lord jim
...n they discover that it is actually Jim in the boat with them, they accuse him of murdering the engineer by taking his place in the boat. The crew constructs a unified version of events to give to the authorities on shore. Jim ignores them and spends the night clutching a piece of wood, ready to defend himself. At this point in the story, Jim pauses and asks Marlow, "Don't you believe it?" Marlow finds himself declaring his faith in Jim and his account. Jim tortures himself and Marlow for several minutes, examining the alternative possibilities available to him and justifying his course of action. Again he makes Marlow state his belief in the tale and in Jim's motives. The men in the lifeboat are picked up by the Avondale, a passing ship, the next morning. They tell the version of the story upon which they agreed during the night; Jim does not dissent, although he feels as if he were "cheating the dead." That he soon finds out that there are no dead, that the Patna has made it into port, is of little account. He admits to Marlow now that he thought he heard shouts after the squall hit, and after the men had declared the ship sunk, although he still attributes the noises to his imagination. Jim recalls learning of the Patna's deliverance upon reaching port. Marlow ponders the question of the disappearing ship's lights, wondering why the men were so quick to assume that they indicated the sinking of the Patna. He recalls Captain Brierly's explanation at the inquest, that the arrival of the squall had caused the ship, dead in the water and listing, to swing about, thus hiding the lights from the men in the lifeboat. The story of the Patna's rescue comes from Marlow, who has gotten it from official reports and from an old French officer he meets many years later in Sydney. Around the same time the crew were picked up, a French gunboat encountered the Patna and attached a tow line. The old man Marlow meets is the officer from the gunboat who stayed onboard the Patna as she was being towed into harbor. Miraculously, the Patna makes it into port. The French officer recalls the boredom of being aboard the ship and complains that, although he was able to eat, he had no wine. He also recalls the great interest shown by both the passengers and the authorities in the corpse of the third engineer, which he found where it fell after Jim stumbled over it. Marlow is amazed that, so many years later and so far away, he continues to encounter Jim's story. Chapters 13 - 18 Summary Marlow concludes his conversation with the French lieutenant. He tells the man the story of the inquiry and subsequent events. Somehow, the man discerns Marlow's interest in Jim and inquires whether Jim, too, ran off rather than stand trial. This leads the lieutenant to meditate on bravery and fear. Like Marlow, he fails to find words for what he is trying to say, and as they take leave of one another, Marlow is struck by the futility of conversation. Marlow mentions that he has seen Jim recently, working as a water-clerk (see Chapter 1) in the port of Samarang. He also notes that it is through his recommendation that Jim got the job. Marlow digresses briefly to tell the story of Bob Stanton, a sailor he once knew who also spent some time as a water-clerk, who drowned trying to save a woman after a ship collision. Marlow goes back in time to the dinner with Jim at his hotel, recalling that the next day was to be Jim's day of sentencing. That night, Marlow makes Jim the offer he has discussed with Captain Brierly, telling him that if he chooses to flee, Marlow will provide him with money and a job recommendation. Jim refuses. Marlow realizes that Jim has made the ultimate appeal to his (Marlow's) ego: would Marlow behave the way Jim does, in the same situation? Marlow thinks he'd be able to do better. The next morning, Marlow goes to the court to hear the verdict. The court finds the Patna to have been unfit to go to sea, deems her navigation and operation up to the accident proper, declines to speculate as to the cause of the collision, and finds the crew derelict in their duties, revoking their officers' certifications. Leaving the court, Marlow encounters Chester and Captain Robinson, two suspicious characters who have stayed one step ahead of the law for years. They discuss with Marlow a business scheme in which they want to involve Jim. They want to find a derelict old boat and send it out to a deserted, waterless island to harvest guano (bird droppings), which can then be sold as fertilizer to sugar planters in Australia, and they want Jim to command the boat. Marlow refuses to make Jim the offer, and the men insult Jim, noting that at least the island won't sink. Aware of Jim's vulnerability to people like Chester and Robinson now that he has been punished, Marlow finds him and takes him back to his hotel room, where he writes letters as Jim struggles with his own thoughts. Marlow admits his responsibility to Jim and thinks about ways to help him. Suddenly Marlow draws back and reveals to the audience that soon Jim will be "loved, trusted, admired, with a legend of strength and prowess forming round his name." He explains why he will not present Chester and Robinson's offer to Jim ("he is too interesting or too unfortunate to be thrown to the dogs"), and notes that their expedition was lost without a trace after a hurricane. The narrative returns to Marlow's hotel room. Jim tells Marlow that he thinks he will have another chance to become a hero, that he's "bound to come upon some sort of chance to get it all back again." Marlow convinces Jim to stay a little longer and persuades him to accept a letter of recommendation for a job. Jim thanks him for giving him a "clean slate." Marlow receives a letter from Jim's new employer, praising Jim. The man wonders at what Jim has done to need Marlow's protection, but says that Jim is "blooming. . .like a violet" in his new position. Not long afterward, Marlow receives another letter from his friend. Jim has departed suddenly, leaving only a note of apology. In the same batch of mail, there is a letter from Jim, explaining that the second engineer from the Patna turned up and got a job with Jim's employer. The engineer tormented Jim, reminding him of the incident; the anguish forced Jim to leave. Marlow soon runs into Jim, who is now working as a water-clerk in another port. Returning to that port a few months later, he finds that Jim has again quit a promising job, this time because a damaged steamer carrying pilgrims had put in, and the Patna case had again become a subject of conversation. His most recent employer remarks to Marlow that he had told Jim that, although he didn't know what he had done, "the earth wouldn't be big enough to hold his caper." Chapters 19 - 23 Summary Jim continues to wander from job to job, "fling[ing] away [his] daily bread so as to get [his] hands free to grapple with a ghost" as "an act of prosaic heroism." He becomes well-known as an eccentric in his part of the world; although he runs away every time the Patna is mentioned, everyone knows who he is. After Jim rejects Marlow's suggestion that he go to America, Marlow decides to consult Stein, the proprietor of a large trading company with posts in "out-of-the-way places" where Jim could more easily live in peace. Stein, according to Marlow, is extremely trustworthy and wise. We learn a little about Stein's past: he escaped Germany as a young man after getting entangled with revolutionaries, then came to the East Indies with a Dutch naturalist. Stein remained in the area with a Scottish trader he had met, who bequeathed him his trading empire and introduced him to a Malay queen. Stein became an adviser to the queen's son, Mohammed Bonso, who was battling several relatives for the throne. He married Bonso's sister and had a child with her, and began to collect beetles and butterflies. Bonso was assassinated, and Stein's wife and child died from a fever. Stein tells Marlow an anecdote about a particular butterfly specimen in his collection. One morning, he was tricked into leaving his compound by an enemy of Bonso's and was ambushed along the road. After feigning death, he attacked and dispatched his attackers with bullets, but a few escaped. Suddenly, he saw a rare butterfly glide past him. Moving quickly, he captured it in his hat, holding a revolver in his other hand in case the bandits should reappear. Stein describes that day as one of the best of his life; he had defeated his enemy, possessed friendship and love, and acquired a butterfly he had long desired. Marlow tells Stein he has come to him to discuss a "specimen." He recounts Jim's story for Stein, who immediately "diagnose[s]" Jim as "romantic." Stein elaborates on Jim's crisis of self-identity, saying that what Jim needs is to learn "how to live" in a world that he cannot always ignore. Stein says that he himself has had moments in which he has let heroic dreams slip away, and he tells Marlow that he will help him do something "practical" for Jim. Stein suggests that they send Jim to Patusan, a remote territory where he has a trading post. The place will, Marlow says, turn out to offer him "a totally new set of conditions for his imaginative faculty to work upon." Patusan seems to be a place no one visits, whose very name stands in for the hidden and unknown. Stein has used Patusan as an exile for those in need before; he tells Marlow of a Dutch-Malay woman with a troubled history married to an odious trading agent named Cornelius whom he wished to help. He made Cornelius the manager of the Patusan post, but the woman has since died, and the woman's daughter, under the guardianship of Cornelius, is the only obstacle to his replacement by Jim. Stein offers Jim the post, with the understanding that Cornelius and the girl be allowed to stay on in Patusan. Marlow jumps forward in time, to a moment when he visits Jim in Patusan. Although it is not yet clear how, Jim has become an incredible success, and Marlow is astonished. He reminds himself that he and Stein had only sought to keep Jim out of the way, and that, on his part, he had just wanted to dispose of Jim before returning to Europe for a time. He admits that he had feared the claim that Jim now has on him because of their acquaintance. Marlow digresses for a moment to describe Patusan more fully: it is a small territory thirty miles inland up a river, which the flow of history has largely bypassed. In the seventeenth century, Dutch traders often visited in order to trade for pepper. Somehow, though, the trade stopped, and now the country is a backwater, ruled by a "Sultan [who] is an imbecile youth with two thumbs on his left hand." The de facto ruler of Patusan, however, is the Sultan's uncle, Rajah Allang, a decaying, power-mad opium fiend whom Marlow encounters when he visits Jim. Stein and Marlow offer Jim the Patusan post, which he accepts. Marlow makes him a gift of a revolver, and Stein, wishing to repay his debt to the Scottish trader who launched him, gives Jim letters of introduction and a silver ring, which he is to present to Doramin, an old comrade of Stein's. Jim returns from receiving Stein's commission full of fire, eager to impress upon Marlow the romantic aspects of the situation, particularly the idea of the ring as a token of friendship and recognition. Marlow finds himself "thoroughly sick" of Jim, who is foolish enough to "hurl defiance" at the universe. Jim hurriedly packs his possessions, including a volume of Shakespeare (which surprises Marlow) and ships for Patusan. The captain of the ship that is to carry him tells Marlow, who comes aboard to offer Jim cartridges for the revolver, that he will carry Jim only to the mouth of the river leading to Patusan, since he was fired upon by the natives the last time he tried to ascend the river. Marlow later learns that the man was publicly humiliated and imprisoned by Rajah Allang. The ship is about to depart, so Marlow takes leave of Jim, who is still ecstatic over the "magnificent chance" before him. As Marlow's boat pulls away from the ship, Jim shouts a prediction: "'You--shall--hear--of--me.'" Commentary Chapters 24- 27 Summary Marlow visits Jim in Patusan two years after Jim's arrival there. He has come to offer Jim the trading post house and the stock of goods as a gift, on behalf of Stein. He finds a village of fishermen on the coast who tell him of the peace that Jim has brought to the area. Marlow's informant refers to Jim as "Tuan Jim," or Lord Jim, and tells him that he brought Jim up the river in a canoe two years ago (when trading ships were still refusing to enter the river because of the hostile natives). Marlow is astounded that Jim's prediction--that he would hear of him--is being fulfilled. He notes that Jim's arrival was a major disruption to the area, since the natives had forgotten what white men were. Jim's unheralded appearance, Marlow's unloaded revolver cradled in his lap, created an opportunity of which Jim was quick to take advantage. The fishermen deliver Jim straight to Rajah Allang. Jim's revolver is unloaded, so he has no way of defending himself, and he agrees to see the Rajah. The Rajah imprisons Jim in a stockade for several days. Jim takes Marlow to see the Rajah, pointing out where he was imprisoned. He pauses to settle a dispute between the Rajah and some villagers, then continues with his story: While he is a prisoner of Allang's, he is subjected to absurd treatment--asked to fix a broken New England clock, interrogated about Dutch colonial strategy, questioned as to his motives. He manages to escape the stockade fairly easily by leaping over the wall and struggling up a muddy slope after jumping a creek. Upon his escape, Jim rushes to Doramin's compound and presents Stein's silver ring. He is received with warmth, and Doramin's people prepare to repel the Rajah. Doramin, Marlow relates, is the leader of one of the most powerful factions in Patusan, a group of merchants called the Bugis, who had emigrated from Celebes many years ago. Most of the conflict in Patusan stems from Rajah Allang's attempts to enforce a trading monopoly and Doramin's insistence on violating Allang's proclamation. Jim finds the Bugis arguing over the wisdom of allying themselves with Sherif Ali, an Arab religious zealot who, along with his band of tribesmen from the interior, has been decimating the countryside around Patusan. Some of the Bugis want to join with Ali to overthrow Allang. Jim meets Dain Waris, Doramin's son, who is to become his best friend. It soon occurs to Jim that he has an opportunity to make peace in Patusan and thus make a name for himself. Jim proposes that the Bugis organize an attack on Ali. Dain Waris is immediately enthusiastic, and the plan moves forward. Jim oversees the transfer of Doramin's meager artillery to a hilltop, from which the attack is launched and Ali defeated. Marlow remarks at the trust the Bugis placed in Jim in following him into battle. An old man tells Marlow that many think Jim possesses supernatural powers. Jim seems even more "symbolic" to Marlow than ever. In recounting the attack, Jim mentions the valor of his servant, Tamb'Itam, a refugee from Allang who has devoted himself to Jim. In triumphing over Sherif Ali, Jim has finally become a hero, and the people of Patusan await his command Chapters 28 -33 Summary Following the defeat of Sherif Ali, Jim becomes the virtual ruler of Patusan. Marlow notes that there seems to be little that Jim cannot do. Marlow recounts an interview with Doramin and his wife, in which Doramin confesses to Marlow that he wishes to see his son, Dain Waris, ruler of Patusan. Doramin is also concerned that Jim's rise to power, while beneficial to the Bugis, will attract the attention of white men to Patusan. Doramin's wife, meanwhile, interrogates Marlow about Jim's past. She wants to know why he left the civilization with which he was familiar to come to a tiny backwater. Marlow can't really answer her, and Doramin is obviously concerned by this. Pondering "the unanswerable why of Jim's fate" brings Marlow to tell of Jim's "love." Jim has fallen in love, it seems, with the daughter of the Dutch-Malay woman. Until now, this daughter has eked out a meager existence in the home of her stepfather, Cornelius. Marlow describes her as beautiful, and, more importantly, as, like her mother, "lacking the saving dullness" necessary to accept her situation. Jim calls her Jewel. Marlow is struck by the atmosphere of both domestic happiness and high romance surrounding the pair. He recalls visiting a nearby region and encountering a corrupt colonial official, who has heard of Jim and Jewel and has misinterpreted what Jewel actually is. The official tells Marlow that he has heard of a white man who possesses an enormous emerald, which he keeps concealed on the body of a woman, young and pure, who stays with him at all times. The official asks Marlow to let Jim know that he has friends who would be interested in buying the emerald. Marlow recalls that he has seen very little of Jewel, but that she seems unusually anxious about Jim. Tamb'Itam, too, seems to be overly protective. Marlow notes that Cornelius is always skulking about Jim rather ominously, and he reflects that Jim has been generous in giving the man his freedom, and perhaps rather reckless in not taking proper precautions to protect himself. Jim stayed with Cornelius upon his initial escape from Rajah Allang, and his mistreatment of Jewel has led Jim to be very careful toward the man, lest he inadvertently make her situation worse. Cornelius is apparently quite bitter at having married Jewel's mother and being sent to such a backwater. He considers it his right to abuse the girl and to steal from the stock of goods consigned to him by Stein. Soon after his escape from the Rajah, Jim begins to hear rumors that plans are being made to assassinate him. Cornelius offers to smuggle him out of the country for eighty dollars. Jewel offers her help as an advisor. Finally, things come to a head. Jim wakes up one night to find Jewel at his side, his revolver in her hand. She leads him to a shed in the yard, where he discovers men lying in wait for him. Pleased at finally encountering "real danger," he shoots one of them and forces the others to leap into the river. As he is telling Marlow the story of that night, Jim points out his own valor, then once again challenges Marlow's evaluation of his (Jim's) worthiness, noting that no one in Patusan would believe the story of the Patna. Jim speaks of his desire to remain always in Patusan. Marlow leaves Jim and goes up through the dark courtyard to the house. He is confronted by Jewel, who seems to have something to say to him but is unable to speak. Finally, Marlow is made to understand that she thinks he has come to take Jim away. He tells her that this is not the case. She tells him that she does not want to "die weeping," as her mother did. Jewel recalls the night of her mother's death, the woman breathing her last while Jewel barred the door with her body against a raging Cornelius. She tells Marlow that Jim has sworn never to leave her, but that she is unable to believe him entirely, since her father and other men have made and broken the same promise. She demands that Marlow tell her what the thing is to which Jim often refers, the thing that made him afraid and that he can never forget. Searching for the proper phrase, Marlow finally tells her that it is the fact that he is "not good enough" that Jim can never forget. In a rage, Jewel calls Marlow a liar, informing him that Jim said the same thing. Marlow tries sheepishly to backtrack, saying that no one is good enough. She refuses to listen, though, and the conversation breaks off as footsteps approach. Chapters 34 - 36 Summary Marlow, preparing to leave Patusan, visits the grave of the Dutch-Malay woman. In the darkness and silence, he fancies himself the last man on earth and remarks on the forgotten, lost nature of Patusan. Cornelius appears and begins to talk. Marlow, noting regretfully that he seems to be "doomed to be the recipient of confidences," has no choice but to listen. Cornelius tries to justify his treatment of Jim, citing his fear of Rajah Allang and his need to play both sides to save himself. Marlow tells Cornelius that Jim has forgiven him, although Marlow knows that Cornelius actively hates Jim and that Jim does not trust Cornelius. Cornelius rages at Jim, questioning his intentions toward Patusan, and at Jewel, comparing her to her late mother. He then asks Marlow to talk to Jim for him. Cornelius wants a monetary gift in exchange for his continued guardianship of the girl after Jim returns home. Astounded at the man's vulgarity, Marlow informs him that Jim will not be leaving Patusan. Cornelius erupts in a fit of anger and frustration. Marlow leaves Patusan the next morning. Jim accompanies him down the river to the coast, as they journey by canoe "through the very heart of untouched wilderness." They alight at the coastal village, where two of the fishermen ask for an audience with Jim. He and Marlow take leave of one another; for the first time, Jim speaks of the intense strain he feels at trying to "go on forever holding up [his] end, to feel sure that nothing" of his past can come back to spoil his success. Marlow tells him they will not meet again, unless Jim leaves Patusan. Marlow departs for his ship, while Jim takes up with the fishermen. Drawing away from shore, Jim's white-clad figure remains visible long after other details have vanished. Marlow ends his storytelling session here. At this time, he has no further knowledge of Jim, and the story seems destined to remain incomplete. The narrative skips ahead two years, when one of Marlow's audience receives a packet from Marlow containing a sheaf of documents. This man, who remains unnamed, is the greatest doubter of Marlow's take on Jim's story, but he is also the most interested, and the most polemical; he declared that for Jim to dedicate his life to the non-white inhabitants of Patusan was like "'"selling your soul to a brute."'" (The use of triple quotes here is remarkable for its rarity, for the simple reason that it is correct, and because it is uniquely evocative of Conrad's dense, layered narratives.) The packet contains a letter from Marlow explaining that the enclosed papers represent the best he has been able to do in piecing together the rest of Jim's story. It also contains a letter from Jim, in which he continues to try to justify himself and his plans to Marlow; a very old letter with moral advice from Jim's father, the parson; and a manuscript, written by Marlow, detailing the rest of Jim's adventures. Marlow tells the packet's recipient that he "affirm[s] nothing" of the truth or the meaningfulness of his account, that perhaps Jim's final message is, in fact, in the words that Jim had wished to send to the outside world, nothing. Commentary Chapters 37 and 38 Summary Marlow's narrative begins by describing an encounter with a dying pirate, Gentleman Brown. Marlow tells us that Brown's story will fill in the gaps of a narrative he has gotten from a visit to Stein's many months before. Arriving at Stein's, Marlow recognizes a Bugis whom he had occasionally seen at Jim's. Entering Stein's house, Marlow finds Tamb'Itam, and asks him if Jim is there. Tamb'Itam looks distraught and says, cryptically, "He would not fight." Stein takes Marlow to see Jewel, who is also at his house. The people from Patusan arrived two days ago, according to their host. Jewel, quietly and calmly, reminds Marlow that she had predicted that Jim would leave her, as all men do. She gives Marlow a brief sketch of events, an account that is not shared with the reader. She is too distraught to talk more, and, when Marlow encounters her later in the day, he upsets her still further by pointing out that her distrust of Jim probably contributed to whatever has happened. Stein reassures her that Jim was true, and tells her he will try to explain it to her someday. Marlow leaves Stein's house in the company of Tamb'Itam, who completes Jewel's narrative (again, the information about what happened to Jim is not shared with the reader). Marlow begins to tell the story of Jim's final fate by relating the history of Gentleman Brown, a successful pirate who has become the representative ruffian of the area. Brown is dying, sheltered in the hovel of a dissolute white man in Bangkok who worships Brown's legend and feels privileged to let him die in his home. Brown tells Marlow that he had a run of bad luck, beginning with his capture at the hands of a Spanish patrol boat while smuggling guns. He managed to bribe his way into an escape, stealing another ship to replace his, which had been disabled by his captors. Unfortunately, the stolen ship had very little in the way of fresh water or provisions on board, and Brown feared entering port in a stolen vessel. Dying of hunger, he recalls hearing of the remote territory of Patusan. He and his crew anchor off ...