Compare And Contrast Heart Of Darkness And Apocalypse Now

In Apocalypse Now, Willard and Kurtz are parallel figures. Kurtz is labeled as a great soldier who went insane, disregarding his orders and going rogue. Willard, on the other hand, is portrayed as someone who is willing to follow orders. These men appear to be vastly different, yet there are strong parallels between them. Both Willard and Kurtz have become disillusioned with the US involvement in Vietnam. Apocalypse Now uses both stylistic and narrative techniques to show the similarities between the two men. Their shared military background, and their onscreen placement, show Willard and Kurtz as complementary characters, in their disillusionment with the authority of the US military, brought on by their journeys through the Vietnam jungles, and their

In the novella Heart of Darkness, and the film Apocalypse Now, both Joseph Conrad and Francis Ford Coppola question the supposed dichotomy between civilized society and uncivil savagery. Although both the novella and the film differ in setting, Africa and Vietnam respectively, both [uncover] man’s primeval nature, as their protagonists journey down the respective rivers, and descend into the heart of darkness. Perhaps the most significant aspect in the journeys of both Marlow and Willard, is witnessing the psychological breakdown of “civilized” men as their removal from society and exposure to the primitive practices of the “savages” living in the jungle, unleashes their own primordial instincts. This frightening observation effectively conveys

Originally Kurtz had good intentions in journeying to the Congo. He honestly believed in using the ivory trade to better the social and economic aspects of the region, while simultaneously helping the natives to become civilized and part of the world which he thought was superior. Kurtz is only able to impress his own beliefs and ideals upon society and therefore help it however, by taking control of the people of the society. He establishes this control in the

In Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, both Joseph Conrad and Francis Ford Coppola create similar statements through their creations as they both centralize their views upon the effects of environmental changes that affect the human condition. The film Apocalypse Now vaguely reflects a similar message pursued by Conrad’s novella, due to the difference in time period, place setting, and circumstances in which the film was created. Conrad wrote his novella during British colonization, focusing upon imperialism. Coppola’s film similarly focused upon the barbaric nature of man, which demonstrates the insanity of the Vietnam War. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad centers his main focus upon the journey of Marlow, a sailor, who travels into

interpretation of the darkness in his journey with these words, "True, by this time it was not a blank space any more...a place of darkness. But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river... resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land...the snake had charmed me." (p. 11) However, in Heart of Darkness, the definitions of lightness and darkness has been reversed. Darkness can be interpreted to stand for the purity and innocence of the natives lifestyle, while lightness can be seen as the corruption, greed, and exploitative ways of the white men. The natives lived by the code of nature in a sort of "darkness," in that they had not been exposed to the corruption of the

"We 'd cut them in half with a machine gun and give them a Band-Aid. It was a lie," Willard contemplates his alliance on the boat. When the American troops entered the Vietnam War, the intent was to save Southern Vietnam from Communism. In the end, thousands of Americans were killed and many innocent Vietnam citizens were murdered. The darkness is never absent. The same is happening today with the war in Iraq.

Various parallels can be drawn when comparing and contrasting Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Frank Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", while taking into consideration Heart of Darkness is a novella and "Apocalypse Now" is a film. These differences and similarities can be seen in themes, characters, events and other small snippets of information including anything from quoted lines to strange actions of the main characters. Both pieces follow the same story line but they are presented in different contexts, allowing for many differences as well as the ability to see how Conrad is able to write a piece of literature that can be transposed to many different settings regardless the time period and still convey the same message of colonialism.

Apocalypse Now starts with U.S. Army captain, Benjamin Willard, waiting in the room of his hotel in Saigon to receive a mission. After his tour in Vietnam, Willard is very psychologically stressed and often has hallucinations of the war, but he continues to have the need to undertake special operations missions. It is then that two special intelligence officers reach out to him. They tell him about his mission, which is to travel along the Nung River into Cambodia to end the command of Special Forces Colonel Walter Kurtz, who has apparently gone insane.

     The film also depicts the character of Kurtz in a very different light. Conrad builds up the appearance of Kurtz so much that his first scene is intentionally anti-climactic. He is discovered to be an ailing, elderly gentlemen, malnourished and on the verge of death. Marlow himself is simultaneously impressed with and disappointed by Kurtz. He enjoys listening to the old man’s philosophies, but he is let down by Kurtz’s lack of realistic thinking. He has clearly lost his mind, and with it, some of his credibility and mysticism.

We never realize how important something is to us until it’s lost, and the characters in both Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness are no exception. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novel about a character named Marlow, who is on a ship along with a sea crew. He shares his adventures in Africa as his curiosity about the man named Kurtz motivates him to search for him. Meanwhile, Apocalypse Now takes a twist on the tale, taking place during the Vietnam War. Captain Willard is a soldier part of the U.S. forces sent to search Vietnam to search for Kurtz, a man who has gone rogue from the army and kept himself hidden from others, and execute him. Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now both illustrate a similar scene, the helmsman’s death along with Clean’s and Chief’s death in respective stories, as well as deviate from each other while retaining identical meanings that bring together an underlying message between these two stories.

Innocent people and families were slaughtered. Images of blood and death were seen everyday as common to soldiers as smiles are to civilians. The ivory trade in imperialistic Europe, as seen in Heart of Darkness, is another example of suffering and man's evil nature. Through man's inhumanity to the elephants in hunting them and slaughtering them for their tusks, to in turn trade for the necessities of life such as food, water, and shelter. Both of these show man's will to live and survive, be it in battle or in everyday life. Willard's [in the book this character is named Marlow and in the film his name is Willard, I will refer to him as Willard] mission to "terminate [Kurtz] with extreme prejudice" (Apocalypse Now), is one that induces suffering and is just as unjust or inhumane as the previous examples.

Both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now have themes that deal with darkness in the human mind and evil forces outside the mind. Conflicts between imperialism and savagery are motifs set in the jungle in both stories. Conrad and Copolla give vivid descriptions and imagery of the darkness created from the decline of the human mind into madness. The significant difference in the two works is the medium they use to tell the story and how they present the two main protagonists, Marlow and Willard. Conrad’s story depends on strong narration and descriptive imagery in a written, paper medium to show Marlow’s journey and his encounters with light and darkness in the jungle. In contrast, Capolla uses choreography and visual images on film to show

      In both Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness certain elements of darkness attempt to show how deep one must look inside themselves to discover the truth. Conrad portrays the idea of the darkness of the human heart through things such as the interior of the jungle and it's immensity, the Inner Station, and Kurtz's own twisted deeds. Coppola's heart of darkness is represented by the madness of the Vietnam War and how even to look for a purpose in it all; is itself quite mad.

Beyond the shield of civilization and into the depths of a primitive, untamed frontier lies the true face of the human soul. It is in the midst of this savagery and unrelenting danger that mankind confronts the brooding nature of his inner self.  Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is the story of one man's insight into life as he embarks on a voyage to the edges of the world. Here, he meets the bitter, yet enlightening forces that eventually shape his outlook on life and his own individuality. Conrad’s portrayal of the characters, setting, and symbols, allow the reader to reflect on the true nature of man.

In the book Heart of Darkness, a story within a story is being told. The character, Marlow, is telling the story of Kurtz to legitimize his role in the events that are taking place. A downside to this approach is that the reader only hears rumors and accounts about this mysterious figure, Kurtz, before actually meeting him. Kurtz remains an unknown and enigmatic character in Marlow's mind.