Comparing Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now

Comparing Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now

The book Heart of Darkness and the movie Apocalypse Now have a similar plot but takes place in different times and a world apart. Apocalypse now is a modern version or interpretation of the book Heart of Darkness written in 1902.

The theme of in both is that of a white man traveling to a foreign country where they dominate their own crew as well as the natives. Both character in the book and the movie Marlow and Willard see the selves as the civilized and the natives as savages. The plot of both becomes a journey in to the jungle but also into themselves. One thing that is similar between the Marlow and Willard is their sympathy for Kurtz, and that they both see a little bit of themselves in him.

The setting of the works differs a lot geographically but symbolically there are many similarities. The most obvious is that they both take part in the jungle, but where one takes place in Africa the other takes place in Asia. In both cases the white man is the intruder set to dominate the natives. One thing that differs the two is that the ivory traders where there on free will out of economical reasons where as the military in a sense where drafted there. This also reflects in the difference in Marlow and Willard. Marlowe seems eager to meet Kurtz while Willard on the other hand seems to be depressed throughout the movie.