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
During Marlow’s visit to Patusan, Jim goes on walks with Jewel in the evening and how sometimes when Marlow is there, he walks, too. Otherwise, Marlow sees little of Jewel on his visit, mostly remembering her olive-colored skin and blue-black hair. She seems both shy and bold at the same time. She speaks fairly good English with a boyish accent. Jewel loves Jim intensely and seems vigilant about any potential threat to their love.
Jewel’s boyish accent is significant: it suggests that she is logical culmination of all Jim’s childhood fantasies. While the “romances” Jim read growing were more about adventure than love, love is nevertheless a key element of many adventure stories. Jewel’s intense devotion to Jim (due to her lack of attachments to other people in Patusan) makes her seem like a loyal love interest from a story.
Themes
Tamb’ Itam, Jim’s servant, lurks in the background during Marlow’s visit, silently watching for danger and disappearing unless he senses Jim has an order. Jim left Doramin’s place soon after arriving so that he could carry out Stein’s business, a decision that potentially made Jim vulnerable. This was before Jim’s victory over Sherif Ali. At that time, he took up residence with Cornelius (Stein’s previous contact in the area and Jewel’s stepfather). Marlow figures Cornelius must have also had some level of protection from Doramin, due to Cornelius’s previous work with Stein.
Although many residents of Patusan believe that Jim is invincible, this passage reveals all the invisible ways that Jim was receiving protection from outside sources, whether through Tamb’ Itam’s watchful eye or through Doramin’s guidance. More broadly, this could reflect how, as a European from a respected family, Jim goes through life with privilege, sometimes without even realizing it—and often at the expense of oppressed peoples whose aid goes unrecognized.
Themes
Cornelius is a disgusting-looking man who didn’t feed Jim well but charged him a lot of money to stay with him. Nevertheless, he pretended to be very friendly with Jim and constantly apologized for all the inconveniences. Cornelius claimed Stein owes him money, but his record books have pages torn and missing (which he blamed on his late wife, Jewel’s biological mother). Rumor has it that Rajah Allang wanted to kill Jim, but for six weeks, Jim continued to live undisturbed with Cornelius.
Outward appearances in this novel often reflect a character’s internal state, and so Cornelius’s ugliness is a physical sign of his bad moral state. Although it isn’t clear precisely what Cornelius has done, it seems that the missing pages from the record books are his attempt to run from his past, just as Jim is trying to erase the Patna from his past.
Themes
