Connection: Heart of Darkness and Santa Clause

In the end of The Heart of Darkness, Marlow goes to visit Kurtz's intended. The intended is still heavily grieving over the death of Kurtz and believes that all he wanted on his death bed was to be with the one who understood him most, herself. Marlow recognizes the amount of pain that she is in and knows that telling her about Kurtz's alternate life would crush her. Instead of revealing the truth, he decides to tell her that Kurtz's last words were her name. This situation reminds me of how parents tell their children that Santa exists. They believe that by telling their children this lie, that it will bring them a sense of joy that the truth could not. Now, I'm not saying that there is a dark side to Christmas without believing in Santa. I just believe that there is a similarity in the thought process between Marlow and parents that tell their children about Santa. They both are lying to people in an attempt to bring them happiness because they don't think the truth will bring them the same amount of joy. I know that lying is never the right thing to do, but sometimes it is tempting in order to lie to people because you think it will be better for them in the long run. If I was in the same situation as Marlow, I might have done the same thing; and when I'm a parent one day, I will tell my children about Santa.