Character Clues

Character Analysis

Clothing

One of the first things the captain-narrator does after meeting Leggatt is give him some pajamas to hide his nakedness. And not just any pajamas, either—they're the captain's very own pajamas. The swapping of clothes helps to establish the mirror-image connection that Conrad constantly draws between the narrator and Leggatt. Haven't you ever seen Parent Trap? Sure, the characters in that case are actual twins, but what do they do? They imitate each other so their parents can't tell them apart. That's basically what happens in The Secret Sharer as the line separating the narrator and Leggatt begins to blur. It also shows us just how emotionally dependent the narrator becomes on Leggatt, as he eventually comes to refer to the dude as his "double."

Location

For starters, the narrator of this story starts things off by telling us that he's sailing in the South Pacific. He's a long way from home and feeling pretty lonely. On top of that, he spends most of his time inside a small L-shaped room on the boat. We've looked at the symbolism of this room in more detail in our symbols section. But for now, we'll just say that the tininess of the room helps establish how isolated the captain is from his crew and how badly he needs to find a friend… or get off this boat, whichever one comes first.

Names

The captain's name is super significant…because he doesn't have one. That's right, Conrad decided not to give this guy a name, maybe because his experience is so close to Conrad's. And come to think of it, the only person in this entire story who's given a name is Leggatt, and he might not even be real. Giving a name to Leggatt and to no one else suggests that Leggatt is somehow more real than the rest of the characters. But wait a minute. Aren't we supposed to think of him as less real? Oh brother.

Occupation

It ain't easy to be a leader. The experience can be isolating, and that's exactly why Conrad makes his narrator the captain of a ship—and not just any captain, but a young and inexperienced one to boot. If you're looking to explore themes of loneliness and insecurity, there's really no better way to do it than to make your narrator a ship's captain.

Physical Appearances

Check out anything Conrad ever wrote and you'll see that the dude is pretty obsessed with people's appearances. But he takes that to another level in The Secret Sharer, where the narrator feels as though Leggatt is his physical twin. Call it coincidence; call it obvious symbolism. Either way, this single detail goes on to define the way we look at the captain and Leggatt as characters. Apart from them, the narrator describes every other character in the book as annoying. And surprise, surprise—he always describes them as annoying-looking.