Aside from the use of a frame narrative, Conrad does not engage in any particularly complex literary techniques.

The frame narrative establishes Marlow's rhetorical situation as an experienced raconteur, telling a tale for other middleaged men, listeners who are both successful and former mariners. One result of this device is to limit and define the level of diction which Conrad uses. Another result is to allow Conrad to vary his tone from a colloquial, informal, and even exclamatory rhetoric ("Youth! Ah youth!") to a more formal narrative style.

More frequently than in other stories where he is a narrator, Marlow takes occasion to voice his emotions, often ruefully.

However, there is a more subtle result of this narrative technique, a consequence which may go unnoticed. Conrad's narrative method allows him to give a double perspective on the events of the story: His readers are given both the reactions...