It is difficult to find a deeper description of the 19th century colonialist ideal than that depicted in the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The story revolves around Marlowe, a steamboat captain in the Belgian Congo, who is assigned the task of finding Kurtz, an ivory trader, who has distanced himself from the rest of the trading company and gone into the deepest parts of Africa. Joseph Conrad is not a native English speaker, his book has a very sophisticated and complex plot and text structure. The most interesting thing is not to illustrate the purpose of the book, but rather the type of message the book tries to put forward, because there are many. An essential theme of Joseph Conrad's book is the critique of the psyche of colonialism and how its mistreatment of the African people corrupts the human mind. How a human being approaches the darker side, making himself responsible for horrible and degenerate actions. To make it more substantial and concrete, the author chooses to describe psychological change in both a spiritual (subjective) and a physical (objective) way. This is achieved by placing the setting on the Congo River, so when Marlowe travels along the river, he delves into both the dark, unexplored parts of Africa and his own soul. With this illustration Joseph Conrad dramatizes how the coexistence of the soul and the material world marks the mind and body of the individual human being. The river also symbolizes the road that leads away from civilization and towards a land that, according to Marlowe, is rudimentary and wild. “Going up that river was like traveling back in time to the dawn of the world, when vegetation rebelled on the earth and the bi...... middle of paper......, introduces Marlowe to Kurtz, simply in the form as ghost or myth. People at different stations mention it in different contexts. Some simply appreciate him for his services to the company, some unequivocally despise him for quickly advancing the company, and some undoubtedly love him. “'I tell you,' he cried, 'this man has enlarged my mind.' (p.50)“ Those who despise Kurtz should be looked at as if they were younger versions of Kurtz. Kurtz was sent to the Congo for his charismatic leadership and understanding of the power of the word, which landed him in one of the most prestigious trading posts and won the approval of managers in Europe. He was also named the most hated figure among commercial stations, due to the desire of all other station managers to be as successful as him..