Where is The Heart of Darkness?

Going in to this book my biggest questions were who or where is the heart of darkness and what does it symbolize?
The method of reading I chose was reading-to-writing connection for heart of darkness. As I was reading I tried to focus on how Conrad was telling this story. I noticed he used a lot of descriptive words to describe to scene. He used lots of questions to convey Marlow’s thoughts. Conrad’s style of writing seems to be is very dark, so I thought I would look in to his life. Most writers have tragic or hard lives and I found Conrad was no exception. Orphaned at 17, he started sailing on British ships. This explains the advanced boat terminology used in the book and some character strong nationalism for Brittan. Conrad sailing into the Belgian Congo made me curious, as prepare the Heart of Darkness was related to his experiences?
Part One
The one single word has stood out the most to me is savage. Although Marlow does show compassion towards the savages, I still find that the story relates to the natives as more of an idea/symbol than as humans. When Marlow is talking to the brick maker the brick maker speaks of the new gang of virtue, I automatically assumed that the morals and virtue would be light, and that would make darkness conquering and consumption. I realized that darkness symbolized the mysterious forest and the unknown.
Part Two
One of the similes that stood out to me was Marlow relating the dense jungle of Africa and its inhabitants to the prehistoric earth. But the main idea I had was that darkness opens your eyes and light blinds you. The darkness of the forest opens your eyes to the unknown. But light blinds you like the fog that surrounded the ship. Light blinds you by having a false security and can blind you to reality. As I was reading I also noticed a line about women “…we must help them stay in a beautiful world.” This made me flash back to The Great Gatsby when Daisy says she hope her daughter would be a “beautiful fool”. I also found a connection to The Great Gatsby because Marlow did not like the people he was surrounded by just like Nick Caraway.
Part Three
As Kurtz slowly dies in part three, I realize where the heart of darkness lies. Man has the heart of darkness. Even with the new gang of virtue and the good intentions of white man’s burden, in the center man was a heart ruled by evil. I personally don’t believe that man has a heart of darkness, but a center of faith and hope. So, to me, I found it comforting that Marlow uses light to blind Kurtz’s woman, by telling her that his last word was her name.