Post #5- The horror...the horror

"What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!" Heart of Darkness

“In this war, things get confused out there; power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity . . . because there’s a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph.” Apocalypse Now

The similarity between Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness and Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now points out an unfortunate, and thus far universal, theme throughout history: the connection between war and insanity. Just as Marlow fades from his methods of “trade” and “civilization” to practices considered “unsound,” Willard begins to lose sight of his original purpose, even his original self, as he begins to slip into the same moral conundrum that drove Kurtz to insanity. Both works explore through a firsthand experience how war erodes the very moral foundation that keeps our psyche stable in day-to-day living. Whereas we are able to make morally questionable decisions on occasion in our “regular” routines, like telling a white lie to avoid hurting a friend’s feelings, our minds are unable to cope with many of the decisions that must be faced in wartime- especially the ultimate decision of what side we are really on. Both stories demonstrate just what kind of effect results when a human is forced to make inhuman decisions in the war. Should Marlow continue to follow in the corrupt path of the Company’s “trade,” or should he end the imperialistic hypocrisy in his life and openly accept the status-quo for what it is the way that Kurtz does? Should Willard continue to engage in the paradoxical fight for democracy in the current and opposite pandemonium? Both characters do seem damaged, even broken, and definitely permanently and dramatically changed from exposure to their perverse worlds. However, both seem to retain a small sense of self at the very end, even if they remain unsure whether the ends have justified the means in their respective wars. This could be because they have rejected ultimate darkness, or accepted their sins as the horrific byproduct of war.
Ultimately, Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now bring into question the purpose of war initiated by a more “civilized” country and the end result such a war brings about. The end result appears to be total chaos, isolated anarchy, and the destruction of morals and sanity. “The horror” indeed.