man, Giles, with distrust because Giles has some empathy for a distraught man. The narrator has no compassion. He thinks he knows all there is to know. He thinks he is strong, and that any sign of weakness is something to be avoided. Giles has learned enough about himself, however, to know his own failings, especially moral failings, and this allows him to feel another man's suffering, to understand another's weakness and failure. Giles knows a man cannot live up to his ideal image of himself, while the narrator is about to learn that difficult and humbling lesson. To be a leader a man must be in command, yes, must be able to make decisions of life and death, yes, for the sea is a mysterious and powerful force. But the leader must also deal with the equally mysterious and powerful force of men's souls. He must be a leader, but he also must know himself and other men in their depths so to have both compassion and humility: He is only halfway to such a point, and resisting, when he see
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