"Conrad-ception" A Story Within a Story Within a Story

Heart of Darkness was written by Joseph Conrad in 1899. It is a short novel that explores the inner workings of humankind through the narrative of a man named Marlow. Marlow recounts his experience sailing on a river in the Congo as an ivory transporter. The Marlow’s experience has incredible depth because Conrad himself actually was a part of a similar operation in his earlier life.
There are many aspects of Conrad’s form that contribute to how this novel can be interpreted. One of the  most influential choices that Conrad made in form was to have the story told by an unidentified narrator who is listening to Marlow tell his tale of long ago. This decision affects how we internalize every page. This creates a “story within a story” and that changes how we view both the story and the character Marlow. We see this story as something that has happened in the past, as something behind us. This distance gives us a level of security. But that security is completely lost  as the story concludes and we are left feeling haunted as we read:

“Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. ‘We have lost the first of the ebb,’ said the Director, suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky-- seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.”

Even though we just spent the whole novel one step away from the darkness, at the end we realize that the darkness might actually be right ahead. That it might actually be inside each of us.
Choosing to have Marlow tell us the tale also affects how we contrast the characters of Marlow and Kurtz. Since we know that Marlow is here with us on the deck and since we are receiving his interpretation of past events, we come to see how he was able to escape from the pull of the darkness. As the story unfolds we witness the unhinging of Kurtz, but we can be partially reassured because we know that Marlow makes it out to tell the tale. Although the darkness is imminent, we like Marlow may be able to overcome.

This “frame narrative” does more than influence our connection with the “darkness” and with the characters. It also teaches us about experiencing isolation. As Marlow tells us this tale we feel this desire within him to make a connection with his fellow sailors. He is sharing a part of himself that affected him so profoundly we feel a brotherhood with him for sharing it with us.  But, we recognize that there will always still exist some level of isolation. That we will never truly know how Marlow feels. As one of my favorite lines from the book says, “Marlow was silent for a while. ... ‘No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence—that which makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream—alone....’”

Experiencing literature in this age is still about what literature has always been about. It will always be an attempt at connecting the minds, hearts, and souls of individuals. It will always be directed by the desire to overcome this isolation. THAT is why we have Goodreads, Amazon, and Kindles.