Apocalypse Now Identity

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“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This quote, said by Lord Actin, can accurately represent colonialism. In many cases colonialism begins with a power hungry leader looking to obtain more control. The leader sends colonizers to uncivilized nations, in hopes of making natives civil. While doing this, the colonizers often undergo a change in some aspect of their lives. Loss of identity is a major theme that can be seen in the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the film Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and the short story Once Upon A Time, by Nadine Gordimer. Conrad begins Heart of Darkness with the main character, Charlie Marlow, telling the story of his time spent in the heart of Africa. …show more content…
He is damaged in the beginning of the film, and as the film continues, it only gets worse. In the opening scene, he is in a hotel room surrounded by drugs and alcohol. He has become this way, due to his first tour in Vietnam. Prior to the first tour, Willard had a wife and a good life. In his opening monologue, he states, “When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing… I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce. When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back to the jungle” (Coppola). This quote represents the damage that Willard’s first tour has already done to him. Although we do not specifically find out what happened on his first tour, one can assume it is pretty terrible. When he returned home, he was unable to return to his normal life, and eventually gives up, leaves his wife and goes to a hotel where he can await his next tour. The actions that he then commits in the hotel room, like punching mirrors and yelling, highlight the downward spiral in his sanity. He is no longer able to function in the civilized world, and he is left with nothing more than the hope of returning to the untamed jungle. The second time that we see a loss of identity in Willard is when he kills Kurtz. Just before he goes after him, he covers his face in mud. He does this to show the darkness that has overpowered
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