Change In Heart Of Darkness

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When the characters are unable to withstand the various temptations along this passage they helplessly sell their souls to corruption. In both the book and the movie, the various events along each individual journey help illustrate not only the physical deterioration of the environment and the characters’ health but also the psychological degradation of the characters’ conscience and consciousness.
In both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, the various dramatic shifts in the environment from the onset of the river journeys delineate an increasing barbarity and savagery as the characters penetrate deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. The direction of both journeys are formally established as a movement from “open and boundless to narrow and restricted spaces” (Adelman 66), from the light of the sun into the darkness. Projected towards the wilderness, each journey reflects a voyage into the “gloom of over-shadowed distances” (Conrad ...

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and tear’ of their bodies seen in the movie. The physical deterioration can be attributed to numerous events such as the attack of the tiger, which symbolizes the evilness of nature, the ‘fire in the canopy’ caused by supposedly American comrades, and the battle at the Do Long Bridge amidst a ‘confused, hallucinatory, and nightmarish’ atmosphere. Like a pre-planned series of ripples caused by a stone thrown into the water, these events portray rings of obstacles that the crew faces as they proceed with their journeys.
A most significant event takes place towards the end of river journeys when both ships undergo attack from the shore. In Heart of Darkness, the ...

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