Heart of Darkness/Blood Diamond Essay - 1194 Words

Greed is the Root of All Evil Greed exists at the centre of evil on not only an individual level, but also that of a communal and global level. Contextually there is a superficial alteration in the stimulus (Ivory vs. diamond) for greed and of global awareness towards the issue, although in the century that separates Joseph Conrad’s exploration of colonial regime in his novella Heart of Darkness and Edward Zwick’s post-colonial film Blood Diamond, the values driving the major characters and factions from the different texts are comparably similar. In both texts, there are individuals showcasing major facets motivated by greed, obsessed with the stimulus that is presented in either century. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the character†¦show more content†¦The line itself poses an emphasis on the Colonel’s voracious motives, suggesting he would kill his friend, and main character ‘Danny Archer’, if it means his war is won and his seldom benefits are received. There is considered intertextuality between this quote and that of Kurtz from Heart of Darkness. At the complete loss of morality from Kurtz, a quote marks this points â€Å"Exterminate all the brutes.† These quotes juxtapose the two characters from the individual texts together and with it, their greedy purposes and malevolent natures, proving that the greed of an individual is the root of their co-existing evil. Greed driven corruption is also existential on a communal level, both in Heart of Darkness and Blood Diamond. In Heart of Darkness, the Company is the centre of trade in the Congo, a seemingly legitimate industry, although with hidden voracious motives. â€Å"She talked about weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways-I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit.† This understatement made by Marlow expresses the Company’s care, or lack of, for the natives of the Congo, but in fact they only care to exploit the natural resources. We are consistently hinted that their work isn’t â€Å"out there in the luminous estuary† but â€Å"within the brooding gloom.† These binary opposites are repeatedly used in the novella to separate the ideas of light and dark with good and evil respectively, an extreme use of irony that ConradShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness 1713 Words   |  7 PagesMonth: January 2014 Name: Faris Khan Period: 3 Title: Heart of Darkness Author: Joseph Conrad Date started/date completed: 1/19 - 1/28 Pages read: 96/96 (Including the ten page introduction, 106/96) Rating of book (1-10): 9/10 Above you rated this book. Explain in detail why you gave this book that score: Author Joseph Conrad uses a very interesting method of narration in his novel, Heart of Darkness. The novel itself is written in first person, from the perspective of an unnamed sailor aboardRead More A Comparison of the Power of Will in Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now1893 Words   |  8 PagesThe Power of Will in Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The story of Heart of Darkness was adapted to film after many failed attempts. (Hearts of Darkness, Coppala E.). Finally, director Francis Coppala collaborated with his friend John Milius on writing a screen play for Conrads masterpiece. The two came up with Apocalypse Now, utilizing a more modern setting than the original story which was based in imperialistic Europe. The modern setting was that of the Vietnam war. ApocalypseRead MoreOriginal Writing Of The Newspeak Dictionary999 Words   |  4 Pagesvaried in scenery and profuse in vegetation. Day after day we feasted our eyes on the spectacle around us with gentle pleasure. 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