We are introduced to the novel “Heart of Darkness”, with the words ‘The Nellie, a cruising yawl’, indicating that already at his early stage in the novel, the reader is able to predict that this will be a book set on a boat, and is likely to involve travelling across sea’s. This prediction can be backed up by the lines in the second paragraph, ‘The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway in the offing the seas and the sky were welded together without a joint’. This line conveys to the reader the boat and crews current location, it being the Thames, but also where they are going. This is stated by the words ‘The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway’, telling the reader that they are using it as a waterway, a passage to the sea, and then ocean. This is further conveyed by the fact Conrad writes “the seas and sky were welded together without a joint’. When you see the sea and sky appear to join together, it means you are looking into the horizon. Often, people look into the horizon on the start of a long journey, in anticipation of the new experiences they are going to face, so this line could indicate his excitement he now holds, because of what he will see. Secondly, throughout this opening passage, there is a constant theme of exploration. Firstly, the sheer fact they are on a ‘cruising yawl’ indicates that they are going to explore foreign lands, as ships were the form of travel of choice in that time, especially as planes were not really operational, so the most convenient way to cross the seas would have been a ship. Later on in the passage, Joseph Conrad writes ‘The tidal current runs to and fro in its unceasing service, crowded with memories of men and ships it had borne to the rest or to the battles of the sea. It had known and served all the men of