The colour white has a reverse meaning in the novella to the traditional meaning of innocence and purity. Conrad reverses the reader’s expectation by describing the city Brussels as a ‘whited sepulchre’. A whited sepulchre is a building which is painted white, but on the inside it is a tomb. When this is related to a city, it implies falsehood and hypocrisy. By describing Brussels as the ‘sepulchral city’, the reader is positioned to question the truth of Marlow’s business in the city, which is to get a job to travel to the Belgium ‘freestate’, the Congo. The reader also questions the intentions of the colonisation of the Belgium ‘freestate’, as Brussels and Belgium are positioned as hypocritical and false.

Another reverse meaning of the colour white

The colour black keeps its traditional meaning, and usually means death. The first mention of the colour black is of the two black hens that one of the Captains’ had argued about, which resulted in his death. Later on, when Marlow is at the Outer Station, he sees some black slaves dying under some trees. His first description of them is ‘black shapes’. He also describes them as ‘black shadows of disease and starvation’. Conrad uses black to represent death as much of the novella describes the effects the Congo can have on European people and the effect that colonisation can have on African people.

The colour blue is not used very often in the novella, however, when it is used, it is only used to describe the sea, eye colour and items such as cloths. ‘His eyes of the usual blue were perhaps remarkably cold’, page 24 and ‘his little blue eyes that were perfectly round’, page 54, are two examples of how eye colour is described differently.

The colour yellow is used to describe sickness. On page 7, the frame narrator describes Marlow as having a ‘yellow complexion’, which is a result from his sickness on the home j

Some topics in this essay:
Heart Darkness, Marlow Companies, Brussels Belgium, Darkness Conrad’s, Congo European, Outer Station, Marlow Kurtz, Inner Station, colour white, white fog, journey congo, light dark, marlow continuing, traditional meaning, heart darkness, opposition light dark, belgium ‘freestate’, continuing journey, eye colour, marlow continuing journey,