Kurtz and His Heart of Darkness

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In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad presents us with two men who are, more or less, polar opposites. Charlie Marlow is a compassionate, humane man with a stockpile of integrity, and he is a lover and pursuer of truth and justice. Mr. Kurtz, on the other hand, is a bit of a &$%!@#.

Both men are compared to gods within the text, and each is viewed as one - Marlow by the men on his boat and - Conrad hopes - by his readers as well, and Kurtz by the native Africans, who look at him as almost some sort of Zeus-like figure. Throughout the book, we are exposed to both the 'angry and vengeful god' type as well as the 'peace-loving god of enlightenment' type. There are many religions in the world that propose the existence of one or the other; here we can see the two sides of the coin and perhaps gain a little insight into why different cultures worship such drastically different divine spirits.

Christianity, with which you are likely most familiar, is structured around a god - or a son of one - who is all of the things that Marlow is. Kind, considerate of his fellow man, compassionate toward the destitute, and disapproving of the abuse of power. Most religions around the world are similar in that they feature a god or gods who embody what we ourselves aspire to become - good, caring people who are not bound by such vices as greed or irrational anger.

On the other hand, there are certain cultures that worship a much more volatile set of gods. The type of gods who will be unforgiving of your sins. They type of gods who will require that you make extreme sacrifices or suffer intense physical pain on their behalf. The type of gods who will smite you down for not putting in enough time on your ACT Prep.

As you may be aware, governments have had very much to do with their nation's religion over the millennia. Often a government will create or rewrite religious doctrine so that it aligns more closely with its own agenda. The horror! The horror!

But it's true. Many gods were originally created or designed to scare a culture's population into submission or fear, so that its rulers might bend their subjects' wills. What you end up with in that case is a god very much like the character of Kurtz - someone whose greed or thirst for power overcomes his basic sense of decency; someone who has developed violent tendencies and, as Conrad mentions repeatedly, has trouble showing restraint.

These two types clash in Heart of Darkness, and 'good' ultimately triumphs over 'evil.' An entertaining read, certainly, but if you ask us, it could have used a love triangle subplot.

Paul Thomson is an avid reader of English Literature. His areas of expertise include Heart of Darkness, ACT Prep, and PSAT. In his spare time, he loves to participate in online literature forums and promote reading for youth.

'Fear Itself' In The Diary of Anne Frank

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AppId is over the quota

Hundreds of fantastic novels, essays and other writings have been penned about Nazi Germany. Gruesome, shocking portrayals of what went on in the concentration camps, how many lives were lost, the aftermath and prospect of dealing with indescribable grief that followed.

But The Diary of Anne Frank is not about any of those things. Instead, it takes us inside the mind of a young girl before the real horrors take place. We do not read about any of the truly inhuman acts committed within the walls of the camps, and yet this is the most enduring portrait, the most famous work to come out of that place and time.

Why is that? Time to think back to everything you learned in your AP Psychology class. The likely reason that we are so attached to this particular story is because we are, on the whole, driven by fear. Most of us are more likely to get off our butts and get a job if we ever have cause to find ourselves suddenly fearful of starvation or poverty than we are motivated by the rewards that can be reaped by gainful employment. Many of us sabotage relationships or begin pulling away out of fear that we are going to be rejected ourselves, or that things are going to run off course for one reason or another.

In short - we are all well aware of the horrifying nature of the camps, but we relate and connect more with that dread that came before it. Hardly any of us have experienced anything remotely like what the victims of the Holocaust went through, so we have a tough time fathoming how they felt (we're going to go out on a limb and say 'not good'). However, we can absolutely understand the sense of imminent danger, the claustrophobic, consuming onset of unmitigated fear.

Anne was a girl like many of us (yes, we know some of you are boys - you get the idea). She had her studies, a major crush, drama with her parents, etc. Because we are easily able to see so much of ourselves in her, it is all the more jolting and petrifying to imagine ourselves being snatched from our cushy little lives and thrown into the hell that Anne had to endure. Never mind being bogged down by your ACT Prep - Anne was much more preoccupied with dodging Nazis and trying to stay sane while bombs exploded outside her window.

Our culture also has a pretty sick attraction to fear, and you have to wonder how much of our interest in Anne's story is out of some sort of morbid fascination. We go on roller coasters, see scary movies, jump out of airplanes. Disturbing though it may be to consider, is a part of us drawn into Anne's story because we experience some kind of rush by observing such a terrifying world through her eyes?

Paul Thomson is an avid reader of English Literature. His areas of expertise include Diary of Anne Frank, AP Psychology, and ACT Prep. In his spare time, he loves to participate in online literature forums and promote reading for youth.