Cam Collins
Maddox
The Hollow Men Essay
21 February 2010
The poem The Hollow Men relates to Heart Of Darkness in many different and distinct ways. In paragraph one of the poem, the theme is that Kurtz's people are hollow men and morally stagnant. However, this poem contasts with Kurtz because he is not a hollow man. This passage in Heart of Darkness relates to this theme, "It was impossible to know him and not to admire him (Conrad 113)." There is a comparison here because both works hint that Kurtz is a remarkable and astounding man. In the poem, Eliot compares the hollow men to being scarecrows with nothing inside them. Kurtz was not a scarecrow, but a hero figure that lost his way by living in the most savage place on earth. Heart of Darkness describes this theme in the passage above.
The river is also a correlation between both works. Eliot in his poem says,
"In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river (The Hollow Men 2)
This quote in Eliot's poem describes the river as a place in hell, or a pyschological barrier that keeps the people from crossing into heaven or hell. The meaning behind this quote is that the natives live in the land of the dead and they are just stuck on that shore forever. In Apocalypse Now, which is telling almost the same story as Heart Of Darkness, Captain river describes the river and the native's home as, "the worst place on earth." This concretely relates to Eliot's description of the, "tumid river."
In the second part of Eliot's The Hollow Men, he describes the home of the natives as, "death's dream kingdom (1)." He infers that the natives are people with no purpose who live in a desolate wasteland. This quote from the novel relates heavily to Eliot's statement, "When we came abreast again, they faced the river, stamped their feet, nodded their horned heads, swayed their scarlet bodies..... they shouted periodically together strings of amazing words that resembled no sounds of human language"(101). Again, this passage indicates that these people are lost and will never find their way. They are foreign to the human race, and cannot survive without Kurtz. They are a group of insane creatures that live in the most savage and terrifying place in the world.
The society that exists on the other side of the world is a land of loss and failure, a place of darkness. In The Hollow Men, Eliot says,
"Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men." (1)
This means that these people will be remembered as people who have done nothing. They are all failures. In Heart of Darkness this passage relates to the one above, "His was an impenetrable darkness. I looked at him as you peer down at a man who is lying at the bottom of a precipice where the sun never shines" (104). This is the main similarity between both works. Both describe the jungle as a setting of true, cold, unstoppable darkness that will never change and the people that inhabit this God-forsaken place will always be the most unpurposeful and forgot-about people in world.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Apocalypse Now
Cam Collins
Maddox
Apocalypse Now Paper
12 February 2010
"Apocalypse Now" is an exciting movie that is very similar and symbolic to Heart Of Darkness. In the beginning of "Apocalypse Now" the producer starts out with many symbolic and appealing visuals. At the very start of the film, we see the jungle, and then in about thirt seconds the jungle is set-a-flame. Here we notice the correlation to Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, relating to when the Belgians fired meaninglessly into the Congo jungle. Next we see helicopters with their wings spinning very fast and then a ceiling fan that is also spinning. Right after, the main character appears on the screen looking dazed and sweating heavily. This could possibly symbolize the effect that the wilderness has had on the main character, maybe that his head is spinning out of control.
The story then moves to the jungle in India, where the main character feasts with other generals. They eat a very classy meal. By cutting meat and serving a nice, upper-class dinner, it represents the theme of civilized society. Because next captain Willard will venture out into the jungle, the un-civilized and savage side. In his terms, its "the worst possible place to be in the world." The movie starts out very intriguing, allowing the viewer to succumb to the plot and pay attention to all aspects of the film.
The second session that we watched the movie, one of the generals were quoting Heart Of Darkness in that he was talking about the conflict between good and evil and that every man has a breaking point. There was aslo lots of irony in this section of the movie. Perhaps the sunset at the beginning of Willard's journey symbolizes irony. The red colors in this scene represent hell and chaos. Also, when the men were blowing up a Vietnamese island, they were praying to God which is major irony. The captain of the soldiers destroys another island for the mere sake of surfing. Irony is a major theme in "Apocalypse Now" and it testifies to the insanity of the men who have succumbed to the wilderness.
Maddox
Apocalypse Now Paper
12 February 2010
"Apocalypse Now" is an exciting movie that is very similar and symbolic to Heart Of Darkness. In the beginning of "Apocalypse Now" the producer starts out with many symbolic and appealing visuals. At the very start of the film, we see the jungle, and then in about thirt seconds the jungle is set-a-flame. Here we notice the correlation to Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, relating to when the Belgians fired meaninglessly into the Congo jungle. Next we see helicopters with their wings spinning very fast and then a ceiling fan that is also spinning. Right after, the main character appears on the screen looking dazed and sweating heavily. This could possibly symbolize the effect that the wilderness has had on the main character, maybe that his head is spinning out of control.
The story then moves to the jungle in India, where the main character feasts with other generals. They eat a very classy meal. By cutting meat and serving a nice, upper-class dinner, it represents the theme of civilized society. Because next captain Willard will venture out into the jungle, the un-civilized and savage side. In his terms, its "the worst possible place to be in the world." The movie starts out very intriguing, allowing the viewer to succumb to the plot and pay attention to all aspects of the film.
The second session that we watched the movie, one of the generals were quoting Heart Of Darkness in that he was talking about the conflict between good and evil and that every man has a breaking point. There was aslo lots of irony in this section of the movie. Perhaps the sunset at the beginning of Willard's journey symbolizes irony. The red colors in this scene represent hell and chaos. Also, when the men were blowing up a Vietnamese island, they were praying to God which is major irony. The captain of the soldiers destroys another island for the mere sake of surfing. Irony is a major theme in "Apocalypse Now" and it testifies to the insanity of the men who have succumbed to the wilderness.
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