Vague Descriptions in Heart of Darkness A dark, unknown setting and a suspenseful plot give Heart of Darkness the hallmarks of a good novel, but what really stands out is Conrad's writing. The story is full of images and vague descriptions that the reader must contemplate to fully understand. Writing so vividly was an impressive feat for Conrad, who was actually not a native English speaker. (Dintenfass) His style contains a lot of finesse and complexity. While it may seem that Conrad was trying to confuse the reader, his actual goal was to create a work of art, rather than simply a novel. Several critics have criticized Conrad's work because his writing is so vague; they argue that it lacks order and clarity. Conrad occasionally responded to these critics and explained why he chose to construct his stories so loosely. Says Professor Mark Dintenfass, commenting on Conrad's opinion of his writings: "For Conrad then, as for most modern artists, the world as we experience it is not the kind of place that can be reduced to itself....