One of the unique aspects of Joseph Conrad’s, "Heart of Darkness," is the amount of ambiguity found within the text that leaves the message of many of the themes and motifs open to interpretation by the reader. Conrad asks countless questions throughout the story, but not often are the answers easy to discern simply by reading the text. Instead, one must focus not only on the characters and their words and actions, but also the distinct imagery and symbolism that Conrad employs to paint a better picture of what he is trying to tell his audience. One of the most prevalent questions that Conrad leaves the reader to explore is the blurred boundary between what is “good” and what is “evil,” in the context of human nature. What defines each entity? Would one exist without the other? These questions have long been a famous theme in almost all forms of literature known to man. However, the answer to this question has long been a controversial topic of debate. Over the course of the novel, these questions are at the forefront of the reader’s mind as he follows the journey of a sailor named Marlow, who has gotten a job with a trading company that operates on the Congo River in Africa. As the story goes on, Marlow not only struggles with his own morality, but also begins to question the morality of those around him as he ventures deeper into the river basin. Eventually, it becomes evident to Marlow that he no longer has the option of “good”, but he instead must choose between the lesser of two evils. In the end, Marlow’s experiences in the “heart of darkness” and his quest to overcome the atrocities he experiences in the jungle serve to represent a microcosm of the world today, in which life is a constant struggle to resist and overcome the inherent evil urges of human nature. Although the exact time period of the story is unknown, it is known that Heart of Darkness is set during a period of wide-scale European imperialism, in which white men were on a mission to spread the high moral standards of civilization to the native people of the African continent. Externally, it seemed that these men had intention to do “good,” by refining the crude society of which the natives were a part. “Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of the spark of the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!” (Conrad 5). Despite the noble facade that these men put up, however, it is not a secret that these “civilized” men were also on a hunt for wealth and power, and that they were willing to do whatever it took to achieve it, as the reader will later discover through the character of Mr. Kurtz. This double-sided nature of imperialism is a prominent theme throughout Heart of Darkness, and Marlow finds himself stuck at a crossroads between the two opposing sides. Before Marlow’s journey even begins, Conrad uses various methods of foreshadowing to hint at the existence of the symbolic darkness that Marlow will experience as he moves further into the jungle. One of the most common examples of such foreshadowing can be found in Conrad’s use of contrasting imagery between light and darkness to warn the reader of what will happen next. In fact, in M