Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lord Jim, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fantasy vs. Reality
Justice and Duty
Racism and Colonialism
Truth and Perspective
Summary
Analysis
At dinner with Marlow, Jim tells of how a steamer called the Avondale came right by to pick up the boat with him, the skipper, and the two engineers. Jim is still haunted by the shouts for help that he remembers from those on the Patna, but none of the others remember hearing shouts for help. Later, when the Patna is towed to shore and Jim and the others are exposed as frauds, it was almost a relief to Jim. He concludes that he must have imagined the shouts for help.
The dread of having to face the consequences is worse for Jim than actually facing them. This helps explain his seemingly illogical behavior earlier—why he chose to stand trial for his actions rather than running way, despite Jim’s tendency to run away in so many other situations.
Themes
Even after being exposed as liars, the skipper and the two engineers maintain that they saw the lights of the Patna were off when they were in their rescue boat. Jim remembers this too. Jim wonders, however, if perhaps the men already knew what they wanted to see and simply overlooked any evidence that might contradict it. Marlow supposes the clouds of the squall might also have helped hide the lights.
While the human imagination can inspire fear, here Jim considers how the imagination can also pacify people, showing them exactly what they want to see. Jim is able to diagnose many problems of the human mind, but this doesn’t help him actually come to terms with his own psychological unrest.
Themes
Later, Marlow hears more of the story of the Patna from a French lieutenant who was on a gunboat coming from Reunion when the crew of the Patna was discovered. Marlow learns this story many years later when he happens to meet the old lieutenant in Sydney. The French lieutenant looks to Marlow like a reliable man.
As someone who has no stakes in what happens to Jim, the French lieutenant adds an outside perspective to the story. Although he lacks context for many of the events, the French lieutenant is reliable precisely because he doesn’t have a vested interest in portraying events in a certain way.
Themes
The French lieutenant tells Marlow about overseeing the rescue of the abandoned Patna. He describes the events calmly and complains about being on the Patna for 30 hours without any wine to have with meals. He mentions how there was a lot of interest about George’s corpse and ultimately concludes that many parts of that incident still remain mysterious to him.
The French lieutenant’s complaint about not having wine is humorous and shows how different people pick up on different details. For Jim, the Patna is the greatest shame of his life, but for the French lieutenant, it’s just an inconvenient job that he doesn’t think about much afterward.
Themes
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