Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad about a narrated voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State in the so-called "heart of Africa". Charles Marlow, the narrator, tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between what Conrad calls "the greatest town on earth", London, and Africa as places of darkness.
List of Pandora Hearts characters
is the fifteen-year-old protagonist. He has blond hair and green eyes. He is from the prestigious Vessalius family. His father, Zai, is the reigning lord. His mother was killed by the Nightray family; despite this, he retains a bright, optimistic, and energetic personality. The story of Pandora Hearts begins when Oz turns fifteen. During the ceremony to celebrate his legal adulthood, Oz is dragged into the Abyss for the 'sin of his existence'. There, he meets a young girl named Alice who turns out to be a Chain - a monster born in the Abyss. Oz makes a contract with her so they can both escape the abyss. Upon returning to the real world, he discovers that 10 years have passed. In order to find out what exactly his 'sin' is, he decides to work under Xerxes Break as part of Pandora. During this, it is shown that when he was young, he worked hard to gain praise and recognition from his father. However, he discovered that his father hated him to the point of not wanting to touch him. After experiencing this, Oz began to think that there is no guaranteed thing in the world. He thought of himself as weak. He decided that, in order to protect people, he should at least remain an obedient child and let harm come his way. After traveling into the Cheshire Cat's lair, Oz meets Jack Vessalius and becomes his 'medium'. Jack eventually speaks at Pandora's headquarters and the public hail Oz as a 'hero'. Oz finds that he can swap control of his body with Jack if he calls hard enough and may sometimes even see snippets of Jack's memories. 
According to himself he is quite skilled with the sword, particularly in self-defense. However, he has very little real experience in fighting. Oz likes cute, younger girls and flirts with them frequently. He once wished to marry Sharon when they first met. Oz, himself, thinks of Alice as his precious someone, calling her his "sun". He believes that Alice is the reason that he can still smile.