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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. How does the stranger report having made his clothes sink?

2. What is Legatt happy to have toward the end of his swim in the sea?

3. What does the captain retrieve for himself from below decks while on his watch?

4. What shape is the captain's stateroom?

5. At what time does the captain sit on his couch?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Legatt describe the man that he killed? What does this say about Legatt's character?

2. What has contributed to the "pitiless obligation" under which the skipper of the Sephora operates?

3. How does the stranger report his former companions treating him after the murder?

4. How does the mysterious man characterize the victim of his murderous anger?

5. Trace the outlines of the captain's plan for Leggatt's escape from the ship.

6. What does the captain derive from the sincerely considered alternatives the mysterious man weighs?

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

8. What does the captain discover about the stranger upon first speaking with him in the stateroom?

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

10. How does the captain attempt to distract the skipper once the skipper starts to become suspicious?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Discuss the situation in which Legatt is almost discovered. Why is this a crucial part of the story, even though Legatt is not actually found?

Essay Topic 3

Though not a strictly metaphorical text, The Secret Sharer does, like most good literature, have a metaphorical aspect in that it conveys a deeper meaning than that which is literally presented. This relationship between the literal and the transcendent significations of the text is the relationship between vehicle and tenor. Analyzing the text of The Secret Sharer, write an essay which explicates how the transcendent meaning - the tenor - is conveyed through various imagery, circumstances, situations, and settings - the vehicle. How do the vehicles of meaning relate to the higher signification, i.e. by what means? How are the vehicle and tenor reciprocally related to one another?

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