Nature influences the world through its effects on civilization and how it is perceived by society. Ecocriticism is the theory that nature is an important aspect in a literary work that influences the interpretation of the story. Ecocritics view history through a lens that observes the representation of nature in history and extend the use of ecocentric concepts to aspects other than nature such as energy, balance, and imbalance. Peter Barry writes about how ecocritics see nature in Beginning Theory: “For the ecocritic, nature really exists, out there beyond ourselves, not needing to be lampooned as a concept in quotation marks, but actually it is present as an entity that influences us. , and which we can affect, perhaps fatally, if we mistreat it” (Barry 243) The Heart of Darkness contains large amounts of situations that portray nature as a dark, mysterious, and savage wilderness. The fear of the jungle, the relationships between the natives and the company and Kurtz's conversion are three aspects that are affected by the force of nature. The Mysteries of the Jungle gives Marlow a dark impression saying, "The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark green almost black, edged with white foam, ran straight, like a line drawn, far, far away, along a blue sea the whose glitter was obscured by a creeping mist” (Conrad 10) The vastness of the jungle is daunting, Marlow's description states: “To travel up that river was like traveling back to the dawn of the world, when the vegetation rebelled upon the land and the great trees. they were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was hot, thick, lethargic. There was no joy in the splendor of the sun” (Conrad 30). ... in the center of the card... it is like this" (Barry 243). Kurtz also damaged nature with his oppression of the natives and his hatred of savages. He also wrote: “Exterminate all the brutes,” in a relationship (Conrad 46). His distorted thinking is evidence of nature's influence on him. Conrad uses many ecocritical elements in Heart of Darkness. The mysterious wilderness envelops the book's characters in a fog of confusion and danger as they fall prey to its power. Nature is everywhere in this story, which allows nature to influence almost every aspect of this story. Marlow, Kurtz and all the other characters react to nature differently. Some thrive in it, others perish. Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print.Barry, Peter. Early Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. Print.