For centuries there has been a distinct rift between the white man and the black man. The white man ostracizes and looks down on the black man, whom he views as beneath him. The blacks are not completely uncivilized, they are just perceived as savage to the white man. When the white man enters into black territory, he is confronted with the freer and less structured black civilization, which makes it easier to lose his standards and go mad.
Both Heart of Darkness and The Poisonwood Bible deal with white men leaving their white civilization to venture into what they view as black savagery. Kurtz, Nathan Price, and Marlow leave their respective white societies, to dwell among the black savages. Their white standards and principles are useless in the unstructured black society. Marlow is able to resist the pull of the madness, but Kurtz and Nathan are pulled in. They refuse to adapt themselves to the black civilization, preferring to retain their white methods, which made it easier for them be lured by the madness.
The two novels deal with the contrast between civilization and savagery. Kurtz, the character being sought by Marlow in Heart of Darkness, has deteriorated so far the he is no better than the savages he lives amongst. Marlow's journey away from civilization brought out the savagery within him, but it is mostly repressed because of the value he places on his work. Nathan Price tried to put himself above the savages, but this alienated him, and cause his downfall into savagery. Removal from civilization can bring out the savage within the white man. .
Kurtz lived among the savages. This brought out the savagery within, and reduced him to an insane man. From the very first mention of him, the reader understands that Kurtz is a brilliant man, who is well respected. ".he said he was a first-class agent."He is a very remarkable person."" (p. 29). ""Oho, he will go far, very far," he began again.
