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Heart of Darkness Essay

Tobi Lamberts

p.1 Livingston

“Heart of Darkness” refers to humanity’s lingering capability for evil an! in the

book The Things They "arrie! by Tim #’$rien this theme is often seen throughout the

book. %lthough much of the book is centere! aroun! the suffering an! pain cause! by

&ar there are a fe& parts that signify 'ust the opposite of the Heart of Darkness

humanity’s capability to !o goo! !ee!s rather than evil ones. (ome of the things that

happene! !uring the &ar affecte! these sol!iers internally more than e)ternally changing

their &hole personality or moo! because of some terrible memory they have stuck in their

hea!. #’$rien often says ho& a certain story &oul! &ake him up at night an! he says he

coul! remember a story 'ust because of ho& a certain person &as kille! or something

cra*y happene!. +t sho&s that &ar !oes leave scars not only on the surface of a person

but insi!e as &ell.

+n the chapter “Ho& to Tell a True ,ar (tory” #’$rien talks about &hat &ar

really is “,ar is hell but that’s not the half of it because &ar is also mystery an! terror

an! a!venture an! courage an! !iscovery an! holiness an! pity an! !espair an! longing

an! love. ,ar is nasty- &ar is fun. ,ar is thrilling- &ar is !ru!gery. ,ar makes you a

man- &ar makes you !ea!.” /0 #’$rien %ll of these things that he claims are parts of

&ar must make any human being change. ,hether it’s the &ay they think or the &ay

they act people change on a personal level !uring &ar sometimes sho&ing their inner

“Heart of Darkness”. 2or e)ample the %lpha "ompany in &hich #’$rien &as in !uring

the &ar &as ma!e up of mostly very young men &ho &ere !rafte! &ho all change!

!ramatically from the &ar. 3any members of the %lpha "ompany !ie! in the 4ietnam



,ar an! this book is all about the memories #’$rien has of them an! &hat he

remembers about their part in the &ar. ,hether it’s a goo! memory or ba! memory he

seems to al&ays have something to say about each sol!ier an! ho& they &ere !ifferent

than the rest. “The gore &as horrible an! stays &ith me. $ut &hat &akes me up t&enty

years later is Dave 5ensen singing “Lemon Tree” as &e thre& !o&n the parts.” /6

#’$rien This 7uote is from the scene &hen 8at 9iley’s best frien! "urt Lemon gets

blo&n up by a rigge! artillery shell an! flung into a million pieces in a tree. The fact that

Dave 5ensen &as singing that song &hile cleaning off the remains of his fello& sol!ier

sho&s that !uring &ar sometimes you nee! to cover up your emotions of sa!ness or grief

&ith come!y. Even though it &as still very !isturbing an! noticeably unsettling for

#’$rien to be there !oing the 'ob &ith 5ensen.

%nother great e)ample of someone going into the &ar very normal an! innocent

an! changing immensely &as tol! in the chapter “The (&eetheart of the (ong Tra $ong”.

This chapter &as all about ho& 3ark 2ossie ha! his high school s&eetheart come over

from "levelan! to 'oin him at their base. The young girl 'ust out of high school arrives

very s&eet an! innocent but is very curious about the &ar an! is intereste! in learning.

(he soon changes very much an! gets so into &ar that she en!s up going on ambushes

an! other !angerous missions &ith the :reen $erets statione! nearby the base. $ut before

3ark 2ossie &oul! give up his high school s&eetheart he nee!e! to go insi!e the :reen

$erets’ camp an! get some ans&ers from her. “2or a long &hile the girl ga*e! !o&n at

2ossie almost blankly an! in the can!lelight her face ha! the composure of someone

perfectly at peace &ith herself. “+t took a fe& secon!s 8at sai! to appreciate the full

change. +n part it &as her eyes; utterly flat an! in!ifferent. There &as no emotion in her



stare no sense of the person behin! it. $ut the grotes7ue part he sai! &as her 'e&elry. %t

the girl’s throat &as a necklace of human tongues. Elongate! an! narro& like pieces of

blackene! leather the tongues &ere threa!e! along a length of copper &ire one

overlapping the ne)t the tips curle! up&ar!s as if caught in a final shrill syllable.” 110

#’$rien This scene from this chapter is a more grotes7ue picture- it sho&s ho& &ar can

change such an innocent person to such a stone col! figure &ith a “Heart of Darkness”.

+n all of the evil an! !arkness of the &ar stories in this book there are some better

parts in &hich you can tell everything isn’t al&ays so ba!. 2or instance &hen 8at 9iley

gets sick of the &ar an! shoots himself in the foot 'ust to get out of there. Everyone in

%lpha "ompany un!erstan!s an! frankly !oesn’t blame him for !oing it. “$efore the

chopper came there &as time for goo!byes. Lieutenant "ross &ent over an! sai! he<!

vouch that it &as an acci!ent. Henry Dobbins an! %*ar gave him a stack of comic books

for hospital rea!ing. Everybo!y stoo! in a little circle feeling ba! about it trying to cheer

him up &ith bullshit about the great night life in 5apan.” ==6 #’$rien This scene

reveals ho& important it is to still have some lighter times in all of the chaos. +t’s better to

fin! something goo! to talk about sometimes rather than only focusing on the ba! things.

%nother great countere)ample to the “Heart of Darkness” in this book is the fact

that these young men from %merica are sent to &ar to fight an! to go through all that pain

an! suffering for a greater cause. %n! they fought for %merica believing they &ere !oing

the right thing to fight for our country in the 4ietnam ,ar. $ut in the en! that greater

cause never e)iste! it &as 'ust an i!ea a &him. +t sho&s ho& people can believe they are

!oing goo! things but in reality they are being use! by a government like pa&ns in a

game of chess.



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