Essay Comparing The Immigrant And The Narrator

In the story of The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad, A man (the Narrator ) becomes the captain of a ship. All the shipmates have known each other for quite a while, so when the Narrator comes aboard he feels and is treated like a stranger. One night he comes encounter with a mysterious man, known as Leggatt, who hanging from the ladder of his ship. He feels an instant connection with him even after he learns that this man is a murder. He chooses to take care of this man and not tell anyone because he looks almost exactly like him and he has a similar mental struggle which leads him to believe in an ultimate connection that he does not want to separate.

Leggatt and the Narrator have an unusual amount of similar physical traits. Because of this, the Narrator feels a special kind of connection with Leggat. The first connection he feels is when he first encounters Leggatt, who hanging from the end of a ladder on his ship. After exchanging few words about the situation the Narrator explains that he felt “A mysterious

communication was established already between us two” (10-11). Though he doesn’t know what Leggatt has done, the connection between them is already strong and will only grow stronger as they get to know each other. This is also very significant because of the facts that the Narrator has not felt a connection with anyone else aboard his ship. This connection is not something he wants to give up.
After Leggatt comes aboard, the Narrator observes, “He was not a bit like me, really; yet, as we stood leaning over my bed place, (...) with our dark heads together and our backs to the door, anybody bold enough to open it stealthily would have been treated to the uncanny sight of a double captain busy talking in whispers with his other self” (16). He then goes on to say, “Anybody would have taken him for me. I was fascinated by it myself” (24). As the Narrator gets to know and to see Leggat, he realizes how alike they really look, which adds to that already strong relation between them. Leggatt looks so much like him it’s almost as though they are the same person and the Narrator notices this.
At some point, the connection between the Narrator and Leggat becomes so strong that the Narrator explains that when he wasn't with Leggatt “Part of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two places at once affected me physically as if the mood of secrecy had penetrated my very soul” (33). The Narrator and Leggat are no long two people but one person in two different bodies. The connection between them has become so strong that the Narrator feels as though he can no longer be without him.

Though Leggatt and the Narrator are in very different situations, they end up feeling lonely. As Leggatt and the Narrator are getting to know each other, the Narrator explains. “I didn't know either the ship or the people. Hadn't had the time in port to look about me or size anybody up (...) I was almost as much of a stranger on board as himself”(20). Through the Narrator and Leggatt’s relationship, this feeling of being the only one, and the only stranger aboard a ship adds an immediate and very humane connection. Because he is in the same situation as Leggatt, he feels as though he needs to have Leggatt’s back. He needs to be able to watch him and take care of him; after all, it was him who save Leggat from drowning.
Later on, Leggatt explains that “‘It's a great satisfaction to have got somebody to understand. You seem to have been there on purpose’" (39). The Narrator has already felt the connection between him and Leggatt. When Leggatt says this, the Narrator is not shocked or surprised but instead probably thought this same thing. In the beginning, Leggatt needed the Narrator. Somewhere along the way to building his relationship with Leggatt, the Narrator realizes he needs Leggatt too. Now Leggatt knows he needed the Narrator too, on a different level. This need for each other is another reason the Narrator doesn’t want to give up Leggatt.

Because the Narrator's physical and mental connection with Leggatt is so close, he often gives Leggatt the benefit of the doubt. When the Narrator first pulls Leggatt out of the water, they chat about how Leggatt came to be hanging onto the end of the ship’s ladder. He observes, “The voice was calm and resolute. A good voice. The self-possession of that man had somehow induced a corresponding state in myself” (10). Even before a real connection has formed between the Narrator and Leggatt, the Narrator thinks that he seems like a decent man. Part of the reason he did not turn Leggatt in may not have been from a mysterious connection, but rather, just by a judgment of Leggatts nature.
In time, the Narrator learns that Leggatts has killed a man. Yet the Narrator explains, “And I knew well enough the pestiferous danger of such a character where there are no means of legal repression. And I knew well enough also that my double there was no homicidal ruffian” (12). The reason that the Narrator doesn’t change how he feels about this man is because he has already made up his mind about how he feels about Leggatt. His connection with Leggatt has already grown strong enough that he is able to overlook his action. The Narrator does not dismiss the situation altogether but thinks about it before determining that he must have had he reasons. The Narrator and Leggatt are more like one person than two, so he thinks of Leggat like he thinks of himself.
When the Narrator is visited by the captain of the Sephora, the captain tells him about the story of Leggatt: what happened and why he is on his ship.

While the Narrator is pleasant and kind, he zones out while the captain is talking to him. He thinks, “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 mind” (28). The Narrator has begun comparing himself to Leggatt as if he was Leggatt. He doesn’t want to throw Leggatt off his ship or give him away because, if he were Leggat, he would be scared and not like that. A lot of this reasoning comes from the Narrator’s natural personality while the rest of the reasoning comes from the mysterious connection that happens between him and Leggatt and he doesn’t what to let go of

that.

The connection between Leggatt and the Narrator is so strong that it leads the Narrator to overlook the fact that he killed a man. Between his similarities in physical traits and mental levels, the Narrator is able to find excuses and reasons for not turning in Leggatt. Throughout the book, the Narrator and Leggatt become more and more attached. Many times its as if they are the same person and that is why the Narrator gives Leggatt a chance.