deadly, but also personifies it. The jungle becomes something older than humanity and culture. So civilized that it wishes to destroy culture as it scoffs at it. Deconstruction sheds light on the fact that things are not as they seem. Conrad gives many instances where the light is bad, and dark is good. This is where that theory is born.
             "The fictional Kurtz found himself caught in the trap. As his distance from England's civilization grew proportionately with his power and achievement in the jungle, his alienation from his previous interests and ideals grew exponentially.
             Layer by layer, the thin veneer of his cultivated, even artistic, civility was stripped away by the seductive power...