The residents of nearby villages, at first unaware of the sinking, and hence of the possibility of survivors, regard him as a dangerous tramp and madman.
Eventually "Yanko Goorall" (as rendered in English spelling) is given shelter and employment by an eccentric old local, Mr. Swaffer.
Amy, a simple woman, is troubled by Yanko's behavior, particularly his trying to teach their son to pray with him in his "disturbing" language.
[2] Like Yanko, Conrad is a foreigner living in England, far from his native land; the pivotal scene of Amy being scared by the fevered Yanko is based on an incident during Conrad's 1896 honeymoon in France when, in a fevered delirium, he reverted to his native Polish, frightening his wife Jessie.
Edward Said has remarked that "It is difficult to read ‘Amy Foster’ without thinking that Conrad must have feared dying a similar death, inconsolable, alone, talking away in a language no one could understand".