Read the following passage from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Once, I remember, we came upon a man-of-war anchored off the coast. There
wasn't even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush. It appears the French had
one of their wars going on thereabouts. Her ensign dropped limp like a rag; the
muzzles of the long six-inch guns stuck out all over the low hull; the greasy, slimy
swell swung her up lazily and let her down, swaying her thin masts. In the empty
immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a
continent. Pop, would go one of the six-inch guns; a small flame would dart and
vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble
screech-and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of
insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was
not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of
natives-he called them enemies!-hidden out of sight somewhere.
What is the main purpose of the passage? Write a short argument to answer the question. Develop your
ideas by analyzing specific details from the passage. You are writing an argument, so be careful to
include a clear thesis and to respond to at least one counter-argument.
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