The nigger of the "Narcissus"

Ailing and ambiguous when he boards a merchant ship, a lone crewman becomes the vessel's emotional center, eliciting competing responses of pity, scorn, sentimentality, and suspicion. The narrative confines action to the ship's routine and weather, using sensory detail and tightly observed scenes to convey the moods of watch and forecastle. As officers and sailors negotiate duty, compassion, and self-interest, the episode exposes collective psychology, the fragile bonds of fellowship at sea, and the moral ambiguities of humanitarian feeling. When the episode ends with his departure, the ship and its company are left altered by what they have projected onto and learned from him.