Reviewing The Heart Of Darkness And Apocalypse Now English Literature Essay

Reviewing The Heart Of Darkness And Apocalypse Now English Literature Essay The horrorthe horror, these were the words that echoed in my mind after experiencing Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Francis Coppolas Apocalypse Now. Together, both pieces have several parallels; this is largely due to the fact that Coppolas Apocalypse Now is actually an adaptation of Heart of Darkness. While the films story mimics Conrads tale with its general plot points, there are also many differences. While the characters of both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now parallel one another in their natures, this is also where their distinct differences lie. The Accountant in Heart of Darkness is only one of the countless characters that are in Africa with absolutely no purpose; his attire is always kept at its best and it appears as though his only accomplishment was teaching an African woman to clean his garments, treating her as a servant. To parallel with The Accountant, in Apocalypse Now, Kilgore is also viewed as a purposeless character. Kilgores sole purpose is to surf, yet somehow he manages to avoid death and even injury in the most treacherous places, causing his focus on the war to be nonexistent. Marlow in Heart of Darkness and Captain Willard from Apocalypse Now both have this mission of finding Kurtz, the man known as god; the man known to be as hollow as a barrel; the man to be found. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is the chief agent at the ivory companys Inner Station at Stanley Falls. This so known hallow man is much taken back by the power that he has over the natives, starting out in the Congo attempting to give the natives better lives, these people learn to worship his ways. Due to his good intentions of helping these natives, he becomes isolated from his own civilization and is left to be on his own; he begins to retreat into a state of brutality. This clearly epitomizes that the basic human nature of Heart of Darkness is usually drowned out by the light of society. We can also see here that civilization is only superficial, in the way that the natives were more civilized then Kurtz himself. Marlows relationship with Kurtz after finding him begins as a professional one, but as we see when the story unfolds, Marlow slowly begins to identify with Kurtz, and by the end of the book we can see that Kurtz is what Marlow could have been and that Marlow is what Kurtz used to be. The two men see themselves in one another, a hard but interesting thing t o experience. Within Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, the use of light and dark are both dazzling and unbelievable. The representation of light, dark black and white is embedded throughout the account of Heart of Darkness. In general, the symbolism of darkness usually implies evil or some type of mysterious unknown. Yet in the book we see that darkness is used as a symbol for truth, where the light is seen as a falsehood. The truth that Marlow discovers is within him, lying in the darkness. The truth was physically found for him in Congo which was known as the darkest spot on the map. With that specific example of how symbolism has been reversed, we also look into the light. The light comes from the civilization, also seen as a source of falsehood as well as being a form of dark business. The symbolism of white and black in Heart of Darkness is most apparent when it alludes to cultural and race; the white people being the lying, evil, civilized community, and the black natives being enlighten ed, good, and savages. The alternating lighting in many of the scenes of Apocalypse Now, specifically in the Do Lung scene symbolizes the insanity of the Vietnam War. Here we see that no one knows why they are really there, what is real, what is not, or where exactly the real evil is. Towards the end of the film, after Willard has killed Kurtz, we see Willard purposely placing half of his face in the shadow. This use of cinematography shows that he had united the two ideals; that of the military from which his mission spawned from the light, and the moral, yet uncompassionate ideal of Kurtz and the darkness of the jungle. Another comparison that can be made between the two is the fact that they both have rivers, not the physical part, but the symbolic importance of these rivers. In Heart of Darkness, the Congo River is essential to the plot of the story, and is also essential to the Europeans in general when dealing with Africa. The river was the only means of travel for the Europeans to be able to get into Africa. In regard to the light and dark aspect, the river did not allow of efficient movement upstream, reflecting on the difficulty in Marlows journey within himself, and this struggle that he faces toward obtaining the truth. On the other hand, Marlow was capable of moving easily downstream, making his return to civilization easier and basically effortless. In Apocalypse Now, the Hung River is where we turn towards truth, a struggle with the events escalating in their level of severity and confusion. This river brought only madness and was a path to enlightenment, with every path to enlightenment , sacrifices were made and there would always be pain to overcome. When it comes to noticing differences between the novel and the film, the most obvious one would have to come with the usage of drugs in Apocalypse Now. Heart of Darkness didnt have a hippie-surfer character that was always tripping on acid. It didnt have a man named Chef who wore a sailor shirt and smoked dope constantly. To me, the most surprising aspect of Apocalypse Now was that Lance, the surfer, survived throughout the entire ordeal, proving that during the release of the film, drugs were seen as good. I believe that Timothy Leary intended to use the film to explain how marijuana, shrooms and acid unlocked the key to immortality. This is probably the most apparent difference to me in the two, we see that Apocalypse Now was very interested in promoting to use of drugs while Heart of Darkness never went to that level. In addition to the rivers, and drug use, the idea of imperialism is only found in Heart of Darkness. The imperialism had a huge effect on the race relations in the novel; it is from this and also with civilizing the natives that the criminal neglect of the Company resides and is acceptable. The closest we get to anything like this is Apocalypse Now would be in the slaughter of the Vietnam Cong during the war. The ties between Conrads Heart of Darkness and Coppolas Apocalypse Now are unmistakable. From the Congo River in Africa to the Nung River in Vietnam, Conrads ideals are not lost. In both, the ideas of good versus evil and symbolism of whiteness and darkness are all apparent. While there are many similarities between the two, as discussed there are many differences, from the usage of drugs to the descriptions of rivers. Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now, from one came the other, there are two dont you see? Together, both pieces have countless parallels and we see that if it werent for the distinction of time, we would be unable to determine which came first. These parallels intrigue the reader or the viewer to want to engulf themselves into the depth of the other.

An Essay on Unprettisms :: Essays Papers

An Essay on Unprettisms â€Å"Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would see only what there was to see: the eyes of other people.† (Morrison p.46) The novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, is a testament to the individuals who have suffered the generational effects of unprettisms. The Breedlove’s are the main characters of the novel; a family, which has been nurtured with servings of unprettisms throughout their individual and collective lives. It is the intention of this essay to reveal a few of the unprettisms found therein, and the affect they have. Unprettisms: A denigrating statement regarding a person’s appearance and/or character. Delivered within the family structure, covertly, its intention is to inform the receiver of proper etiquette. The impacts of the words are intended to work psychologically in reverse, to produce the proper behavior, by making a person feel negatively towards improper behavior. However, the actual results are not always the desired outcome. A family sets its own rules of behavior within the family as unit and the behavior of each family member outside of the family. The larger society sets the rules of behavior for the family within the larger scheme of things. Within the previous quote, Pecola can only view herself through the past experiences of her family’s anguish, status, and fate in life. Through eyes of suffering, Pecola’s family has taught her to view the world and herself. Here, an adult female delivers an unprettism. She is speaking to a child, Pecola Breedlove, visiting her home. This quote from the novel reflects an aspect of society’s view that Pecola and her kind thrive and multiply in squalor. People like this child; pose great potential to infect all they come in contact with. She thinks,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Tin cans and tires blossomed where they lived. They lived on cold black-eyed peas and orange pop.

Beauty: Wish and Carla

This funny witty story â€Å"Beauty† by Jane Martin is about two girls who argue about the facets each one has. Carla is the definition of beauty, and Bethany who is the opposite carries something Carla wishes she had: brains, personality, and a college degree. The play relies mostly on wit and wordplay with only two characters and a genie lamp. Both Carla and Bethany envy one another; wishing they had each other’s looks or persona.When Bethany has the power to change what she has and get what she has always wanted; the writer uses Carla to show that Bethany will be disappointed with the set of dialogue they use back and forth. Carla is clearly not happy with herself and her insecurities; meanwhile so is Bethany, discovering that everyone has different problems no matter what they look like. Everyone is envious of someone for something not realizing they have problems they won’t understand.Because â€Å"Beauty† is a play, Martin introduces the characters t hrough dialogue. The first character, Carla, is first seen talking on the phone with a random suitor that she met at a bar and she cannot seem to remember. This is evidence that Carla has some type of beauty that attracts male attention, even without any actual interaction. Later in the play, Carla references the fact that she has a modeling meeting with Ralph Lauren, reiterating the fact that she is physically beautiful.The second character, Bethany, is Carla’s friend, and obviously a good friend because she does not mind interrupting Carla on the phone regardless of how many times Carla asks her to be quiet. Bethany has a demanding job as a public accountant, and decides to take a break to go to the beach. While there, she finds a lamp with a magic genie inside. The magic genie grants Bethany three wishes, three chances to have something she would not normally get in her life. Martin uses the genie to unmask Bethany’s hidden desires and discontent in her life.

The Language Of Technology Is Helpful For Communication

The Language of Technology Language evolves along us as we grow up. I grew up talking Cantonese with my parents. At elementary school, I took ESL classes. With my brothers, I spoke Pidgin with them. As technology grew exponentially, language became a part of technology’s close companion. Social media has changed the way people have spoken in the past with new acronyms and new words, and connected people left behind in the social world. While people focus on the negative effects of social media, technology is helpful for communication in many aspects. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell experimented with the telegraph, to transmit human voice to a distant place using electricity (transition.fcc.gov). It was later patented to become the first telephone to send the first intelligible sentence in 1876. Alexander Graham bell wrote in 1878, â€Å"I believe in the future wires will unite the head offices of telephone companies in different cities, and a man in one part of the country may communicate by word of mouth with another in a distant place. This shows that the phone was created to unite people from distant places. The internet was created back in 1960’s as a way for government to share information (USG). Back in the Cold War, the internet was used as a substitute to phones, as the internet sends information through packets, while all phones would go down when the phone line is cut. 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