Writing Things

This semester is one of the few times I was assigned a book from high school, and then got assigned the same book in college. I've been assigned Othello twice before - once in senior year of high school, and once when I took a Shakespeare class.

This time, the book is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Reading this book again is quite an interesting experience - if only because I can now say "I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE!" while reading the book. It's not necessarily referencing other literature - it's referencing mythology, death, and yarn - often at the same time!

Obviously, when there's a crossover of three of my favorite things (yarn, mythology, and literature), I get excited.
Then I get nervous.
If this is an eligible idea for my capstone - the 20-page paper at the end of the semester - it has to be original. How many other people understood the same reference I did? How many writers would have made the same argument as I would?
These are the things that worry me.