Apocalypse Now

Joseph Conrad had dreamed of traveling to Africa since childhood. Unfortunately, his trip to Africa in 1890 was described as less of a dream, and more of a nightmare. Conrad reflected his experiences while writing his short novel Heart of Darkness. The novel follows a sailor’s employment for a Belgian trading company and his journey up the Congo River. The sailor, Marlow, encounters intense brutality and cruelty towards the natives forced into work for the Company. As Marlow searches for the…

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, the main character Marlow, a young Englishman, leaves home with the intention of becoming a steamboat captain, but eventually starts on a quest perusing Kurtz, a famous and charismatic ivory trader who is known for his eloquence. While he succeeds, his journey led him into the heart of darkness, and is changed for the worse and is left with a corrupted moral compass. However through facing Kurtz, he saw the evil within himself and was able to change. While…

Joseph Conrad did not fluently speak English until his late teen years, however he outshone the written English language, with several of his works having been modified into film. Conrad went through a tough life as a child, and when he was only three, his father was imprisoned Warsaw for his believed radical political relationships until the family was banished to northern Russia in 1861. In 1869, Conrad's parents died due to tuberculosis, and he was led to live with his uncle in Switzerland.…

For Kurtz, being in the Congo for the time that he had been caused him to go insane. Where he was at one time “magnetically charming” and a “principled man of substance” (Bloom, 18). He now “rebels against the limitations and imperfections of the human condition. He sets himself up as a demigod and comes to grief partly as a consequence.” (Goonetilleke). Marlow, however, sees that he is headed in the same direction and “restrains” himself…

The “Horror” in the Heart of Darkness The Heart of Darkness is a novella that was written during the time of African imperialism. The continent was suffering moral and social sickness as it was being opened for exploration and commercial expansion. The Heart of Darkness is written through a series of different points of views, which makes the famous last words of Mr. Kurtz, “The Horror! The Horror!” so ambiguous. The author, Joseph Conrad, leaves it up to the reader to interpret the vague…

“Darkness” is a word of multiple meanings, from being a complete blackness to representing terror and the unknown. On the other hand, “heart” is seen as the center, love, or life of things. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness the combination of the two words reveals the significance of the title to the world about the true naiveté and ignorance of human beings, the easiness of manipulation of the mind, particularly women, and reminds us that each act toward civilization is an act in barbarism…

“ Nature and Our Innate Destructive and Primitive Qualities” On The Road by John Kerouac explores the spiritual and physical experience of his narrator, Sal Paradise, travelling with his friends in a post-war era imbuing the spirit of anti-conformity and rejection of materialism. Sal Paradise, along with Dean who is a very close friend, explore America through hitch-hiking, reckless behavior, and moments of brief and unusual stability in their lives where they settle down. John Kerouac uses Sal…

Throughout life, people are faced with choices that lead them to goodness and light, or allow them to stray towards evil and darkness. In “Heart of Darkness,” by Joseph Conrad, a young seaman, Marlow, begins working for an ivory company in Africa. Early on, Marlow is compared to a man named Kurtz who works for the company, too. Marlow looks forward to meeting him as they travel on the river to the inner station where he works. However, Marlow begins to see the truth behind what the company is…

It would have been too dark too dark—too dark altogether…” (Conrad 117). This quote explains how Marlow feels after working in the Congo. He found that his work in the Congo exemplified man’s true nature. He tells this to passengers on a voyage away from Britain. In Heart of Darkness; Joseph Conrad reveals how living outside the restraints of civilization exposes a man’s heart of darkness. Kurtz shows what living outside the restrictions of society can do to a man’s morality, civility, and…

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, there are many instances in which cruelty acts as a force driving the main theme that man is driven by greed and a lust for power. Such cruelty also serves as an additional way to view upon the actions of those in the book and how some may become corrupted by the “darkness” found deep inside of themselves. To begin, as the main focus of the story is to see how man acts when faced with no restrictions, greed and lust play a important role in how cruel some…