Heart of Darkness and Apocolypse Now Analysis of BookMovie

Heart of Darkness and Apocolypse Now : analysis of bookmovie Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now Inherent inside every human soul is a savage evil side that remains repressed by society. Often this evil side breaks out during times of isolation from our culture, and whenever one culture confronts another. Joseph Conrad s book, The Heart of Darkness and Francis Coppola s movie, Apocalypse Now are both stories about Man s journey into his self, and the discoveries to be made there. They are also about Man confronting his fears of failure, insanity, death, and cultural contamination. Heart of Darkness is about a man named Marlo telling of a trip he took into Africa to find a man named Kurtz for a company. During Marlow s mission to†¦show more content†¦Kurtz is facing a new culture and has a terrible time dealing with it. This was the beginning of his insanity. The disconnection between the opening words of Kurtz s report By the simple exercise of our will, we can exert a power for good practically unbounded and the note on the last page, Exterminate all the brutes! illust rates the progressive externalization of Kurtz s fear of contamination. The personal fear of loss of self-which colonialist whites saw in the uncivilized, seemingly regressive lifestyle of the natives. Coppola makes a point to show us that the Chief of a boat armed to the teeth was killed by a native in a tree who threw a spear. Not even an advanced Navy boat can defend itself against some simple natives armed only with spears. This opens Captain Willard s eyes to the horror of the situation he now finds himself in. We live our lives sheltered in our own society, and our exposure to cultures outside of our own is limited at best. Often, the more technologically advanced cultures look down upon those that they deem to be simpler. On the occasion that some member of one culture does come into contact with another, simpler culture, a self discovery happens. Both cultures realize that deep down inside, all