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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is to the left of the door in the captain's stateroom?

2. What is the name of the ship?

3. Where is the captain as the story opens?

4. How does Legatt describe the person he murdered to the captain?

5. For how long has the captain been in command at the start of the tale?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the captain tell the skipper at the end of the skipper's story? How does the skipper react? Why?

2. What induces a state of self-possession in the captain while he faces the mysterious man in the water?

3. What unspoken risk does the captain take in his diversion tactics with the skipper when the skipper starts to become suspicious of him?

4. Why does Leggatt request to be marooned?

5. What does the captain give Legatt as they part ways? What significance does one item have?

6. What does the captain discuss after the informal meeting with his main officers? Why is this significant?

7. What thoughts dominate the mind of the captain when the steward brings his wet coat into the stateroom?

8. What is signified by the stranger's speech after he hears the plight of the newly-made captain?

9. Where is Legatt discovered by the crew of the Sephora with the murdered man? What happens when they found?

10. What is the captain told toward the end of part one that signifies potential trouble for the ship and crew?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When the captain is on deck giving orders for the first time to move the boat forward, he remarks about the sensations of a man who is feeling a ship move under his command for the very first time. He then remarks, "I was not wholly alone with my command; for there was that stranger in my cabin. Or rather, I was not completely and wholly with her. Part of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two places at once affected me physically as if the mood of secrecy had penetrated my very soul." What does this comment mean? What sentiments is the author trying to portray?

Essay Topic 2

How does the author create and develop the captain's feelings of loneliness and isolation? What situations, statements, and feelings does the author use? Why?

Essay Topic 3

The eminent theme of The Secret Sharer is the self-sacrificial nature of the captain on behalf of Leggatt. Compose an analytical essay examining the manner in which the captain offers himself up for the sake of another. What is a sacrifice? What characterizes a sacrificial action? What does the captain offer as a sacrifice for the sake of Leggatt? Why does the captain offer himself up as he does? What characterizes his willingness to serve the good of the other? Is his a perfect act? Why or why not? Is the goodness of the action effected at all by the fact that no consummation of sacrifice was made? What is the significance of the captain's intent as regards his willingness to self-sacrifice? What is it about this sacrifice that is inherently recognizable as noble and good?

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