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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 does the captain yell over the side of the ship, down the ladder to the body below?

2. What time does the captain remain on deck until the night they see a strange ship approaching?

3. From where has the mysterious man directly come?

4. Which crew member comes from the Sephora?

5. What bizarre, mysterious inquiry does the stranger make without being explicitly quoted in the text?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the captain narratively describe the tensions and arousal of the Sephora's skipper's distrust, after the latter posits his ship being at least seven miles offshore?

2. To what conclusion does the captain's mind first leap when he sees the naked body in the water, and why?

3. How was the murder incited, as the stranger relates it?

4. How is the captain awakened the next morning? Why is this important?

5. What story does Legatt share with the captain once on board the ship? How does the captain react?

6. What does the captain do while on deck alone at night while the rest of the crew sleeps? What keeps him awake initially?

7. What is significant about the way the author ends the story?

8. How does Legatt escape from his cabin aboard the Sephora? Does the author give any indication that things may not have happened this way?

9. There are a couple of times when the captain describes or refers to Legatt as a ghost. When does he do this, and why?

10. Briefly, how does the narrator describe the setting of the Gulf of Siam, in which the story opens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though it is not explicitly stated, there is a sense in which Leggatt, by undergoing his punishment of ostracism, is given redemption. In an insightful essay, carefully written, analyze this unarticulated theme of the book. What is the moral state of Leggatt? In what way has he acted immorally? In what ways has he acted morally? Why is he in need of redemption? How is he redeemed? What is indicated about the overall significance of the story by the conclusion with Leggatt's redemption?

Essay Topic 2

The names given to characters, objects, and places in fictional works, particularly in a story such as The Secret Sharer, which has so few names given, can be very helpful in discerning the greater significance of the story. Write an insightful analytical essay on the significance of the name "Sephora" being given to the ship from which Leggatt escapes. What is the meaning of the name? What is the most important story associated with the name's origin? How is this relevant to The Secret Sharer's plot? How is it significant?

Essay Topic 3

One of the primary contrasts between the pair of the Captain and Leggatt and the rest of the characters in the story is their perspectives on morality and moral judgment. The former two men attempt discernment of the rightness or wrongness, and consequent severity, by perception of the whole act, including its circumstances and intention. The latter judges according to a strict legal standard. Contrast the two perspective in a thoughtful analytical essay. Which perspective is superior, and why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective? According to which should Leggatt's situation be judged?

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