Theme of Light and Dark

The theme of the light and dark is prevalent throughout Heart of Darkness. The light is the more intelligent, civilized, and calm part of humans whereas the darkness represents human nature, as thought of by Conrad. He thought that the savages represented the darkness: their urge to survive and control along with their greed. The themes are also present in Apocalypse Now. We hardly see Kurtz, he is mostly in the shadows. When he is watching the tribal rituals, you can only see his silhouette almost as if he is descending into the darkness. It could be argued that Willard was also descending into the darkness, such as in the last scene where there is a shadow over his face. Do any of you see any other things in the movie or the book that support this theory?