Joseph Conrad himself was a sea man. He went to sea and later joined an English merchant ship, becoming master mariner. Later on, in 1894 he began his career as a novelist. He is famous for his “Heart of Darkness”. “Typhoon” is possibly based upon one of his own experiences as a sea man. One of the most highlighting parts of this novella is the use of nautical language. Conrad is really the master of English language.
Short Summary
The story is about a ship facing the extreme weather along with its victims. Nan Shan is a ship that is carrying the captain his mates and some China men who are going back to their homeland carrying their wages in wooden chests. The story somehow describes how Captain sails the Siamese steamer into a typhoon. Language is very powerful. Conrad has used sea imageries in it. Many of the time the ship is titled as “she”. This shows that the ship has been personified as a human being. There is also biblical reference of Noah’s ark. The encounter with the storm in this story is related to the Noah’s facing of the storm.
Title
The title of the story is symbolic in nature. The whole story revolves around the
Characters

1. Captain Mac Whirr

* Captain Mac Whirr is a man utterly without imagination. He is infuriatingly a literal-minded person. He has a well idea about typhoons, cyclones and sea storms, but had no personal experience of any of them; his defect of imagination renders him incapable of comprehending anything so violent, and so elemental. He understands that such extremities of nature are possible, of course, having read about them, but "belief is not comprehension” * Bashful: downcast eyes * "Never walked on this Earth" - is emotionally inauspicious (unfriendly) from his family and crew, and though he refuses to consider an alternate course to skirt the typhoon. * Mac Whirr is a complex and resourceful character whose deeper nature is obscured by the lack of social graces, yet who nevertheless undergoes radical change * Impulsive and irresponsible (ran away from his home at the age of 15) * Mac Whirr appears to have neither friends nor social acquaintances, and the sole relationship which he has sustained, namely with his wife, is entirely nominal * Mac Whirr reveals a glaring lack of concern for others and an ignorance of the trust implicit in relationships, shortcomings for which his complete devotion to his career as a sailor ostensibly compensates. * His simple and unimaginative approach to reality equips him with the self-possession and rationality necessary to survive a life-threatening force. This notion is underscored by the fact that he loses courage when he starts to imagine the outcome of the typhoon * Inhumane in nature, because he tagged the China men as “ cargo”

2. Captain Wilson from "Melita", the "storm-strategist". 3. Jukes, the first mate (with no first name). 4. Solomon Rout, the chief engineer, an experienced seaman 5. The second mate. 6. Sailors, steward and cook of the "Nan-Shan". 7. The coolies, hired workers from India and China. 8. Mrs. Lucy Mac Whirr, the Captain's wife. 9. Lydia Mac Whirr, the Captain's daughter. 10. Mrs. Rout, the chief engineer's wife. 11. Messrs Sigg and Son, the owners of the boat.

Conflict
There are two types of conflict seen in this novella 1. Internal conflict 2. External conflict
Internal conflict can be seen in the mind of captain as he is not having that many good relations with his family. He seems to be lacking intimacy even with his own father and mother. He went on the voyage and after a certain period ,he send them letter comprising of few line that only suggested the weather conditions,
“We had a very fine weather on our passage out”
He did not even bother to ask about their health and greetings. This shows that he is having some kind of psychological conflicts in his mind. Secondly the external conflict is also present in the story and that is of man verse nature. Perhaps the external conflict is somehow throwing the light on the internal conflict in a way that it is relating to the storm in the mind of captain regarding his family conflicts.

Themes
Humanity
Theme of humanity is obvious in the character of captain. When the wooden chests broke out because of the weather crisis, Chinese men started fighting over the fallen coins. Then Mac Whirr ordered Jukes to go and collect all the money so that it can b redistributed fairly again among the men. Later on, Jukes seems to be very aggressive and in that state, he brought a rifle to settle down the matter between China men. But captain opposed this idea so that nobody would get hurt.
“Social isolation”
The protagonist “Captain Mac Whirr” who is the leading character and centre of focus in the story vividly depicts the theme of social isolation as he being a rational man does not have interest in the business of persons around him. He is concerned with his limited and literal-minded approach to his work and his central focus of interest is to command his crew on ship. Mac Whirr is too much absorbed in his duties to pay attention on the social relations. As
“Mac Whirr appears to have neither friends nor social acquaintances, and the sole relationship which he has sustained, namely with his wife, is entirely nominal.”
Race discrimination
The theme of race discrimination is evident many times in the story. Captain Mac Whirr at certain point also discriminated the race when he refers the China men as “cargo” in response to Juke’s reference to them as passengers. After that we can see the racial contempt, when Jukes mocked at the accent of one of the Chinese men in this way,
"savee, john'mbreath-freshing , good eh? washae him, choww choww top-side se john ?
“Power of Nature”:
The strong sea imagery presented by Conrad elaborates the havocs and devastation all around. Although at one point the power of nature shows the uneasy relation between the protagonist and the antagonist. The antagonist in many ways the main character is the storm itself.
This is the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one from one's kind. An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man incidentally, as it were--without passion. A furious gale attacks him like a personal enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, seeks to rout his very spirit out of him.
Catastrophic destruction is vividly represented through the use of metaphors. The storm’s ability to isolate every man from everyone else, and how it feels to each one of them, that makes it feel like a personal and vindictive assault. The way the ship is tossed about, are some of the most vivid contributing factors to an overwhelming sense of power in the face of callous nature.
Human frailty:

Theme of Human defenselessness is very clear in this story as man is helpless against the will of Nature, and shows the Dominance of nature over manly power. As the Captain regarded his ship as one the masterpiece which cannot be beaten by any storm, but when the storm hits the ship, it loses the balance and started rolling over time and again. And it also explains how crisis affects character - the characters of a seemingly inept, taciturn sea captain, his crew, and the load of Chinese workers they’re transporting back home. On calm seas the captain adheres dully, immutably, and maddeningly to routine and appears totally devoid of leadership ability. His crew follows his orders obediently, though they whisper scornfully behind his back. But when the ship encounters a typhoon and everyone’s fate and that of the ship is uncertain, people’s behaviors change.
Apparent verses reality
While writing the letter to a friend, Jukes wrote about Mac Whirr that "I think he got out of it very well for such a stupid man." The irony is that the real stupidity is mainly of Jukes for failing to see Mac Whirr's simplicity and courage which has eventually saved all of them from the sea storm.
Symbols
Book
Captain Mac Whirr is mostly seen reading the book in his cabin for the strategies to cope with the storm, while the rest of the men mocked him at this. Through the symbol of book, Conrad tries to explain that success is not only bounded to books and knowledge but sometimes determination and patience can substitute the formers very well. Same happens in the case of captain.
Ship
Ship is mainly associated with journey, a discovery, moving around in the world .Conrad was a sea man, according to him sea is world and ship is the country. We move from country to country to explore the hidden realities. Every journey has some destination. In “Typhoon”, ship seems to be everything for captain. Secondly the ship is also symbolizing the destinies of the China men. Thirdly the calamities faced by the ship also symbolizes that no matter what type of hurdles are there in life, there is always a full stop to such problems. This is quite evident from Nan Shan, that in spite of cruel weather, it succeeded in getting the destination safely.
Mock death
Symbolically Jukes undergoes two additional ego-deaths when his imagination convinces him of the ineffectuality of personal volition. he undergoes a series of mock deaths which gradually strip him of his physical, moral ,cognitive and spiritual resources. His first sensation, after the "real" fury of the gale unleashes itself, it is of a momentary loss of conscious identity: "everything disappeared –even for a moment, his power of thinking" Although Conrad is quite correct in identifying this moment, with "all its overtones of death", as critical to Jukes’ growth.. On the first occasion, Jukes loses "faith in himself" when he experiences the impact of the typhoon as a personal assault, "some unparalleled outrage directed at his feeling" After the lifeboats are washed overboard, Jukes is temporarily fortified by the bond he forms with Mac Whirr by conveying this information to him. But the captain's continued silence isolates Jukes, who is "watchfully" listening for more and in this state of moral solitude he undergoes his second ego-death, in which he acknowledges his powerlessness: "there was nothing to be done.
Coolies
Historically, a coolie was an Asian slave or unskilled manual laborer, particularly from Southern China, the Indian subcontinent, the Philippines and Indonesia during the 19th century and early 20th century. It is also a contemporary racial slur. Slur is a term designed to insult others on the basis of race, ethnicity, or nationality. Juke has used this word for the Chinese people.This shows the race superiority that Mac Whirr wanted to show. Later on compels him to acknowledge of him that personal interpretation has a substantial impact on communication.