This structure was used by many of the greats of the period, including Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The frame tale technique is especially useful when the narrator and the storyteller hold contrasting views on the main subject of the tale. In
Heart of Darkness, the unnamed narrator expresses nothing but pride at his nation's success at spreading civilization across the world. This is in stark contrast to Marlow's views at the end of the tale.
An experienced seaman, Conrad loosely based Heart of Darkness on his own experiences working as a steamboat pilot in the Belgian Congo in the 1890s. The book is now generally recognized as a bitter indictment of the European imperialism that took place, mostly in Africa, at the close of the nineteenth century. However, some modern critics see the book in a less favorable light. Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has referred to Heart of Darkness as "an offensive and deplorable book" and to Conrad himself as "a thoroughgoing racist." Some critics acknowledge that the book reflects racist views; however, they argue that these views do not belong to Conrad himself but to his fictional creation Marlow.
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