Compare And Contrast Heart Of Darkness And The Great Gatsby

"Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a center for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing" (Conrad 548-64). The character Marlow, from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, can be seen as similar to Nick Carraway, a character from Scott F. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Both men are beginning a new journey in their lives; with Marlow beginning his trip in Africa and Nick starting his new life in New York City. At first they are both incredibly naive and oblivious to their new environment and the true natures of the people around them. As they learn more about their surroundings their morals and perceptions on society are altered. Despite being in similar situations, and facing moral delemas, both men change in completely different ways.
When their journeys begin, both Marlow and Nick are very naive to their new surroundings.
It is very clear that of the two characters it is Nick who is the one who changed more for the better. Nick Carraway learned more about the bad and corrupt nature of this society and acquaintances and as a result he changes his opinions, asserts his morals and stands by what he believes in. As opposed to Marlow who learned about the unjust and horrors of colonization in Africa and still went back and forth on his opinions, still kept some form of loyalty to people and things he knew to be unjust, and continued to separate himself from those he viewed as different. It is important for people to know that even though Nick may not be the best role model, compared to Marlow he is a far better figure to follow. It is important for people to see this because if don’t than they’ll be just like Marlow: prejudice, in a constant state of denial, and keeping perceptions they know to be wrong and unjust. If all people were like that than we would never move forward as a