Many people seem to think that this story is just about racism, but that is missing the main point. It is true that much of Conrad's fiction seems racist in tone, but one must take that from whence it comes; he was writing at a time when European Colonialism, (and sadly racism too) was in full swing...
I have only read the two stories, not the critical esssays, I'm keeping those for class :) The Scarlet Letter was beautifully written, and I loved the irony and the pointing out of the hyphocricy of most of the characters. There were some things that made it very obvious it was written quite a whi...