Joseph Conrads descriptive capacity to introduce us to the narration is very palpable in Marlow's voice. From the very first moment history traps us in the same way as the African jungle traps Marlow himself in his journey through the serpentine Congo River. What he sees on his journey, and his eventual encounter with Kurtz, horrify and perplex him, and call into question the very bases of civilization and human nature. Endlessly reinterpreted by critics and adapted for film, radio, and television, the story shows Conrad at his most intense and sophisticated.