Compare and Contrast

In Heart of Darkness and Waiting for the Barbarians both Kurtz and the Magistrate have left their “people” behind. They have strayed away from the dogma of their cultures, daring to think and act differently than the norm. Kurtz and the Magistrate do this each in their own forms of madness. Kurtz literally loses his mind. He is leaves his men and travels back in the wilderness by himself and proceeds to go mad. He continues to collect ivory for the empire but in unorthodox, unapproved ways. Kurtz also takes on a leadership role over the “savages” and abuses the power they bestows upon him. The Magistrate falls in love with the girl and I think this shows the Magistrate the receiving end of the Imperial whip. This realization of the horror of the Empire is what causes him to go against the ways of the Empire and “his people”. However, Kurtz and the Magistrate are also abandoned by their people. It was not a conscious choice for them to alienate themselves but instead the ways they changed their thinking caused “their people” to think they were mad and in some ways contaminated or unclean. 

As Kerr says, Conrad and Kurtz are both “liberal imperialists.” They are part of the Empire but represent a humanity not present in many of the power-hungry imperialists, however, they both use this humanizing quality differently. The humanizing quality gives the Magistrate and Kurtz a sort of power over the savages and barbarians. The savages and barbarians see the Magistrate and Kurtz as less threatening and therefore listen to them before the rest of the imperials. Kurtz takes advantage of this power by imagining himself omnipotent. He makes the savages worship him and treat him somewhat like a god. On the other hand, the Magistrate uses this humanizing quality correctly. He tries to alleviate the suffering brought on to the barbarians by the harsh Colonel. The Magistrate speaks out against the Colonel publicly and attempts to defy him.