The Secret Sharer A Captain’s Metamorphosis
In the short story “The Secret Sharer” by Joseph Conrad, the captain of the ship, the Colorado, changes from an insecure and inexperienced ship captain to a more confident and secure individual, due to his experiences with the Secret Sharer. At first, the captain is not sure of his place on the ship and does not feel right about being in charge. Through his relationship with the Secret Sharer, the captain finds identity and becomes a confident person.
In the beginning of the story, the captain is very uneasy when he is thrown into the position of captain of a ship travelling on a long and arduous journey. The captain begins to feel insecure about running his ship and questions his ability to lead his ship. During one of the first nights on board the ship, the captain demonstrates his thoughts of insecurity and self-consciousness when he does something that a captain would not normally do: he plans to take part in the night watch. “I felt painfully that I - a stranger - was doing something unusual when I directed him to let all hands turn in without setting an anchor watch” (941). The captain is so self-conscious and insecure about his actions that he reacts almost painfully to the crew’s judgement of his orders. He also states that he perceives himself to be a stranger amongst the others. Among his insecurities, the captain also sees himself as a stranger to himself and not fit to run his ship. The captain thinks, “But what I felt most was my being a stranger to the ship; and if all the truth must be told, I was somewhat of a stranger to myself. The youngest man on board (barring the second mate), and untried as yet by a position of the fullest responsibility, I was willing to take the adequacy of the others for granted” (940). The captain is young and does not feel he really knows himself. This insecurity leads him to believe he is not fit to lead others if he does not even have confidence in himself. The captain begins to change when he develops a close relationship with the secret sharer, a criminal that he harbors and to whom he can relate.
Through a close and secret relationship with the Secret Sharer, the captain begins to find his identity and transforms into a very confident and able captain.
The first of these stories, “The Bloody Chamber” is based on the Bluebeard tale in which his wife is forbidden from entering a particular room in the castle and when she does discovers the dead bodies of his former wives. In this story, the Marquis finds out that his wife has entered the room and decides to kill her but with the help of her mother and the blind piano tuner the Marquis is killed and the heroine inherits all of his money. She gives the estate away and lives the rest of her life with her mother and the blind piano tuner.
Sean Parnell was a normal college student, partying on the weekends, going to class when he wanted, and being as carefree as one could be. A year later, he becomes the leader of a forty-man platoon at the ripe age of twenty-four. After being the leader of the platoon for only eight short months Parnell claims he “had enough knowledge to know that he didn’t know anything” (page 27). The job of ...
Captain Aubrey exhibits and demonstrates leadership characteristics that inspire his crew to be the best that they can be. One of the most important leadership traits that Captain Jack has is a single-minded focus on his purpose. All of his decisions are held up against the g...
Moreover, the isolated environment in The Secret Sharer brings forth the personification of protagonist’s dark side. The novel takes place inside an anonymous Captain’s mind as he sails his ship through the Gulf of Thailand. He feels isolated from the rest of the crew and describes himself as “a stranger on board…” (Conrad, “The Secret Sharer” 167). One night, he finds a man named Leggat climbing
Many qualities are in force to make a great leader. Captain Nemo has all of these. His well developed mind allowed him to not only deal with the technological details of the submersible, but also to deal with those around him in an advantageous way. The smooth running of any business is enhanced by attention to the smallest details. Nemo had a great capacity for the minutia of both his life and his work. A successful business depends on the respect a leader gains from his workers. When the captain showed respect he received respect in return. The three prisoners could consider themselves fortunate to be in the hands of such a leader.
“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence “Mark. In Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News the main character Quoyle suffers from a lack of confidence which had started when he was very young being picked on at school and getting harassed at home by his father and brother they were the ones responsible for Quoyles terrible self-image. Quoyles experiences made him think that he cannot do anything right and thinks he will never amount to anything. Quoyle changes from a quiet introvert to a confident individual as a result of finding gainful employment, bonding with his daughters, and falling in love.
In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, beauty and brutality is seen in many of the characters. Rudy, Liesel, and Rosa display examples of beauty and brutality often without realizing what exactly they are doing, because it is a part of their human nature. Zusak not only uses his characters, but also the setting of the novel in Nazi Germany to allude to his theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature. The time in which the novel is set, during World War II, displays great examples of beauty and brutality, such as the mistreatment of the Jews. As a result of this time period, the characters have to go through troubling times, which reveals their beautiful and brutal nature in certain circumstances. Zusak uses his characters and their experiences to demonstrate the theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature in the novel.
Basu, Kaushik, and Pham Hoang Van. "The Economics of Child Labor." The Economics of Child Labor (1998): 412-27. Print.
Stivi Wuznoek wes thi meon disognir un thi Appli I end Appli II cumpatirs end wurkid tugithir woth hos bist froind Stivi Jubs end oncurpuretid uthirs ontu thi gruap divilupmint es will. Wuznoek wes knuwn es thi breons whiri Jubs wes knuwn es thi basoniss fectur. Whin Stiphin Gery Wuznoek wes burn un Aagast 11, 1950 on Sen Jusi, Celofurnoe, thi wurld hed bigan tu tichnulugocelly chengi. Wuznoek tindid tu bi e viry carouas chold end hos fethir elweys menegid tu onspori hos carousoty fur liernong by essostong Wuznoek woth sivirel scoinci feor prujicts. Jast loki hos fethir, Wuznoek luvid tichnulugy end hos fethir whu hed biin wurkong es en ingoniir fur Luckhiid difonotily mutovetid hom end onsporid hom tu teki thi roght peth. Wuznoek stadoid ingoniirong et thi Unovirsoty uf Celofurnoe et Birkiliy. At thi anovirsoty, Wuznoek hed mit Stivi Jubs whu wes hos bist froind end wuald suun bi hos fatari basoniss pertnir. Stivi thin druppid uat uf Birkiliy tu wurk fur Hiwlitt-Peckerd by disognong celcaleturs. Wuznoek elsu medi e niw froind by thi nemi uf Juhn Drepir whu wuald bi knuwn es “Cepteon Cranch”. Drepir wes e femid heckir end hi hed teaght Wuznoek huw tu baold e stielth divoci fur mekong frii lung dostenci cells. Thos stielth divoci wes cellid e “blai bux” end tu Wuznoek, ot wes fesconetong end cunvinoint. Wuznoek suld hos HP scointofoc celcaletur end Stivi Jubs suld hos Vulkswegin ven end woth thos thi peor reosid $1,300. Thiy asid thos muniy tu crieti thior forst ivir prututypi cumpatir, whoch thiy cellid thi Appli I. Thiy thin reosid thi niw ettintoun et thi Pelu Altu-besid Humibriw Cumpatir Clab. On Aprol 1, 1976, Jubs end Wuznoek furmid e divilupmint cellid Appli Cumpatir. Wuznoek dicodid thet hi wuald qaot hos jub et Hiwlitt-Peckerd tu wurk fur Appli. Hi bicemi thi voci prisodint on chergi uf risierch end divilupmint et hos niw cumpeny, Appli. Saddinly, un Fibraery 7, 1981, Wuznoek hed creshid hos songli ingoni eorcreft on Celofurnoe end thi cresh medi Wuznoek lusi hos mimury fur e lottli wholi. Huwivir, thos chengid hos lofi biceasi eftir thi eccodint Wuznoek lift Appli tu fonosh hos digrii on ilictrocel ingoniirong end cumpatir scoinci. Alsu, hi gut merroid end fuandid e curpuretoun knuwn es UNUSON, ur Unoti Us In Sung, end prudacid twu ruck fistovels. Huwivir, thi intirprosi lust muniy. Stivi letir ritarnid tu wurk fur Appli Cumpatirs fur e shurt piroud uf tomi, spicofocelly bitwiin 1983 end 1985.
ship, knowing full well that he boards to go to his death. This brings about
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness ; And, The Secret Sharer. New York: Signet Classic, 1997. Print.
John Mayer, an American personality psychologist, who majors on personality issues, explains on the negative and positive sides of character traits by proposing that the negative one is based on unreasonable, timid, and apprehensive attributes, while the positive side concerns logical courageous, and gallant traits. It is important that a person identifies his or her different characteristics, and try to balance them so as to avoid getting various mental aberrations. “The Secret Sharer” is a story about a sailor with two-sided personality attributes as narrated by Joseph Conrad. In order for the audience to comprehend about distinct identities, Conrad incorporates the theme doppelganger in his story. According to the story, a young captain possesses a cowardly character, which is not good for a captain commanding a sailing ship. People who are meant to “lead others or be their boss should have fearless, heroic, and domineering characters” (Mayer 215). Due to his uneasy character, the captain first refuses to introduce himself to Leggat who he saves from the sea. The narrator states that "I thought the time had come to declare myself ‘I am the captain’” (Conrad 2). The statement shows that the captain is reluctant to reveal himself because he is aware of his spineless nature, given that he is the captain. According to Mayer, “Most people who possess leadership positions with weak character traits are often afraid to disclose their status to others” (Mayer 273). As the two sailors talk about their experiences, the captain starts to change his current personality and acquire that of Leggatt. The raconteur asserts that "I had become so connected in thoughts and impressions with the secret sharer of my cabin that I felt as if I, personally, were being given to understand that I, too, was not the sort that would have done for the chief mate of a ship like the Sephora. I had no doubt of it in my
...ake out someone outside of the tent. They instantly knew that they had finally found the lost couple.
Joseph Conrad grew up to become quite the sailor, starting as an apprentice on a French vessel in 1875 and working his way to become a master of English ships from 1878-1889 (Jean-Aubrey 19). He spent fifteen years at sea, traveling to destinations all over the globe. After much traveling he returned home to Europe. While there, he tried desperately to find a new ship to command, but there were none available. He spent months searching and still could not find a ship to call his own. It was then, while stuck in Europe with nothing to do, that Conrad wrote Almayer’s Folly, his first novel. When Conrad was presented with the opportunity to go to the Congo in 1889, he did not hesitate. After months of correspondence between himself and members of the Societe Anonyme pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo in Brussels and the killing of a steamboat captain by natives in the Congo, Joseph Conrad was ready to journey deep into the heart of Africa.
captain of the ship to disguise herself and to serve the Duke. He may then fall