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
When Tamb’ Itam makes it back to the village, things are festive. Tamb’ Itam has to break the news that they killed Dain Waris and many others, first to Doramin, then to Jim. Jim says there’s no time and he must take action, but Tamb’ Itam prevents him from going out, saying that it isn’t safe for Jim to be among the people.
The festive spirit in the village contrasts with the news that is about to break, recalling the old saying that ignorance is bliss. The village of Patusan, which was once a safe haven for Jim, now suddenly becomes a place where his life is in danger.
Themes
Jim stays in his house, his life once again in ruins. Marlow believes this is when Jim attempted to write his half-finished letter. Tamb’ Itam warns Jim that they might have to fight for their lives, but Jim says he has no life. Jewel also encourages Jim to fight, but Jim just says to open the gates of his house.
Previous chapters have hinted at how fragile Jim’s happiness in Patusan was, and now this passage shows how Jim falls into despair as soon as things fall apart. While Jim has people willing to fight for his life and who see value in him, he once again finds that crisis paralyzes him.
Themes
Dain Waris’s body is brought back and laid at Doramin’s feet. There’s a commotion when Dain Waris’s body is uncovered, and everyone in the crowd sees Jim’s ring. Jim emerges from his contemplation and says to Tamb’ Itam that it’s time to finish things. Jewel again pleads with Jim to fight or flee, but Jim says he has no reason left to do either. Jewel accuses Jim of breaking his promise to stay with her, but he says he’s not worth keeping.
Jim’s words to Jewel suggest a suicidal personality, just as Marlow always feared. Although Jim uses the language of justice and honor to describe his actions, the people who love him, like Jewel and Tamb’ Itam, believe that Jim is acting more out of fear and desperation than honor.
Themes
It’s a stormy evening. Jim canoes over to Doramin’s village. Tamb’ Itam goes with him, but after a while, Jim forces him to follow at a distance. As Jim comes into the torchlight, the mourning sounds in the village stop. Everyone begins to murmur. Jim announces that he comes unarmed and ready to face whatever comes.
The novel invites the question of how to judge Jim’s actions: is he finally facing his problems head on, or has he just found a new way of running away from them?
Themes
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Doramin, held up by two servants, gets to his feet slowly. He is full of rage and pain as he raises one arm and shoots Jim in the chest. Jim falls forward, already dead. In his letter, Marlow comments that Jim died as he lived, a hopeless romantic. Jim left behind a real-life wife to find a different sort of bride with his ideals. Though Jim is no more, Marlow sometimes still sees him as a ghost. Jewel lives a dull life with Stein, who is getting older and is ready to die and leave his butterfly specimens behind. And so ends Marlow’s letter about the last days of Jim’s life.
The ending provides a definitive end to Jim’s life but still raises questions about how to interpret the events. While Marlow clearly faults Jim for committing too much to his ideals, and particularly for abandoning Jewel, he doesn’t necessarily see Jim as a bad person, just a flawed one. Jim seems to have acted in the foolishness of youth, and the butterfly imagery that closes the novel reinforces this idea: unlike nature, which can achieve the degree of perfection that Jim dreamed of in his heroic fantasies, humans are fundamentally flawed and fated to fail, decay, and die. On the other hand, for better and for worse, Jim will always be preserved in Marlow’s memory as he was, just as Stein’s butterflies are preserved under glass.
Themes
Literary Devices
