"The Secret Sharer" by Joseph Conrad, Critical Analysis

The Secret Sharer written by Joseph Conrad, centers around a character of a sea captain. Its title and opening paragraphs forecast a story of mystery, isolation, duality, darkness and silence. The novel proves true these predictions reveling thematic and image patterns directly proportional to them. The opening of the novel further reveals dialectics in the novel. The clash between the private and the public world or man versus society, in other words is the primary …

…those words serves to forecast the work in miniature. From the first couple of pages the reader is completely aware of the direction the story is going in. An attentive reader will also notice the themes of duality, darkness, mystery, isolation and silence. He will also notice the dialectics as well as many journey themes both physical and mental. If one play careful attention the book will open a world as one never saw before.