Theme of The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad

1055 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The Secret Sharer summary by Joseph Conrad

The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad presents many themes throughout its complex narration of characters and the ideas it explicates through the novella. Amidst all the many themes that are presented there is one main theme that is thoroughly supported by Conrad in The Secret Sharer. The theme that is supported is, the ability that a person has, to change their moral and ethical beliefs due to their inexperience and self doubt as a leader. In the beginning the Captain is an upstanding, law abiding individual, yet his interaction with the murderer, and Leggatt, reveals him as someone who is insecure and easily malleable, this trait allows the captain to make many very illogical decisions, and in the end put his crew in harms way, undoubtedly showing that he is unfit to remain captain of the unnamed ship.

The Captain is quickly introduced into the novella as a young seaman, who was sporadically chosen to be the captain of a sailing vessel which is on its voyage home from off the coast of Asia, more closely illustrated as Vietnam and its Gulf of Siam. The young captain displays himself as an experienced sailor yet is filled with much self doubt as he is the second youngest man on the ship, and has limited leadership experience especially as the captain of a boat. The captains self doubt is easily manipulated, bye many individuals on the boat when he first obtains command. The captain's first sense of inexperience as a leader; and self doubt as a captain is shown when he decides to perform anchor watch for the first half of the night. "I felt painfully that I--a stranger--was doing something unusual when I directed him to let all hands turn in with out setting an anchor watch."(pg 652) The captain gi...

... middle of paper ...

... as the captain.

These actions that the captains has made on several occasions was foreshadow to the insecurities and self-doubt that would lead him to endanger his crew, and thoroughly depict the prevailing theme throughout the novella. The theme that was displayed underlined the significance of confidence and the art of acting knowledgeable and trust worthy, in order to remain in control and live up to the expectations that your peers have given you when they put their lives into your hands. The self doubt that the captain displayed led to the ignorant decisions that endangered his crews lives, if the captain did not display this self doubt, and obtain the murderer Leggatt, then his role of captain would have been flawless, and have preserved the lives of his crew better on the most part. Self-doubt leads to ignorance.

Show More
Related

  • The First Mate In W. D. Valgardson's The Novice

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first mate, the owner of the Sally Anne, dominated his life with his boat to the point of never being able to sleep right without the hum of its motors. This artificial connection made between mate and boat can have major complications. From the text we discover that this first mate has dedicated his life to sailing, ever since grade 10. At the finding of the Sally Anne, it becomes an unhealthy obsession of creating, but later not maintaining, the perfect boat. The text shows paragraphs of the first mate going on about the boat, and how he could not leave it for a day. The irony in this situation is that he spent so much recreating this boat, yet rejected the fact the eventual flaws that accompanied the years of use. It was always just another water pump and coat of perfect white paint away from sailing again. At this point it is clear that the boat has become a symbol for him and his insecurities. At the flooding of the boat and at the initial loss of life upon the Sally Anne's wreck the denial towards the destruction shows how he was using the boat as his only life line, now literally as he clings to last of his dream. At this point of the text, there is no survival, and no acceptance of the truth he must

    Read More

  • The Common Man’s Role in the American Revolution

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me to boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or the rigging. We then were ordered to ...

    Read More

  • Themes in The Boat by Alistair MacLeod

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...He is still anchored to his past and transmits the message that one makes their own choices and should be satisfied with their lives. Moreover, the story shows that one should not be extremely rigid and refuse to change their beliefs and that people should be willing to adapt to new customs in order to prevent isolation. Lastly, reader is able to understand that sacrifice is an important part of life and that nothing can be achieved without it. Boats are often used as symbols to represent a journey through life, and like a captain of a boat which is setting sail, the narrator feels that his journey is only just beginning and realizes that everyone is in charge of their own life. Despite the wind that can sometimes blow feverishly and the waves that may slow the journey, the boat should not change its course and is ultimately responsible for completing its voyage.

    Read More

  • Wreck Of The Hesperus Personification

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    The lantern and the snow are both bright and shiny, showing that they carry some hope, but the skipper’s eyes are emotionless, spiritless, and dead. There are no lingering emotions in the skipper’s eyes; no sadness, no remorse, not even any more confidence. Unlike the daughter who still has “salt tears in her eyes” (line 82), showing that she dies painfully and with a heavy heart, the skipper has no emotion mentioned. The author’s description of the skipper’s eyes finalizes how he felt nothing towards what he had brought his daughter into. This connects back to Longfellow’s message as it depicts how overconfidence can destroy a person without control. Judging by how the skipper felt no emotion in his final moments, he wasn’t aware of what was going on around him. The skipper still wasn’t aware that he destroyed himself; it happened uncontrollably. Longfellow also uses imagery to describe how the fisherman saw the daughter’s hair. It was like “brown sea-weed/ On the billows fall and rise” (lines 83-84). Readers feel sympathy and pity for the daughter whose body is helplessly being swung around by the waves. An innocent and loving being is destroyed because of the skipper’s

    Read More

  • Analysis of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    The play was written in the 1945 but is set in 1912. The 1910's was a

    Read More

  • The Inspector in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestly

    2692 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Inspector in An Inspector Calls Examine the function and symbolism of the Inspector in the play – An Inspector Calls, and explain how Priestly makes him dramatically effective Throughout the play ‘An Inspector Calls’, by J.B Priestley, the audience sees the role of a mysterious investigator who interrogates a powerful and upper-middle class family: The Birling's. Priestley uses the role of the Inspector to expose the characters in the play, and to put his own views across about the Birling’s and their conservative beliefs. The play was written in 1946 and set in the spring of 1912. This means that the audience would have known the future events (the two world wars). Therefore they are in a position to judge the characters beliefs.

    Read More

  • Criticism in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

    1748 Words  | 4 Pages

    Criticism in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism. What is being criticised. Explain some of the dramatic techniques which Priestley uses to achieve the play's effects. "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism as Priestley condemned the many different injustices that existed in the society between the first and second world wars.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    The captain is characterized as incompetent even at sailing a ship despite his title. The captain should have been the one to lead the castaways but his incompetence caused the island dwellers to despise him. Ten years after being marooned on the island, “the captain become a very boring person, without enough to think about, without enough to do.”(294). Trying to find a purpose to his boring life, the captain hovered around a spring, the island’s only water supply. He would tell the kanka-bono girls the kind of mood the spring was in on that day despite the fact that “The dribbling [from the spring] was in fact quite steady, and had been for thousands of years”(295). The kanka-bono girls did not speak english and therefore the captain’s attempt at humanising the spring were lost on the girls making it a completely pointless endeavor. Moreover,If not for the lack of tools on the island, the captain would have tried to improve the springs and consequently might have clogged it(296) potentially putting the life of castaways at risk. The captain was desperate to find a purpose to his mundane life on the island, so much that he was willing to put his and the island’s inhabitant 's life at risk. The captain’s attempt at accomplishing something to find a purpose in his life was useless and even

    Read More

  • Master and Commander: Far Side of the World

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Open Boat Essay

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since this bond of brotherhood is felt by all the men in the boat, but not discussed, it manifests in small ways as the men interact with each other. They are never irritated or upset with each other, no matter how tired or sore they are. Whenever one man is too tired to row, the next man takes over without complaining. When the correspondent thinks that he is the only person awake on the boat, and he sees and hears the shark in the water, the narrator says, “Nevertheless, it is true that he did not want to be alone with the thing. He wished one of his companions to awaken by chance and keep him company with it” (Crane 212).

    Read More

  • The Political And Social Impacts Of World War I

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several economies such as Germany’s were destroyed and were forced to reconstruct their economy. Opposed to in the United States the war led to the economic industrial boom known as the Roaring Twenties. Countries such as France and Britain initially had some economic struggle but soon stabilized. After several years, The United States suffered and was involved in the catastrophe known as “The Great Depression”, Germany followed under the ruling of Nazi’s. The nations included The Great War were pushed to radical limits; millions were harmed and killed, including politicians, civilians but most of all soldiers serving their country. World War I left all involved uneasy, there was no comfort as the past had already tainted the future. Perhaps, one of the greatest uproars to ever occur leaving people on differing sides of

    Read More

  • Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness Written by Joseph Conrad in the early 20th century, "The Heart of

    Read More

  • Comparing the Orpheus Myth and Conrad's The Secret Sharer

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    The myth of Orpheus and his descent into the underworld is paralleled in Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer," revealing a common theme, the narrator's self-fulfillment through the conclusion of his symbolic and inward quest. This parallel, which may be called archetypal, serves to increase the reader's sense of identification with Conrad's narrator, and it lends an otherworldly tone to the work as a whole. Likewise, these echoes of Orphic material lead the reader through three stages. These are a modern and secular rendition of the descent into the unknown, followed by a symbolic rebirth or rejoining of the fractured portions of the complete self, and finally the parting with the previous 'self' that ostensibly existed in the initial state.

    Read More

  • Mental Disorder In Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer

    2231 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mental health complications are common personal traits in human beings. However, there are those that are implausibly real, though they are quite rare to find. Such unusual features include voices, visions, and multiple personalities. According to psychiatrists who will be mentioned in this paper, these psychological disorders are caused by high levels of stress or traumatic situations that happen in the victims ' lives. Voices and visions are sometimes normal dissociations that fade away quickly without the need to see a mental specialist. Nevertheless, those who acquire prolonged dissociations are said to have mental disorders, which make the victim 's life quite a struggle. Although mental health aberrations are not easy to encounter, numerous

    Read More

  • Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness - A Modernist Novel

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Modernism began as a movement in that late 19th, early 20th centuries. Artists started to feel restricted by the styles and conventions of the Renaissance period. Thusly came the dawn of Modernism in many different forms, ranging from Impressionism to Cubism.

    Read More

More about Theme of The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad

Open Document