Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad

Conrad divided Heart of Darkness into three longish chapters. To make discussion easier, they can be subdivided as follows:

• CHAPTER I
  
  1. Prologue: Marlow Begins His Tale.
     
  2. The Sepulchral City. The Company.
     
  3. Africa. The Outer Station.
     
  4. The Trek. The Central Station.
     
  5. The Brickmaker.
     
  6. The Boiler-maker. The Eldorado Expedition.

• CHAPTER II
  
  1. The Manager and His Uncle.
     
  2. The Journey Upriver.
     
  3. The Message. The Fog. Cannibals.
     
  4. The Attack.
     
  5. Kurtz.
     
  6. The Inner Station.

• CHAPTER III
  
  1. The Russian's Story.
     
  2. Kurtz. His Mistress. Departure of the Russian.
     
  3. Kurtz's Escape. Departure.
     
  4. Kurtz's Death.
     
  5. Marlow's illness and Return.
     
  6. The Lie.
     
  7. Epilogue.

Be sure to note that these subdivisions aren't Conrad's. They are used in this guide only to make the novel easier to analyze and discuss.

Quotations cited can usually be found in the subdivision being discussed. When a quotation is from a subdivision other than the one under discussion, it will be identified this way: "(III, 5)", meaning Chapter III, subdivision 5- the subdivision titled "Marlow's Illness and Return."  

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