In today's civilization, we find many threatening emotions that prevent us humans from performing good deeds. We have different states of mind and consciousness. There are levels that allow us to openly express what we are thinking. But there are also levels that we know exist, but refuse to let others know about them. Furthermore, there are moods that we cannot even understand on our own. In The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the 3 states of the conscious mind are linked, shown, and ignored as Europeans conform to what everyone else is doing and ignore their own true thoughts. The mind's consciousness is easily overwhelmed by threatening forces, such as conformity, ferocity, and ignorance. These threatening forces surround all forms of civilization and have an effect on the human brain, whether we realize it or not. The conscious mind expresses itself towards other people. It's what we communicate about our thoughts. In the novel, the conscious mind degrades those believed to be beneath Europeans. On this journey, Marlow joins the rest of his people in mistreating the blacks. However, even though he conforms to society by saying that these people are evil, he expresses how he truly feels about them subconsciously. "They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confused in the greenish darkness." (Corrado, page 20). It could be said that in the heart of darkness the threatening force of conformity completely takes over human consciousness. Subconsciously, Marlow is thinking back to everything the Europeans are doing, wondering in amazement whether it is really the right thing to do. However, since Marlow has learned that it is moral... middle of paper... Europeans, pushing them to behave like savages, instead of like natives. The mind is a wonderful thing. It allows us to think on three very different levels. One we choose to express, one we don't choose to express, and one we don't even know exists. All these stages of thought are blurred in Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness. Three threatening forces occur that completely take control of the white man and push him to act inappropriately. They accuse others of behaving wildly when they act violently against people of other cultures. They conform to specific beliefs and put their subconscious thoughts aside. These men also have an abundance of ignorance that makes them feel a false superiority. The Heart of Darkness reaches into the minds of readers, to demonstrate that all civilization is surrounded by an abundance of forces that can cloud our minds and darken our hearts..