Significant Elements Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness

Significant elements of Joseph Conrad’s novella ‘Heart of Darkness’ are appropriated into Francis Ford Coppola’s film ‘Apocalypse Now’ in the setting of the jungles of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. As the title suggests, Conrad’s novel deeply explores the ‘darkness’ potentially inherent in people’s hearts. Heart of Darkness is set on the Congo River during the European occupation of Africa. Conrad explores the effect of exploitation on humanity. Similarly, Coppola’s film explores the metaphorical ‘darkness’ in Vietnam that causes the ‘apocalypse’ in the soldiers’ hearts, when they were sent to Vietnam. Coppola’s film itself is a metaphor for a journey into the self and shows how darkness can overwhelm humanity as a result of imperialism and war. Coppola use the nature of appropriation to explore the universal truths about humanity through their respective texts with the ir own individual contextual ideas. Conrad’s Heart of darkness, written in the 18th century at the time of the Belgian imperialistic advance and was based on Conrad’s personal experience travelling to Africa. The novella conveys the critical ideas of imperialism and racism referring to the natives as ‘Charlies’ and ‘dinks’, as well as the universal truths that humanity will degenerate in the absence of constraints. This aligns with how these central themes are presented in the film, Apocalypse Now. Kurtz’s role in Heart of Darkness was that of an Ivory Tradesman, which was a popular activity in the midShow MoreRelatedShakespeare s Heart Of Darkness1424 Words   |  6 Pages Relevance of Heart of Darkness Alexander Spirovski LITR 211 Professor David Auchter â€Æ' Joseph Conrad s Heart of Darkness contains both relevant and irrelevant elements to today s society. 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