Heart of Darkness

Do you guys ever think about what would happen if Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, or Batman turned evil? And if they were to do so, how do you think they'd do it?

It all started when I finished reading Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in our AP English Literature class. Honestly, I was with most people at first, the book was very boring. Most of the reading was quite dense and felt like you were hacking at a bunch of bushes that kept regrowing onto the path you were walking. However, just when I was on the brink of madness, I perused the Internet looking for deeper insights into the book. I came to a realization, and I very good question, is there evil in all of us? More specifically, does great capacity for good mean great capacity for evil?

Let's take a look at our friend Batman, he himself never had the cleanest of records compared to other superheroes. He was orphaned at a young age after his rich, philanthropic parents were killed by a small-time criminal. He was a creative genius who made his own gadgets, designed cars, guns, suits beyond modern belief. Instilled in him at a young age was the belief that all crime should be eradicated from Gotham City. However, he would almost always take situations into his own hands without consulting the local police department. This made him unpopular with local law enforcement. Eventually though, he would come to earn their respect as an efficient and somewhat crude enforcer of justice, promoted to an honorary member of the Gotham City police department.

Now, let's flip back to Heart of Darkness. Told from the point of view of a sailor, Marlow, who is telling his fellow sailors about his past, Marlow here acts as our narrator reflecting on the past events. However, the character we want to focus on is Colonel Kurtz, ah yes, arguably the central character of the entire story, Kurtz is a very proficient European ivory trader. A multi-talented man, Kurtz is a musician, painter, writer, promising politician, etc. Marlow's first impression of him is that Kurtz is noble, carrying the "white man's burden" with him to Africa, intent on educating the natives. However, over the course of his stay in Africa, he becomes corrupted by the greed of his fellow officers, and sets up rituals and venerations worthy of a tyrant (putting the heads of other natives on stakes), all while being worshipped by the natives. He turns completely mad, but his health is sickly. After being taken aboard Marlow's ship, his very last words, "The horror! The horror!" came at a realization which is left unknown to both Marlow and the reader. There are a lot of theories out there as to what Kurtz has realized, but my theory is that his revelation was:

All of mankind is fundamentally evil.

Yes, Hobbes is getting the best of me, but there is truth to this message. Just a quick look around Kurtz can easily tell you that everyone becomes corrupted. Fresleven, the officer who Marlow was replacing, had beaten an African chief to death over a simple argument over chicken, the other officers' avarice is almost overwhelming. Then it came to me, a very good question that I've never thought about, even though it has always been there, is the above statement true?

I mean, look at Batman, if what happened to him happened in our reality, the chances that this new orphan would use his money for good are slim. More likely than not, the money would be spent on drugs or prostitutes or toys or pets. Looking back, it almost seems ridiculous that such a traumatized individual can uphold such high-ish moral standards. This sort of questioning of people's morals I believe is especially important in today's world where the lives of people are becoming more and more transparent due to social media and the Internet.

Now, we can see the fallibility of man, for me, I get really depressed. I just wish that I'm not the same, that I can be nice to everyone I meet, be kind to everyone, but we all have to walk over some people. I hope that I won't fall, but as we can see, everyone who is in contact with darkness will succumb to it. Oh, "the horror, the horror!" indeed.