Contrasting Marlow And Kurtz And The Theme Of Evil In "Heart Of Darkness"

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of an inner evil which has
emerged. Marlow, who defeats his evil, and gains self-knowledge, and Kurtz, who
is defeated by his darkness and falls prey to its wrath. In William Golding's
Lord of the Flies the author points out how easily people can be over taken by
the darkness, how the potential for good can be destroyed by the evil, but
ideally how good will triumph. Through an examination of these two works we can
see how the darkness within, given the correct environment will surface. The
circumstances which eventually cause the appearance of the inner darkness in
these two novels stems from the lack of civility, the true test, or journey
which every life contains, and finally the product of evil which lies in all of
us, either through acts of commission or omission.

When people lack the aspect of civility in their lives they too will lack
the restraints and barriers it has on one's inner evil. Civility, in essence,
provides the basic structure for good. ...

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the ideal route, was going to be crushed, and with
it him: "We can't do this, the savages, they would crush us" (Golding 54). It
is quite obvious how the potential evil in a group of young boys unavoidably
arises due to the lack of restraint and order. When the darkness surfaces Jack
and his group of hunters gain no self-knowledge, and therefore can not reprieve
themselves nor the evil which takes over.

A strong parallel can be drawn between the island in Lord of the Flies and
The Congo in The Heart of Darkness. The Congo in is similarly used to represent
the absence of restraint and order. The effect which is used exemplifies a lack
of civility, which in turn provides ...

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