Self Identity In The Secret Sharer And The Demon Lover

Who are you, what defines you, how did you become who you are, how do you self-identify yourself? Self- identity is a key moment in life. It makes people who they are, and it's hard to figure out but in these stories get a glimpse of how two people figure it out."The Secret Sharer" is about a captain who finds a man in the sea who helps him find himself more than he thought possible through helping the man escape death, "The shadowy, dark head, like mine, seemed to nod imperceptibly above the ghostly gray of my sleeping suit. It was, in the night, as though I had been faced by my own reflection in the depths of a somber and immense mirror"( The Secret Sharer 10). "The Demon Lover" is about a British woman who left her British home with her
family to the country to avoid the Blitz, and on her way to her old home to pack up the last of her possessions, she finds an old letter stating a meeting she has with an old love during World War I. Bringing up memories of her past taking her on an adventure to remember what she was once like. Self-identity is a challenge. "The Demon Lover" by Elizabeth Bowen and " The Secret Sharer" by Joseph Conrad the theme of each is shown throughout the story through setting, plot, and characterization. The setting is the time and place that can help create and understanding of how the character acts of who the character is.
The setting of "The Secret Sharer" and "The Demon Lover" affects the character's self-identity throughout each story by putting the characters that can change them mentally or physically.
In "The Secret Sharer" a lonely captain is stuck on his ship sailing across the ocean with a crew who doesn't know or trust him. This causes him to be in isolation leaving him with his thoughts and imagination, but also with trying to impress the crew he has to show a more leader-like personality to get them to like him. Social isolation can lead to feelings of loneliness, fear of others, or negative self-esteem. The captain is isolated from other people. He longs for a friend and when a random naked man shows up on his ship, it causes him to imagine a friend who acts like he wants to be. A man just like the captain, but more free, suddenly appears in his life of showing the captain who he really is. “At that moment I was alone on her decks. There was not a sound in her--and around us nothing moved, nothing lived, not a canoe on the water, not a bird in the air, not a cloud in the sky” (Conrad 3). This quotes gives a quick description of what the captain was going through, where he was, and how the only thing he was left with was his own
thoughts.
Setting sets the tone for a story and in “The Demon Lover” the tone is why people act the way they do. The story’s setting takes place between September 1940 through May 1941 in London. Where World War II is going on making the environment around her gloomy and sad from the bombings and death, “There were some creaks in the structure, left by the last bombing.” (Bowen 3). Due to the bombings, Mrs. Drover and her family are forced to move to the country to avoid these attacks. Mrs. Drover returns to her former home to pick up things she left when her and her family moved. The city has almost been completely deserted making it a ghost town. This setting leaves Mrs. Drover with her past because all she sees around is what is what is left. “Her children were born and they all lived till they were driven out by the bombs of the next war. Her movements as Mrs. Drover were circumscribed, and she dismissed the idea that they were still watched” (Bowen 5). This quote gives a sense of how Mrs. Drover lives with fear that her movements are watched. Bringing in the next question how does plot affect the characters self-identity. The theme gives the reader the idea of what to look for in the story to understand easily what the characters are going through.
The theme affects the character of “The Secret Sharer” by showing him the way to find his self-identity. “The Secret Sharer” has many themes such as self-identity, and isolation. Throughout the story the captain struggles with both of these themes as he is alone on his ship. Isolation occurs throughout the story because of the situation for the captain. Which is being on the ocean with a crew who does not want anything to do with him. When the captain is alone he is left with nothing but himself and his thoughts giving him time to think about who he is and how he became that way, ”And suddenly I rejoiced in the great security of the sea as compared with the unrest of the land” (Conrad 6). This quote shows how the captain may be isolated but it is not completely a bad thing because it gives him more time to think than when he is on the land. The main themes of “The Demon Lover” are self-identity. The main character Mrs. Drover goes through the challenge of being a wife in the 1940s. She has to take care of her family and her moves are watched by her husband. When Mrs. Drover reads the letter from a lover of her past that appears on her former home’s table. She finds in her former home old thoughts and feelings come back making her think about what she truly wants in her life. To be free with her old lover or to go back to her life as a housewife. When the story of “The Demon Lover” goes back to Mrs. Drover's past it shows that she is not sure what she truly wants in her life, and with women's roles hindering their chances of aiming for a career in life other than cleaning the house. The last part that helps explain self-identity is the plot, and the plot helps by giving an understanding of what's happening throughout the story.
Throughout the stories the plot if each story affects the main characters self identity. In “The Demon Lover” Mrs. Drover goes to her former home to collect old items left behind before her and her family left to the country. There in her former home she finds an old letter causing her it go into her past to figure out what she truly wants. The plot of this story is where old memories causes Mrs. Drover to think about what she is doing with her life and if this is the life she wanted to live. Through the story we see that Mrs. Drover was a different person when she was younger in love with a soldier, and when the soldier never came back she had to find someone else to marry. When she met Mr. Drover and married him she became a housewife forgetting everything she once knew, and began to learn how to take care of her family. In the story “The Secret Sharer” the captain is constantly changing throughout the story with his new friend Leggatt. In the beginning the reader sees that the captain is a lonely man on his boat trying to impress his crew to like him but to no avail. When he meets Leggatt a free man who can do what he wants the captain begins to take after him, and hides him from his old crew. Hearing Leggatts stories reminds the captain about who he once was, and when he didn't have to care about other people's opinions. When Leggatt needs the captain to steer near a dangerous island which was a big risk because it could make all his crew hate him, but the captain did it with no hesitation because he was able to change who he was and helped his friend and avoided sinking his ship. Both of the stories shows setting, plot, and theme can affect self-identity throughout the stories. Setting of the two stories affect the characters’ self-identity through isolation, and remembrance of old memories. In “The Secret Sharer,” the captain is alone on his ship left with his own thoughts and ideas he finally makes a friend it causes him to change how he behaves with his crew. In “The Demon Lover” Mrs. Drover returns to her former home finding a letter bringing up her past which caused her to rethink about who she is and who she used to be. The plot also affects the character's self-identity in both “The Demon Lover” and “The Secret Sharer”.