What Does Heart Of Darkness Mean To Be Human

Have you ever wondered the difference between human and humane? In the story Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, right off the bat the reader is hit with the problem of the “nature of man”, and what it means to be human or humane. To be human means to have a sense of mind, to be living, and be at peace in mind. However, to be humane means to be gentle compassionate, caring, and have sympathy. It is often pondered that to be human means to be humane, however as Marlow learned on his travels through the dark jungle of the Congo, one has nothing to do with the other. But as he journeys deeper into the roots of the African jungle and begins to comprehend savagery as an early form of civilization and, therefore, a reflection on his own reality, the metaphor changes, until the narrator raises his head at the end of the novel to discover that the Thames seemed to “lead into the heart of an immense darkness.” The alteration of the light-dark metaphor corresponds with Marlow's knowledge that the only 'reality', 'truth', or …show more content…
The journey’s mystery lies in the scene; one being down a river by boat, deep in the jungle. The jungle is mostly filled with wild animals and a very few natives. The reason for the expedition is to look for a sick man named Kurtz, who is tracked by the natives and his crew from their previous expeditions. In Heart of Darkness, the journey to find Kurtz, who is an ivory trader who has gone far too deep into the jungles of Africa in search of ivory, versus in “Apocalypse Now”, Kurtz is more of a high-ranking officer in the military who has disobeyed orders and is now fighting the Vietnam war in Cambodia with his unit in his own