Lord Jim Summary

Lord Jim is a novel which concentrates on the man whose character is named as Jim and his story is translated by Marlow. This novel showcases the struggle of Marlow to tell and to understand the life of a man who is named as Jim.

In this story, the character Jim has been shown as a promising young man who goes to the sea while he is in his young phase of life. Jim quickly gains promotions and soon becomes the chief mate!

Summary

Jim is raised while listening to popular sea and adventurous literatures due to which he has a constant dream of becoming a "hero" who saves plenty of lives with his advanced skills. In due time, Jim doesn't get much opportunities to become a life saver and has not faced any real danger since the time he has joined the navy.

Later on, in the story it is shown that his time will come to become a "hero". He has got a chance to board a vessel known as "The Patna" that has Muslim passengers who are going on a pilgrim to Mecca, and while travelling, the ship crashes with and underwater object that leads to a leak.

While the ship is sailing, the leakage leads to massive amount of water in the ship and it indeed creates a panic amongst the passengers and a tense environment between the crew members. The crew members leave the passengers and the whole ship on fate. The Ship reached the location safely as it didn't sink, but, Jim along with his crew members was questioned by the superior officers and an inquiry was set against them. The result of the inquiry came out and Jim has to step down from his officer's certification and at this phase, he met Marlow.

After meeting Jim, Marlow saw something in him that he recognized or feared within himself due to which, he started a tortured friendship with Jim. Jim tolled all his incidence to Marlow, and after listening to his opinion, Marlo helped him obtain a job. The "Patna" incidence still haunts Jim and each time this incidence becomes a part of the conversation, Jim flees his current situation, enlisting Marlow's help once again.

With the help of Stein who worked as an expatriate trader, Marlow helps Jim a job. The job which Jim got was of a post manager in the far-flung terrain of Patusan. As soon as Jim joins the job, he gets an adventurous task to do which made him his dream come true. Jim at an initial stage was captured by one of the popular bandit of the area, but he soon escaped them with his smartness and finally became a hero by defeating a local bandit.

During that situation, he fell in love with Jewel. Jewel is the stepdaughter of the previous trading post manager, named as Cornelius, who is known for his unpleasant conduct.

As Jim made the local bandit have the taste of loosing the game, he soon became a spiritual leader of the area Patusan. The citizens of Patusan started showing trust in him and relied on him to deliver justice to the native citizens.

Soon the tense situation arose in the area of Jim. A pirate entered the area of Jim in search of Provisions. The name of the pirate is Gentleman Brown, who plays a strategy to capture Jim's area.

A skirmish ensues, and Brown holes up atop a hill. Brown get attached with Cornelius, who was already annoyed by the success of Jim and was in distress with is own failures. Cornelius secretly met Brown and creates a strategy with him to defeat Jim. Jim was completely unaware of the plot that two of them have conspired against him, due to which he agrees to let Brown leave the area peacefully.

Later on, Cornelius guides Brown and shows him an alternate way to defeat Jim. Cornelius shows Brown a river channel, which leads him to the camp owned by Dain Waris. Dain Waris is the son of Jim's closest ally. Soon, Brown enters their camp and kills Dain. Jim, got to know about the news and immediately took the decision of going to Dain's camp without accepting the plea of Jewel.

As soon as Jim reaches the area, the father of grieving son shoots Jim in the chest and kills him on the spot.

Marlow ends the narrative by showcasing the darkness, and by emphasizing on the romantic nature of Jim's personal life and his success as well. Yet, for Marlow, Jim remains "inscrutable at heart," and the meaning or the conclusion of the story is still in enquiry. Let us have a look at the commentary of the narrative;

Commentary on the Narrative

It is Marlow, not Jim who depicted who depicted the life story of Jim and put a statement at the end simply that "Jim is gone, inscrutable at heart". Let us explain this line further; the word "heart" is linked with Jim. This word describes both having a "core", or "heart" that is quiet unknowable or confusing, and also as being at the "heart" of some major puzzles.

Analysis of the Story

The story of Lord Jim is a remarkable literature and is quiet similar to the story The Good Soldier, a novel which has been written by Conrad's friend and collaborator Ford Madox Ford. The narration of Jim's life has been done by the character Marlow, who is a sea captain and the one who had a sneak peek into the capabilities held by Jim.

In the story narrated by Marlow, he uses fantasy-based terms to define the life story of Jim and also twists and molds it in his own way. Let us have a discussion on the life story of Jim depicted by Marlow, in his own term: Jim's life has been revolving around heroism. In this narration by Marlow, Jim has been shown as the young man who has an aspiration of becoming a hero by facing real life, adventurous situations.

But this inexperienced naivety fatals' away when the Patna situation arises. Jim contradicts his own statements of becoming a hero but later in his life, when he gets a real and one more chance to become a hero of his Patusan people by protecting them from the local binders, he lives his dream of becoming a hero of the citizens of Patusan. He not only lived his dream, but also enjoyed the trust that people of the area showcased in him. The question that arises in the story is that "What is honorable behavior in this world?

The answer to this question lies in the life of Captain Brierly. Captain Brierly is the prime example of success in life both professionally and in terms of the character as well. Despite his success in life, he still was not able to live with himself and committed suicide. Gentleman Brown, who has been depicted in the story as the character who provides the opportunity to Jim become the real-life hero, is one of the most self-centered, self-possessed and self-scrutinizing man, who wants to take revenge from Jim due his success.

Brown is nothing but a person who leads the path of hurtfulness to achieve success in life, he is a petty bandit who takes the help of other men to make Jim have a downfall. All these men are connected to the statement that Marlo gives; "one of us," but what does this statement actually mean in real life? Ideals are a troublesome burden, and each character reveals to some degree a fear that he will be confronted with a situation in which he must choose between ideals of conduct and a happy outcome.

Like many of Conrad's words, Lord Jim was also written in the colonial world. It has to noted that the critique of colonialism is quite central here as compared to the novel Heart of Darkness. Colonialism is most important as a backdrop to the action and the moral struggles. In this world, the rules of home, do not necessarily apply particularly when he is talking about the whites.

Conclusion

The story of Jim is a novel of storytelling, and in the confusion and convolutions of its narrative form are being showcased on the ambiguities of its ideals and it's setting as well. The book also concentrates on the value-based lesson that some people will help you achieve goodness in life and some will be there to make you have a downfall just because they are jealous of what you have achieved through your hardship.