>From: Robison Michael R CNIN <
Robison_M@crane.navy.mil>
>(is his name willard in the book, too?)...
Hah. His name in the book is Marlowe. He's also the narrator
of LORD JIM, although I never made it all the way through
that one.
My take on HEART OF DARKNESS is how close "civilization" is
to barbarism. It didn't take much for Kurtz, a civilized
European, to become a brutal warlord. Even though he's sick,
and it's killing him, he still struggles to return to the
jungle. And it's not just Kurtz; all the men on the boat with
Marlowe shoot the natives for sport (until Marlowe blows the
whistle, frightening them away).
SPOILER ALERT
One thing I haven't seen discussed is the ending to the book.
Kurtz mumbles
"the horror, the horror" and expires, but then Marlowe
returns to England and visit's Kurtz's fiance. She asks what
his final words were, and Marlowe tells her that Kurtz spoke
her name. Why did he do this? Kurtz had obviously forgotten
all about anything that used to matter to him at home, but
why did Marlowe spare her feelings? The best I can come up
with is that it was the civilized thing to do.
The movie is as much about Vietnam as it is about the book.
My favorite scene is where Willard visits the soldiers on the
bridge and asks, "Where's your commanding officer?" and a
soldier replies, "Ain't you?"
Graham
-------------- http://www.BleekerBooks.com
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