Post 5: The Realization and Submission to Chaos

"It is his extremity that I seem to have lived through. True, he had made that last stride, he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot. And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all the truth, and all the sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible." Heart of Darkness

"Everybody wanted me to do it, him most of all. I felt like he was up there, waiting for me to take the pain away... Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from anyway." Apocalypse Now

Both works focus on the struggle between civilization and barbarianism. What usually would be two sides representing dark and light are meshed in Heart of Darkness into somthing darker and more ominous. The "light" of civilization is sullied by imperialism and war, while the "dark" of Africa or Vietnam is turned into an even greater uknown by its ability to twist civilization into itself. The chaos and dischord around Marlow/Willard's boat increases as he goes higher up the river. While in Heart of Darkness, it is Marlow's thoughts that become more and more convoluted, in Apocalypse Now it is the land around the river that becomes more and more chaotic and destroyed. The climax of reaching Kurtz's Inner Station brings clarity to the reasoning behind Kurtz's actions, because although he turns out to be insane, the darkness surrounding him is not longer so obscure. Kurtz has completely forsaken civilization and "sound method" in both the novella and movie, as seen through his being worshipped as an idol and his ability to murder people so heartlessly without any backlash from his followers. Marlow/Willard is better able to understand Kurtz now because not only can he talk directly to him, but Kurtz's actual actions are apparent and no longer just another unknown.

The connection between Marlow and Kurtz in Heart of Darkness and then Willard and Kurtz in Apocalypse Now is very strong. Marlow cannot help but admire Kurtz because of his greatness as a member of the Company and of his ability to make the other leaders in the Company fear him. The charisma that Kurtz has draws in Marlow. Captain Willard respects the Kurtz of Apocalypse Now because of the almost-civilization he has created through the trials and terrors of war. Both Marlow/Willard and Kurtz are able to sense the distinctions, or lack there of, between barbarianism and civilization, while the people surrounding them cannot. Marlow/Willard understands the power that the darkness has over a person out in the jungle and wants to know what changes have taken place in Kurtz's mind to function around this darkness. Marlow/Willard also understands that in killing Kurtz, he is becoming a part of the darkness and "unsound method" that the Company/the Army says they are trying to combat. Because Marlow survives his trip up the river while Kurtz does not, he does not know what clarity or light Kurtz has found in his death. Marlow cannot have the finality that Kurtz gets in his death because he does not "step over the treshold of the invisible." Even though Marlow does not get this tidy ending, Marlow never completely submits to chaos and only realizes the distinctions between sanity and chaos. Kurtz realizes the insanity in which he is living and therefore wishes for death in Apocalypse Now. This is his submission, or release, from the chaos that currently holds him. Kurtz's need to remain with "his" people in Heart of Darkness shows the slight lack of clarity in Kurtz's own mind that marks a difference between the stories.