I researched the similarities between Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, since the movie is said to be based off of the book, and I found that there is essentially two things in common. First, there is a character named Kurtz in both stories. Second, the representation of the natives was almost identical, even though they were from two different places. The natives in Apocalypse Now are exactly like Conrad described them in Heart of Darkness. However, the natives were much more savage in the movie, as you can see in the photo I've attached of them about to slaughter a cow. Other than that, the book and the movie are completely different.

I think the purpose behind using names such as "the manager" is to keep the reader from developing any attachment or any way to connect with these characters, as well as a way for Marlowe to not really associate himself. It's easier for people to disassociate themselves when there isn't a name or a face connected to the person, so Marlowe doesn't have to connect with someone who is treating the natives as savages.

When doing research for the presentation I found out that Conrad had grown up in a religious family but wasn't exactly religious himself. I think he describes the river as a snake, and continues to throughout the book to symbolize how humans are tempted and evil to one another, and how the white men are treating the natives as though they are savages.

In this passage, Marlow decides it is better to lie about what Kurtz's actual last words were ("the horror, the horror!"), in place of telling his mistress they were "[her] name".

This is interesting, in that just earlier he was extremely prejudiced against his fellow countrymen for "not possibly [knowing] the things [he] knew", just because they had not seen what he had seen. Yet now, he feels it would be too dark for him to tell Kurtz's mistress the truth, and instead lies. It is likely this guilt only adds another dark and gloomy change onto his already cynical personality after his experiences.

In this passage, Marlow finds himself back in Europe, from whence he came, but with a different outlook. He has developed a sort of superiority complex, stating that they could "not possibly know the things I knew", and how he "had some difficulty in restraining [himself] from laughing in their faces so full of stupid importance". He has been changed by his experiences in a foreign land, but they made him worse, not better. In the place of his joyous excitement that triggered his departure, he now has cynical condescension and a dark sadness about him.

On another note, this is an example of the Hero's Journey Trope, in which a main character departs from his familiar land, has adventures and survives in the unfamiliar land, and then returns to his familiar land with new knowledge and character change(TV Tropes). http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heros_journey4_8462.png

Bibliography

"The Hero's Journey - TV Tropes." TV Tropes. N.p., 10 Aug. 2016. Web. 01 Sept. 2016.