Saturday, April 11, 2020

Inherit The Wind Essays - Joseph Conrad, Congo Free State

Inherit The Wind Annonymous The Evil of Man In the novel Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, Marlow finds himself in a position where he is faced to accept the fact that the man he has admired and looked up to is a madman. He realizes that Kurtz?s methods are not only unethical, but also inhumane. Marlow comes to realize that Kurtz is evil, and that he himself is also evil, thus Marlow?s disillusion makes his identification with Kurtz horrifying. As Marlow travels up the river, he is constantly preoccupied with Kurtz. Marlow says ?I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time...the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home...towards his empty and desolate station?(32). From the beginning of his trip, he is compared to Kurtz by all of the people that he comes into contact with, and a great deal of his thoughts are of Kurtz. He wonders how he will measure up to the standards that the company set for him, what Kurtz?s personality is like, and what Kurtz would think of him. The more obsessed he becomes with Kurtz, the more he sets himself up for the horrible reality of what his new idol was truly made of. Upon reaching Kurtz?s station, Marlow?s disillusion begins to set in. He is greeted by an English-speaking Russian whom he takes for a man who on the surface is deceant level-headed person, but after short conversation it is apparent to Marlow that he is talking with a disturbed individual, but that was not what bothered Marlow. Hearing of and seeing the acts committed by Kurtz made Marlow uneasy, and even afraid. It was at this point that Marlow begins his denial of any affinity he feels with Kurtz. He says in regard to the Russian ?I suppose that it had not occurred to him that Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine?(59). Marlow sees all of the atrocities committed by Kurtz, and is appalled, but when he looks deep with inside himself he sees what he could easily become, and he desperately wants to suppress it. Once Kurtz is on the boat, and headed with Marlow back to civilization, things take a strange turn. Though Marlow and Kurtz have little to talk about, they develop a distinct respect for each other. As Kurtz dies, Marlow accepts this death easily and remains loyal to his dying requests. It troubles Marlow a great deal that there is so much of himself in the things Kurtz did. There is a point where Marlow finds the evil that lurks in heart of all men, and he simply accepts it. This is mostly clearly demonstrated at the end of the story when he claims to be thinking ?Don?t you understand I loved him-I loved him-I loved him?(79). In this quote Marlow lets it all out. On the surface he hated Kurtz?s actions, but he loved his power to fight the standards of society and to live as a true man. Marlow finds out that there is a savage beast in himself, and in all men in his mind. There are a lot of problems that Marlow faces and he maintains his composure. It Kurtz?s lack of composure that Marlow privately admires. In this story Marlow is forced to accept his disillusion with Krutz, and is terrified of the identification that comes along with this acceptance. It is only then when Marlow realizes the true nature of man.