E X T E N S I O N FROM HEAR T OF DARKNESS TO APOCALYPSE NOW Conrad s experience in the Belgian Congo in 1890, as the commander of a river boat, was deeply traumatic. At that time, the area known as the Congo Free State was the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium, who allowed the companies working for him to treat the local population brutally. Conrad s short novel Heart of Darkness is the result of his journey into the heart of Africa, as well as into the values and practices of Western colonialism.The task of the protagonist Marlow, on his first commission1 for a Belgian company, is to go up the river Congo into the interior, collect ivory and take it to the coast where it will be sent to Europe by ship. Marlow sees the cruel exploitation2 of the natives and the inefficiency and neglect of the organization (as in An Outpost of Progress ). While he is reaching the outpost of the company s best agent, Kurtz, he learns that the man is seriously ill and must be brought back. During the expedition, Marlow hears that Kurtz is considered a very remarkable person and an emissary of pity, and science, and progress . But when Marlow meets him, he finds out he has become a figure of evil, is worshipped3 by the natives as an idol, and has taken part in unspeakable rites . Marlow reads a report written by Kurtz, where he explained the noble ideals that had initially brought him to Africa. But he also finds the postscript, added later by the agent: Exterminate all the brutes! Before Marlow can learn more, Kurtz dies, whispering the ambiguous words, The horror, the horror! Heart of Darkness was the main source of inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola s famous film, Apocalypse Now (1979). Set during the Vietnam War, the film tells of an American special operations veteran, 1. commission: contract. 2. exploitation: a situation in which somebody makes money unfairly from somebody else s work. 3. worshipped: adored. 27