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
After Jewel stops Marlow, Jewel asks suspiciously why Marlow came to see Jim if he has no intention of taking Jim away. Marlow tries to explain that it’s just friendship and business and that he’d prefer for Jim to stay in Patusan.
Jewel tells Marlow about how on the night that the four men came to assassinate Jim, Jim promised that he’d never abandon her with Cornelius. Cornelius later confesses to Marlow about his role in Sherif Ali’s plot to kill Jim. Cornelius was mystified by Jim and says he really would have saved him if Jim had only paid him.
Jim’s behavior continues to be a mystery to many of those around him. While Jim often fails to live up to his lofty ideals, they nevertheless inspire him to follow a code of conduct that seems strange to people who don’t know him.
Themes
After the attackers jumped in the river to swim back to Sherif Ali, Jewel urged Jim to leave her and get out of Patusan. But Jim stayed with her. Jewel says to Marlow that her big fear that night was that she would die weeping, the way her mother did. When Jewel’s mother was on her sickbed, she cried as Cornelius pounded to be let in, but Jewel held the door at her mother’s command. Jim promises to never leave her, but Jewel says other men have made the same promise before. Jewel begins to believe, however, that Jim isn’t like other men.
The death of Jewel’s mother is a harrowing scene that confirms the cruel nature of Cornelius. Jewel’s position barricading the doorway between her two parents shows once again how she occupies an in-between place, caught between two different worlds (European and Malay).
Themes
Jewel begins asking Marlow about what it is from Jim’s past that haunts him and troubles his sleep. Marlow feels a great responsibility about how to respond correctly to this question. He finally assures her by answering that nothing from Jim’s past could ever tear him away from her. He promises Jewel that he’ll never come back again and that no one else from outside ever wants to see Jim again.
Despite Jim’s success in Patusan, his past continues to haunt him. His dreams and sleep-talking reveal to Jewel the things that he doesn’t let out during the daytime. In order to please Jewel, Marlow perhaps overstates how unwanted Jim is in the outside world. Earlier chapters proved that if Jim wanted to find more traditional work, he could easily to so, and most people would overlook his past.
Themes
Literary Devices
Get the entire Lord Jim LitChart as a printable PDF.
All around, the air in Patusan is silent. At last, Jewel asks why no one outside wants Jim. Marlow is a little annoyed at her insistence and says that it’s because Jim isn’t good enough. Jewel angrily calls Marlow a liar, and Marlow softens, adding that nobody is good enough.
Marlow develops his thoughts as he speaks. First, he faults Jim for failing to be the hero he imagines himself to be. But as Marlow considers the subject further, he realizes that maybe nobody turns out to be exactly the type of person they dream of becoming.
Themes
