Darkness inside Human Mind Joseph Conrad, who wrote The Heart of Darkness, once said, “The mind of man is capable of anything.” What he is telling us was that a person will do any actions by any means regardless of its consequence. There is always an evil side living inside the human soul, and this evil side breaks out during times when there is a difference in culture; for example, during World War II, Nazis killed any Jews that appeared in Europe, and their reason was Jews were not considered Germans, and they were believed to be disloyal and untrustworthy. This shows the difference in culture that created darkness inside the mind of the Nazis, who told them to do unimaginable things. The madness, fear, imperialism, death, escape, and difference in culture are the main theme of Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now; although they were written in different times, settings, and purposes, they both express how savage the human mind can be when he confronts with darkness. Both the novel Heart of Darkness and the film Apocalypse Now address the idea of imperialism. Imperialism, defining as a country’s political, military, and economic domination over another, is the theme that talk thoroughly in both works. For instance, in Heart of Darkness, richer nations are robbing the goods in Africa, such as ivory and slaves, while in Apocalypse Now America is trying to subvert Vietnam from being Communism. A modern example that relate to the idea of imperialism is America showing assistant to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its reason is to secure the oil trade with Iraq. Clearly, America is using its superior power to dominate other countries from being threaten, and this is the danger of imperialism. On the other hand, I also see imperialism is based on greediness; an example of this is “[Kurtz’s] obsessive about ivory that he even threatened to shoot the harlequin one day” (Conrad, 57). This shows a men’s mind can be attracted by greediness. Another similarity that I find in both the novel and the film is race. Conrad and Coppola use white men as the dominate force; the white men not only dominate their respective crews but also the crews in the native country. In both works, the narrators make readers understood that white man is more civilized, while native is considered as savage. However, if a white man goes through an uncivilized land, he can become part of the savage group and won’t return from being civilized. For instance, in the novel, when the doctor is measuring Marlow skull upon his return from Congo, he says, “I always ask leave, in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there” (Conrad, 26). The idea is that a civilized man’s skull will be different in size of a savage man’s skull. Whereas, in the movie, the case is Willard, who faces his own personality of whether to complete his mission of killing Kurtz, because the first soldier that is sent to kill Krutz becomes part of his followers. These two examples prove our human mind can be brutal. In addition to the idea of imperialism, the novel Heart of Darkness and the film Apocalypse Now also explore the darkness inside the human mind through Marlow’s and Willard’s journey to find Kurtz. In the novel, Marlow goes through different company stations and eventually upriver to find Kurtz. From his conversation with Kurtz, Marlow finds out how Kurtz detests the company because the company traders fear that Kurtz is using his power to get all the ivories; yet, the company traders too are doing the same thing as Kurtz. Except, they will hide their image of being rapacious, but Kurtz himself will not. He thus describes the company as “It was difficult to realize that his [the Director of Companies] work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding gloom” (Conrad, 15) In here, we can see that the company has done the work in darkness and gloom. In contrast, in the film, when Willard, who is sent by to kill colonel Kurtz, discovers darkness inside the army, colonel Kurtz tells him how he hates the policy of the army. The army has charged colonel Kurtz with the murder of four Vietnamese double agents, which is the reason why they want to terminate his command. At the same time, Willard remarks to himself, “Charging someone for murder out here was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.” (Apocalypse Now) We can refer to colonel Kurtz’s example as darkness inside the army. Apparently, the army accuses him of being a murder because he keeps winning battles and has threatened the power of the army. Even more, when Willard reads a letter from Colonel Kurtz to his son, Kurtz argues the charges of being a murder as “in the circumstances of this conflict, quite completely insane.” Then, he says, “In a war, there are may moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action. What is often called “ruthless” … may, in many circumstances, be only clarity: Seeing clearly what there is to be done and dong it directly, quickly, looking at it” (Apocalypse Now) In his argument, colonel Kurtz is saying killing the double agents is what a soldier is told to do because they are his enemies, but what he cannot understand is lack of “clarity” of army accusing him as a murder. Finally, colonel Krutz ends his letter with an expression of his hatred of lies as he says, “As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned; I am above their timid, lying morality and so I am beyond caring” (Apocalypse Now ). Through Marlow’s and Willard’s journey to find Kurtz, we find out both Kurtzs detest the lies of their superiors, and the company and army pretend Kurtz to be insane; in reality, they do not admit the truth, which is what both Marlow and Willard really find what their respective organizations truly are and how dark they can be. Even though there are many similarities between Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, they are dissimilar in time periods, settings, and purposes, which express the different meaning of darkness. Heart of Darkness, which was written in the late nineteenth century, was set in a wild jungle frontier, while Apocalypse Now, releasing in 1979, was set between America and Vietnam. Despite the difference in times and settings, it is also different in characters and purposes. In the novel, Marlow, who is the captain of steamboat that own by the ivory company, is going on an adventure to find Kurtz. Conversely, in the film, Willard, who is U.S army soldier, is being sent into the jungle to kill Krutz. Both Marlow and Willard symbolize the traits of a classic hero; they are considered tough, fearless, and honest throughout their journeys. However, I find that Marlow appears to be more fascinated by Kurtz, but Willard does not really show any emotion with him. Another difference is in the novel the ivory traders were in the Congo based on their will and greed, but the soldiers in the film were not there to fight the war with their will because many of them were drafted. As you can see, the ivory traders showed their darkness by being greedy; whereas, the America showed its darkness by sending troops to Vietnam to prevent itself from being threatened by other countries, demonstrating the idea of imperialism. Overall, both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now reveal how savage our human mind can be. In Heart of Darkness, it presents the idea of darkness in a psychological way, which is based on greediness, but in Apocalypse Now, it is considered to more brutal. Coppola uses the scene of colonel Kurtz’s murder with the sacrifice of a bull to make us think that colonel Kurtz is sacrificed for the sins of the Army. Although the novel and the film express the meaning of darkness through similarities and differences, the most important point in both works is the word “horror”; the word does not really have a real meaning, but it is what Kurtz has witnessed, such as the evil within the heart of human, the exploration of Africa, the illusion of hope and understanding, and insanity. Lastly, both protagonists learn that “even a man as enlightened and revered as Kurtz can succumb to his dark side if he is freed from the restraints of society” (Apocalypse Now ) A bright person’s mind can be attracted by the darkness when he is confronting with fear, death, difference in culture, madness, and failure.

Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Dover, 1902. Print.
Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, and Robert Duvall. Paramount, 1979.
"Heart of Darkness vs. Apocalypse Now." Stewartengl4620. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2014.