Comparison of Marlow and Willard

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Marlow was sent on a mission to the heart of the Congo to see what had happened to Kurtz. Willard’s mission was to take Colonel Kurtz out of command up the Nung River. The superficial difference between Marlow and Willard is that Willard was a soldier in Vietnam, and Marlow was a sailor who was part of colonizing Africa. There is a less obvious difference between the two characters, and that is the way they experienced the “darkness”. Marlow and Willard both experienced evil in different ways on their trip. The ties between Joseph Conrad's book, Heart of Darkness and Francis Coppola's movie, Apocalypse Now are unmistakable. Apocalypse Now's accuracy in following the story line of the Heart of Darkness is amazing although the settings of each story are from completely different location and time periods. From the jungle of the Congo in Africa to the Nung river in Vietnam, Joseph Conrad's ideals are not lost. In both the book and the movie, the ideas of good and evil, whiteness, darkness, and racism are apparent. Also, characterization in both the novel and the movie are very similar. Both The Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now examine the good and evil in humans. In The Heart of Darkness, Marlow speaks of Fresleven who was killed in a fight with some natives. The argument between Fresleven and the natives was over some chickens, and Fresleven felt he had been ripped off in the deal. Marlow describes Fresleven as "…the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs."(p. 13 Conrad) However, later in the same paragraph Marlow says,"…he probably felt the need at last of asserting his self-respect in some way. Therefore he whacked the old nigger mercilessly."(p. 13 Conrad) Soldiers in combat are forced to bring the evil within themselves out every time they go into battle. The scene in Apocalypse Now where Captain Willard first meets Lt.

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