The captain has come to regard the crew as his judges, but he doesn’t have to prove himself to Leggatt. The captain readily accepts Leggatt because he is, like himself, a stranger aboard the ship, the only other stranger in fact. But right now he is rejoicing in the nautical life and in “the great security of the seas is compared with the unrest of the land,” (Conrad 3) a life with “no disquieting problems, invested with an elementary moral beauty” (Conrad 3) of straightforwardness and singleness of purpose. After all, he reflects, he’s a good sailor “the sea was not likely to keep any special surprises expressly for my discomfiture.” (Conrad 3) The reflection is ironic, since even as he’s thinking, the sea is holding a surprise – a swimmer who will turn his whole life up-side-down. He begins to look forward to his voyage home. Although he remains as isolated as he was in the opening passage, he’s so nervous about the opinions of the crew that being alone is a relief. Later when alone on deck, he begins to feel more peaceful. The young captain feels not only the disquiet of unfamiliar surroundings, he also feels literally alone – alone against the rest of the ship. The strangeness of surroundings, at the onset of the novel, tells us something about the narrator’s mental state he finds the setting in some way “incomprehensible” and “crazy of aspect,” (Conrad 1) and completely lacking in signs of life. (Guerard 138) Duality reinforces the acceptance of the dual nature within each man, and Conrad successfully uses symbolism and metaphor to represent dual opposites within his characters in this story. It is a story of one man’s journey of self discovery, “testings of personal strength and integrity, and psychological studies in half-conscious identification. “The Secret Sharer” is a story of awareness and principles, a symbolic discovery of inner self. Recognizing and understanding these capacities is our only likelihood for survival and success. In the unconscious mind of every mortal there are latent and endless capacities for failure and transgressions. The Secret Sharer: Awareness and Principles
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