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.