Irony and madness in Apocalypse Now This is the end of sanity. As Francis Ford Coppola suggests in Apocalypse Now, sanity is not the solution that would have solved the Vietnam conflict. Rather, through the character of Walt Kurtz, Coppola illustrates the means by which the American army could have decided the end of the war. Walter Kurtz is a psychopath. Walter Kurtz achieves success in Vietnam. Herein lies the irony that Coppola manages to convey brilliantly. Thousands of soldiers arrived in Vietnam weekly without the proper arsenal of skills needed to perform the actions essential to success in Vietnam. The guys aren't crazy enough to win. However, Kurtz, through his psychopathic tendencies, repeatedly achieves success in jungle combat. He was “winning the war his way.” To diagnose an individual with psychopathic deviance, or psychopathy, the individual must exhibit behaviors that reveal four personality characteristics. Psychopaths are impulsive, manipulative, antisocial, and pathognomic (Hare and Shalling 5). The antisocial trait does not indicate introversion. Rather, it refers to antisocial behavior. Pathognomics indicates lack of consciousness. An individual who has no conscience cannot discern between right and wrong. Psychopaths exhibit antisocial behavior and impulsivity (Hare and Schalling 17). Antisocial behavior is defined as activities “inappropriate to the accepted functioning of one's social relationships with one's surroundings” (Hare and Schalling 37). Kurtz performs antisocial behavior impulsively. Those who evaluate Kurtz's behavior based on its social appropriateness are his superiors. General Corman determines that his actions are not acceptable in the circumstance... middle of paper... that antisocial behavior, manipulativeness, lack of conscience and impulsiveness, provide the most efficient way to dominate and eliminate any opposition. This initiative offers soldiers a means of survival and victory for the American government. The trial, as Coppola explains, is useless. Kids become confused, frantic, crazy. Kids are being reinforced in a depraved way. They receive rewards for their psychopathic deviance with successful campaigns against the opposition. Kurtz understands this process and attempts to use it to his advantage to achieve success. Works Cited Hare, R. and Schalling, D. Psychopathic Behavior: Approaches to Research. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1978.The editors of the Boston Publishing Company. The Vietnam experience: the war in the shadows. Boston: Boston Publishing House. 1988.