Posted by Ray on November 24, 1999 at 17:06:45:
In Reply to: Re: Lord Jim posted by Yonca on November 09, 1999 at 02:33:35:
: Were you able to find a summary?
Here's what I could dig up:
Marlow is at a dinner with a number of companions, where he tells the story of Jim, a young man from the "right" background--
"one of us," as he says often during the story.
Jim went to sea at an early age, rising quickly in the ranks. He has, however, a fatal flaw, his vivid romantic imagination. Because
of a fluke chain of events, he finds himself an officer aboard the Patna, a rusty old ship crewed by a group of misfits carrying a
large group of Moslem pilgrims. The ship hits something and begins taking on water. The crew panics and abandons ship, but Jim's
imagination about what the sinking will be like paralyzes him. Without conscious effort, he jumps off of the ship, as if into "an
everlastingly deep hole."
As it happens, the Patna doesn't sink, and the crew is accused of deliliction of duty. The others all run away, and Jim alone faces
the hearing to determine responsibility for what happened. Marlow first sees him during this hearing and becomes fascinated with
how this young man, "one of us," have had this happen to him. At the end of the hearing, Jim loses his certificate, and Marlow
offers to recommend him for a . Marlow later finds out that Jim performs a series of dangerous s very well, but he stays only
until someone finds out that he's from the Patna. In reality, no one much cares about his past, execpt Jim. He cannot forgive
himself, so his perception of his duty drives him on. Jim keeps running from his past until Marlow finally realizes that he's
destroying himself.
Marlow decides to consult an older friend, Stein, who is himself a romantic. Stein offers Jim a spot at a trading post in Patusan, a
place where he will have to make his own way or die in the effort. Jim eagerly goes there, and he helps the natives throw off their
oppressors by means of a daring plan to attack them, and he takes responsibility for its success on his own head. It works, and he
becomes Tuan Jim-- Lord Jim-- to the natives. He consults with Doramin, an old native chief, and his best friend is Doramin's son,
Dain Waris. He falls in love with Jewell, a mostly-native girl.
By chance, a pirate, Gentleman Brown, arrives in Patusan. Brown psychologically manipulates Jim, and Jim offers Brown the
chance to leave, again taking responsibility on his own head. Brown, working with some of Jim's enemies in Patusan, kills Dain
Waris on his way out. Instead of fighting, Jim goes to Doramin, who shoots him, and he pes away, "under a cloud, inscrutable at
heart, forgotten, unforgiven, and excessively romantic. Not in the wildest days of his boyish visions could he have seen the alluring
shape of such an extraordinary success! ...Is he satisfied--quite now, I wonder? We ought to know. He is one of us..."
Conrad's original plan was that Lord Jim would be a companion to "Youth" and "Heart of Darkness," but it apparently got out of
control. The book's structure is confusing, and many many readers at the time of its publication were mystefied.
LFSmith
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