Question #1: Interpret one symbol first at the surface, literal level and then as if it were a symbol in a dream vocabulary with a deeper, secondary meaning

In Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses a vast amount of images to symbolize the complex nature of Africa and its people. As colonists pour in from different European countries to the continent of Africa, there is visual proof that Africa and Africans reject European thought and technology. A prime example of that is a railway truck Marlow finds up on a hill: "The thing looked as dead as the carcass of some animal. I came upon more pieces of decaying machinery, a stack of rusty rails." (379). The truck is compared to a dying animal to demonstrate Marlow's sympathy towards what the Europeans are doing in Africa. The reader can easily identify where his loyalty lies. Symbolically, the railway truck is more than a "dead animal" but a sign that Africa is not like Europe and therefore should be left alone. Technology being turned over is only a warning sign; the colonists should heed these warnings because they could easily be turned over too. The fact that the truck is on top of a hill means that the wreckage is closer to heaven and can be interpreted as God himself playing an intricate role in shunning unwanted colonists and ideas out of Africa.