Heart
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Every human has a dark side that is often kept secret because of a persons normal surroundings. Often this evil side breaks out during times of isolation from his culture, or confrontation between races or even cultures. History shows us examples of violence that have occurred when one culture comes into contact with another. Violence and war-like situations usually bring a person back to his animalistic roots, which could also be explained as insanity. For many years, scientists have studied the effects of isolation and drastic change on a person. Joseph Conrad is especially qualified for his writing of Heart of Darkness because he spent time as a riverboat captain along the Congo viewing the effects of colonialism and imperialism and its dark effects upon the people living there. Later Conrad himself battled with insanity before becoming a writer and showing us the harmful effects of insanity. In Joseph Conrads book, Heart of Darkness, and Francis Ford Coppolas movie, Apocalypse Now, we see the effects of things like colonialism, culture shock, and darkness played out.
Joseph Conrads book, The Heart of Darkness and Francis Coppolas movie, Apocalypse Now are both stories about mans journey into his self, and confronting his fears of failure, insanity, death, and cultural contamination. . Despite Marlows search for Kurtz, he is also trying to find something deeper, his own self. Conrad tries to tell us that Kurtz used to be what Marlow is now, and that Marlow perhaps will end up like Kurtz. Marlow shows signs of this by telling us that all of his time in seclusion with the indigenous people along the Congo was turning him “savage” also.
While the ship steams up the Congo, Marlow feels like he is “traveling back to the earliest beggings of the Earth (Conrad, 60).” As stated many times, darkness looms, and the different civilizations strike Marlow in a way that makes the people here seem less than he. The is also evident through the continuous use of the word “savage.” As he travels farther up stream, the more simpler civilizations seem to be getting.