Awkward...

Throughout Waiting for the Barbarians there is an odd sexual tension. The magistrate himself is just generally an awkward man, with creepy lustful thoughts. His relationship with the blind slave-girl is full of unanswered sexual tension. She even attempts to come on to the magistrate but nothing comes of her efforts. The sexual tension is more or less put to rest when the girl and the magistrate are finally together on their way to bring her home, but still there lingers a weird sexual vibe throughout the book. The lack of specific names of people or groups in the book gives more emphasis on the actions in the book and aside from the brutal torture and imagery, the theme of awkward sexual tension prevails.

Articles

"Conrad's Ethics and the Margins of Apocalypse Now" by Louis Grieff

• Despite the many violations of the novel's shape and substance, Coppola manages to pay homage to Conrad's work in unexpected ways.

1. There is a "creative imitation of the Conradian frame" in the form of a disembodied voice at the beginning and end of the film.
2. In contrast to the book, the film portrays Kurtz as a solid, dedicated man while Captain Willard(Marlow) is more fragmented and corrupt. Neither major character in the film can be seen as a good example of Conradian ethics in the Heart of Darkness.
3. Coppola uses 4 minor characters--Chief, Chef, Lance, and Kilgore--with largely un-Conradian names to depict the conflict of "good craftsman and hollow man" as it is in the Heart of Darkness between the two main characters.
4. Chef and Chief give the perfect combination to depict Marlow's ethical craftmanship of discipline mixed with imaginative artistry.
5. Though Lance and Kilgor are outward opposites, they are equally as hollow and empty on the inside. 
   

"'To Boldly Go': Heart of Darkness and Popular Culture" by Linda J. Dryden

• The main idea of The Heart of Darkness and the ethical issues within have been reused and reiterated through popular culture over the last hundred years.

1. Apocalypse Now obviously uses the book to convey the same message about US involvement in Vietnam that Conrad was about imperialism in Africa. The popularity of the movie actually boosted the meaning and popularity of the book, and the depth of Conrad's words made a much more meaningful movie.
2. The television show the Simpsons even has an episode named "The Bart of Darkness" and another that references the novel The Lord of the Flies, which in fact owes part of its influence to... yupp you guessed it, the Heart of Darkness.
3. The influence present in the television show Star Trek is much more subtle than that in the Simpsons, but it is also more common. Throughout the series a main topic, just as in Heart of Darkness, is the question of what it means to be human. Star Trek uses aliens to discuss the moral issues and dilemmas present in the novel, and bits and pieces of the plots even correspond with the novel. 
4. Long story short, Conrad's Heart of Darkness has not only influenced much of out pop culture, it has become a "part of our heritage".

Not So Different After All

Up to this point in The Heart of Darkness the natives are considered to be "savages". They are uncivilized cannibals that need to be taught and controlled by the white men who have come to save them. Yet, in section two we see a slight change in this view. Marlow even comments on the "suspicion of their not being inhuman". It is a new idea to him that perhaps these people are reasonable, even possibly more so than the white men. The conspiring Marlow witnesses and the stories of Kurtz's actions throughout his voyage lift up the rug on the true character of the white men and make the contrasting natives seem more civilized. Marlow isolates himself from the white members of his crew and begins to get better acquainted with his native crewmembers. He even notes that his fireman, a native, is basically the same as a poorly educated white man doing the same job. Even when told bluntly that the cannibals want to eat the people in the fog, Marlow's reaction is one of understanding. He knows that they did not have much food, so he seems to understand their desire to eat people. It is clear to me at this point that the devils Marlow will continue to encounter on his journey are largely the white men around him, but can we see signs that there will be native devils encountered? If not, will Marlow continue to get closer to the natives and maybe even become more like them? His friendship with the African helmsman resulted in Marlow throwing away his shoes, is this in some way symbolic or is Marlow just melodramatic?