The Secret Sharer

"In THE SECRET SHARER, Joseph Conrad posits an interesting choice for the Captain protagonist: should he follow maritime law and return a self-confessed murderer to his ship to face justice or should he allow his personal feelings to intrude and harbor a fugitive and let him escape? On the surface, this seems like a fairly routine choice, but in the world of Joseph Conrad no choices are ever easy. Readers who come to this novella from HEART OF DARKNESS are well aware that Conrad likes to place hesitancies in the minds of readers, most of which are couched in symbolic language which suggest a tapping into their psyches. In the case of the Captain, his choice is confounded by his perception of the man Leggatt who climbs aboard his ship. As the Captain sees Leggatt, he sees a man who is described in terms of one who is physically incomplete. Leggatt appears to be headless and as he ascends the rope from water to deck, Conrad's imagery suggests a watery re-birth. The Captain sees Leggatt and in the pages that follow calls him terms that circle back to himself: my double, my secret sharer, and my other self. It is clear that in Leggatt the Captain sees more than just a little bit of himself." [from Amazon.com]