Synthesis Essay: Kurtz's Final Breath

Kurtz’s Final Breath Horror in society defines as an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. Within our society an extreme juxtaposition between individuals exist, those who seek out horror for thrills and personal enjoyment compared to people who scurry away from it without a moment's delay. As Kurtz murmurs his final words “The horror” readers struggle to identify which variety Kurtz fits into and what he meant when he stated his final ominus words. Kurtz’s true meaning examines his own personal struggle as he has failed to find inner tranquility and bliss. Become Kurtz has instead plunged between two walks of life, the ways of the seemingly urbane imperialists, and the savage indigenous Africans. His lack of ability to decide where
Within imperialist society Kurtz constantly faces comparison to a reverend. As well, individuals hold him as a role model for achievement with the hope that they can obtain what he has so nobly achieved. As one of his fervent supporters states “ This man has enlarged my mind” (Conrad 50) and ‘“London appears as the originating interior… a moral source from which there emanated “messengers of the might within the land”’ (Levenson 155). Kurtz, as an artist, a writer, and a sailor, has faced success and gained a following that rarely ever appears; one that contains sheer admiration of some and utter hatred for others. He has obtained so much ivory and therefore so much money that he would forever feel ecstatic within the society which he lives. Kurtz undergoes an internal striving for power and success which drives him as he partakes in a multitude of indevours. Success continually proves a key part of his adventures but not the only thing that kept him striving. The places such as London and the society which he lived in held a firm cultural tenure on him. It called and beckoned to him as strong as any impulse of the wild had. Not a grip of desire but one which kept him clutching on to his sanity. He gravely held on to his home and any shred of humanity which he had because his ego desperately wanted to return to humane society where the urges would forcibly bind him. Also, despite the pathological impulses which diverged him from the normal path of life he needed a sense of order in his life in order to keep him from hurting himself or becoming too self absorbed. The call of his intended and the promise of marriage also kept him bound to the past as he still, reluctantly, had a sense of commitment and would regret hurting the women which he had left behind. However, not only his personal past bound him but, the banal desire to seek