The Facade of Civilization Explored in Heart of Darkness and Heart of the MatterHeart of Darkness and The Heart of the Matter offer glimpses into the human psyche, deep explorations into human nature. In each of them, the fragility of the facade we call “civilization” is broken by the external forces represented by Conrad and the internal ones by Greene. In both stories there are those who fall to corruption and those who witness it, both submerged by forces that will not be silenced or reasoned with. He looked out to the ocean - past the church spire reaching skyward in spite of the uniform serrated line of the tin roofs of the huts clustered around the shore, past the naked bodies gleaming bronze of the inhabitants toiling in the midday heat. , carrying baskets of woven grass and urns of gray earthenware on their heads - to the tranquility that lay just out of reach, to the calm that rested just above the water and just below the sky; an ephemeral space that you could point your finger at on land but that was always alluding to, slipping out of hand when you were at sea. A foreign ship in the bay began lowering its sails to drop anchor, awaiting another day of fruitless searches for hidden diamonds. The setting sun draped the tin roofs in a golden gilding that overflowed and dripped onto the sand below, creating a landscape worthy of Midas himself, if only for a few seconds. “Excuse me,” said a voice, “aren't you Wilson?” ?"He looked up at a middle-aged man who stared at him with a sunken, yellowing face. "Yes, that's me." "May I join you, my name is Marlow." A cursory glance provides a couple of s... .middle sheet......the question. New York: Penguin, 1993.Guerard, Albert J. "The Inner Journey" in Heart of Darkness. New York: Norton, 1988. pp 243-250 From Conquest to Collapse: European Empires from 1815 to 1960. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982. Lenin, Vladimer. “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism,” pp. 153-63 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Megroz, R. L. Mind and Method of Joseph Conrad. London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 1963. Rich, Paul B. Race and Empire in British Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 , Alan. The Wheel of Empire. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1967. Semmel, Bernard. Imperialism and Social Reform. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960. Thornton, A. P. The Imperial Idea and Its Enemies. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985.