What is one example of the ineffectiveness of the colonialist activities that
marlow witnesses in africa?
o
a. an accountant teaches a woman to clean his clothing.
o
b. marlow sees a group of mistreated prisoners in a chain gang.
o
c. marlow finds the journey into the interior difficult and exhausting.
o
d. a lot of energy is wasted to dig a large hole for no purpose.
submit

D. A lot of energy is wasted to dig a large hole for no purpose.

Explanation:

Option D is correct because it shows energy being wasted for no purpose – ineffectiveness

Marlow is protagonist of Joseph Conrad’s (1857-1924) novella “Heart of Darkness” (1899). He is a thirty-two year old European sailor. Marlow is independent-minded, philosophical and skeptical of people around him. Although he is prejudiced against native Africans like other Europeans but he hates colonialism in Africa because he has seen many debased white men during his life.

Near the end of part 1 of the book, Marlow has to stay at Company’s station for ten days. He states that’s he has seen devils full of violence, greed and desires, but this flabby weak eyed devil was new to him. This devil represented colonialists’ ineffectiveness in Africa. He observes decaying machinery at the station and many imprisoned black people digging a cliff for no apparent reason. This view shows colonialists’ ineffectiveness in Africa.

Option A is not about ineffectiveness as it fulfilled a purpose.

Option B is an instance of violence and cruelty not ineffectiveness.

Option C is not relevant to ineffectiveness – it just states difficulties of travelling in Africa.

what does the author mean by "many journeys" in this excerpt?

government intervention

multiple truths

individual stories

historical monuments

quite an interesting way to teach topic sentences, because the answer to this question is the best definition of a topic sentence that one can present, it is as if answering the questions taught you how to do it, this is some real teaching, it is terribly well-done.

the topic sentence in this paragraph is:

topic sentences writers stay on track and keep a paragraph from becoming an aimless collection of sentences about an idea.

which incidentally tells you what a topic sentence should be.