Placed in various time periods and settings, the novel Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, and the movie Apocalypse Now, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, both create the same mysterious journey with various similarties and differences. The journey's mystery lies in the scene; it is one down a river by boat, deep in the jungle. The jungle is populated mainly with wild animals and a few natives. The reason for the expedition is to search for a sick man named Kurtz, who is followed by the natives and his men from their previous missions. In Heart of Darkness, the journey to find Kurtz, who is an ivory trader who has gone too deep into the jungles of Africa in search of ivory, while in Apocalypse Now, Kurtz is a high-ranking officer in the military who has disobeyed orders and is now fighting the Vietnam war in Cambodia with his unit in his own fashion. The protagonists in both the novel and the movie go through various changes while on their mission to find Kurtz. Marlow, who is the rookie captain of a ship, slowly begins to envision Kurtz as an immortal figure. In the movie, Willard's state of mind ranges from being a demented soldier to a crazed assassin. Alt

Is he alone there? 'Yes,' answered the manager; "he sent his

On his tiresome journey, Marlow changes from a man looking for Kurtz, to a man closely obsessed to meeting the man behind the hype:

Since Heart of Darkness was based in the 1890's, Marlow experiences many things due to the lack of modern amenities and modern technologies. For example, a damaged steamer delays Marlow's journey for almost three weeks. The delay is caused because Marlow and his crew could not get the rivets they needed to fix the steamer. A phone or radio could have helped Marlow fix his steamer earlier and gotten onto the water quicker. Three weeks might have been the difference between life and death for Mr. Kurtz. Another example of a lack of communication is the communication between stations:

If the communication between stations would have been better, Marlow may have known the conditions the station was in, and the area around it. Information about Kurtz's authority over the natives also could have helped save the life of a member of Marlow's crew. Communication with Kurtz's station would have benefited Marlow and his mission, by saving precious time and lives. Another modern amenity Marlow could have used were detailed maps and reconnaissance. These tools would have allowed Marlow access to solving geographic issues preventing him from reaching Kurtz's station, such as a sandbank and a grassy islet. The sandbank and the grassy islet were what caused Marlow and his crew to be sitting ducks for the natives to shoot at. The necessary modern amenities may have made Marlow's journey a shorter and safer one.

hough they are on the same mission, Marlow and Willard face terribly different factors that affect their journey. The difference of experiences, location, technology, communication, and mindset all affect each character in different ways. Although they may have faced varying environments, in the end the result was the same, Kurtz is discovered as a sick and possibly demented individual. Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now are two strikingly similar yet subtly different stories that end in the same fashion.

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Approximate Word count = 2106
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)