comparison of heart of darkness and apocaplypse now

A detailed Summary of comparison of heart of darkness and apocaplypse now

A Comparison of Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now

Joseph Conrad's epic novel, Heart of Darkness, depicts the discrepancy between ideals and realities against the "sinister backcloth" of the complete incomprehensibility of the wild jungle. It is an expose of the corruptness and absurdity of the progress and enlightenment of nineteenth century Europe, and ultimately, of man himself. It tells the story of Marlow, who takes a journey down the Congo River into the core of the jungle of Africa, searching for this mysterious "genius" named Kurtz. The journey confronts him with the "rudimentary savagery" and "incomprehensibility" of mankind. Three quarters of a century later, during the turmoil of the Vietnam War, a young film maker by the name of Francis Ford Copola, made a movie that was parallel to the book Heart of Darkness, essentially a modern version of it. He set it against the backdrop of the ever controversial Vietnam War, and entitled it "Apocalypse Now." The movie tells of a soldier, Captain Willard, traveling down!

a river into the "[hell] hole of the Earth," the jungles of Vietnam, in search of a "mad man" named Kurtz. Along the way he is confronted by the absurdity, brutality, meaninglessness, and inconceivable

got off the boat. He split from the whole f#@*&!* system." ("APN") They see that there is ultimate judgment. Each Kurtz is a man none the less, and feels that innate sense of lust, of savagery that lives in all men. Both Kurtzs begin with the belief that they can "civilize" and enlighten the natives. In the end they fall to savagery. Kurtz's "mind is clear, but his soul is mad." One can see the clarity and brilliance of his mind through his "unbounded power of eloquence - of words - of burning noble words." (HoD, p.46) One can see the madness of either Kurtz's soul in the way they surround themselves with death and carnage. Kurtz decapitates people and puts the heads on display. This shows "that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him - some small matter which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his magnificent eloquence." (HoD, p.53) This is evident in the movie too. Kurtz is!

They claim they're following standard procedures because "the book says captain." ("APN") When the pilgrims are attacked by the natives just outside the inner station, the "chaps fired from the hip with their eyes shut." (HoD, p.47) However, the ignorant fools still bragged that they must have "made a glorious slaughter of them in the bush." (HoD, p.47) Very similarly, the crew is attacked when they are just approaching the inner station. They too "fire from the hip." In the book, Marlow is awestruck at the restraint that the cannibals, as "savage" as they suppossively are, maintain by not eating the crew. They were starving, had next to nothing to eat, and had no reason not to eat the Europeans. He wondered how they could have the "strength... the courage" to restrain. He sees that "something restraining, one of those human secrets that baffle probability, had come into play there." (HoD, p.37) This is one quality among many that neither the pilgrims nor the crew p!

The Army, likewise, is used to expose the corruptness, absurdity, and pointlessness of the U.S. and its involvement in the war. It is made up of "rock-n-rollers with one foot in the grave." ("Apocalypse Now") These "rock-n-rollers" have a sense of superiority that is blatantly false. They order Willard to go in and "terminate, with extreme prejudice," Kurtz's "command." Kurtz has become an obstacle to the army's main goal of winning the war. They want to kill him because "it seems they didn't dig what he had to tell them." He recognizes the absurdity of it all, that "the war was being run by a bunch of four star clowns who were gonna end up giving the whole circus away." ("APN") The reality of it is, however, that Kurtz is actually achieving the goal of the army more so than the army is itself. He is "fighting the war on his own terms, and winning it," while the army doesn't even know who the enemy is. They are trying to kill the one man that is winning their war, th!

first talking beautifully of gardenias, and "heaven falling to Earth." He then deposits the decapitated head of Chef into the lap of Willard, and goes back to enlightenment with his books. Kurtz, like all men, is evil; but unlike the army and the company, he is of a different essence of evil, he is of insane evil. The brilliance of Kurtz, both Kurtzs, is that he gains his humanity by summing up and passing judgment. He's not one of the "hollow men," the "stuffed men," like those in the army and the company. ("The Hollow Men," T.S. Elliot, lines 3-4) He looks around, perceives, and ultimately judges. He "hangs" the ideals and the realities, the incomprehensibility of mankind, and glimpses the "impenetrable darkness," the terror of it all. He judges. In the novel, it's "Exterminate all the brutes!" In the book, it's "Drop the bomb, exterminate them all!" He comes to the final conclusion, and breathes, as his last words, his ultimate judgment of condemnation: "The hor!

the end, Willard i

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Approximate Word count = 2910
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History