A Soul Journey into the Heart of DarknessAn image is an abstract idea, placed into context to form something concrete. They are invented and created to give off some kind of feeling or mood, which one can also identify with. The atmosphere helps determine what kind of mood the photo will take. Any author, of a painting or a piece of literature, will create the mood by using their own atmosphere to enhance the theme of their creation. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses mood and atmosphere to create a portrait titled Journey into the Soul. The journey into the soul is finding yourself. Atmosphere pervades the mood or spirit. The atmosphere helps reveal the journey of searching for one's soul. The setting "welcomed the forest, the stream, the mud, the river seemed to invite with a dishonorable flourish before the sunny face of the earth an insidious appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the deep darkness of its heart." Conrad 54 Conrad does not even mention their exact location which is very peculiar. The main river was described in the form of a serpent. A serpent can be viewed from many points of view: mythological, biblical, literal, and metaphorical. The snake represents all the twists and turns and being able to find your inner self is very difficult and twisted. The snake represents some of the animal images in the novel. Perhaps this is a sign that the jungle is something alive and not just an ordinary jungle. The images of literature help to show the main idea that… the medium of the paper… contrasts with the state of the reader. While reading the novel I was able to reflect on my journey to the soul. Every reader can reflect and realize the inevitable. The journey is not pleasant, it is a very difficult task, where evil lurks in the smallest places. These places could be anywhere, including the soul, and the soul is one of the most unique qualities of man. It determines who we are and how we treat everyone around our presence. In this universe people live and die, but a soul is immortal and will undertake eternity. Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Bantam Books: New York, 1981. Resources for studying Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. 1998. Simon & Schuster. Webster's New World Dictionary.Macmillian:New York,1996.