Read the following excerpt from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness:
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.... 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.
Which idea about colonialism is most clearly expressed in this excerpt?
A. War, which is common in the colonies, is horrible and upsetting
B. The colonists cruelly harm human beings for no reason
C. The actions of the colonists are foolish and ineffective
D. Larger weapons are necessary in order to conquer continents