"Heart of Darkness" and "Apocalypse Now"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines these two works focusing on points of comparison, which include the search for Kurtz and philosophical issues relating to civilization and savagery. It shows how both Conrad's novel and the film have in common the unity of personal and political themes. Willard and Marlow use their personal strength to overcome what they see as political and social injustice. Both men succeed to overcome the outer struggle by means of inner strength.

From the Paper:

"In Conrad's novel, Marlow has both a concrete and a more spiritual reason for his journey to find Kurtz. Marlow travels to the Congo as a representative for an ivory trading company. His searches for Kurtz, who is the company agent. His deeper and fundamental reason for undertaking the journey to find Kurtz is psychological and spiritual. The purpose of the voyage is then to discover himself (Guerard 169). Marlow wishes to understand himself through the study that he makes of the world around him (Feder 183). And thus he makes what Feder (183) calls an epic descent into his own inner world. This descent is then symbolized by the outer journey on the river, where the purpose is to find Kurtz. What Marlow then finds in his journey is a progressive deterioration in what he sees as his own civilized personality. As he moves closer to Kurtz physically, he also approaches him on a more mental level: Marlow begins to think more like Kurtz as he moves deeper into the jungle. With this he discovers his own capacity for evil along with his capacity to resist the temptation of evil."

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