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
Marlow continues his story. All the authorities at the Patna’s trial seem to have already made up their minds, but they’re still holding a trial to satisfy the legal requirements. No one knows how the Patna got damaged, and in fact, no one at the trial really cares about this detail. Out of all the Patna crew members, Jim is the only one who showed up to stand trial.
This passage explores the bureaucracy of European-style courtrooms. Although everyone in the courtroom already seems to have made up their mind, there is still a long process to go through. Later, the novel will contrast this bureaucratic process with other forms of justice in order to question whether court justice accurately represents morality.
Themes
One of the men overseeing Jim’s trial is a distinguished captain named Brierly who looks bored—he seems to already believe that Jim is guilty. Not long after the trial, however, Brierly will die by suicide. The suicide is mysterious, but one of his mates suggests that it seems to have been premeditated, based on the strange way Captain Brierly was acting before the suicide, talking much more than he usually did. A new captain with a strong stutter takes Brierly’s place. The new captain tries to sit in Brierly’s chair, but Brierly’s mate objects to this and tries to preserve the memory of the old captain.
Brierly’s story is meant to be strange, and the novel does not fully explain why he dies by suicide. Suicide is a common topic in modernist novels, and Marlow brings up the subject several times, often because he fears that Jim will die by suicide. The episode with Brierly shows how people can engage in self-destructive behavior, often without giving any warning or reason to the people around them.
Themes
Marlow himself spoke to Captain Brierly while he was still alive, when the inquiry about the Patna was still going on. Brierly complained about the inconvenience of being chosen to conduct the inquiry. He says he feels like a fool and wonders why the inquiry is being so hard on Jim. Brierly doesn’t understand why Jim stayed behind when he has no hope of winning and other crew members cleared out. He wonders whether Jim’s refusal to leave is really a type of courage or just an unusual type of cowardice.
Marlow’s knowledge of Jim’s trial comes from a variety of sources—his own eyewitness account of the trial, his conversations with Jim, and also his conversations with peripheral figures to the trial like Brierly. In a way, Marlow’s storytelling style resembles journalism, where multiple sources are compiled into one story.
Themes
Literary Devices
Brierly tells Marlow that while he doesn’t really care about Asian pilgrims, sailors must maintain some professional dignity. Incidents like what Jim did (or failed to do) shake Brierly’s own confidence about what he’d do in a tough situation. Brierly hurries off, and, at the time, Marlow isn’t sure what he’s really thinking.
Brierly’s lack of concern for the pilgrims indicates how careless many Europeans were during the colonial era, and how the residents of foreign countries were often little more than instruments for them to achieve their economic and nationalist goals.
Themes
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The day in court after Marlow speaks to Brierly, Marlow sits alone in court to watch Jim give testimony again. Eventually, Jim is taken away, and a new case about assault and battery begins. Someone has brought a yellow dog into the court room, and the dog wanders around between people’s legs. Another person curses at the dog, calling it a “cur.”
Seemingly insignificant details in the story, such as the yellow dog here, often take on surprising significance later. The case about assault and battery right after Jim’s suggests that, while Jim’s case was indeed a big news item, it wasn’t quite as all-consuming as Jim himself believes it to be.
Themes
As Marlow is exiting the courtroom in a crowd, Jim turns around and stops Marlow from leaving, asking if Marlow said something to him. Marlow replies that he didn’t. Jim insists so forcefully that he heard something that even Marlow wonders if he accidentally did say something to Jim. Jim then asks Marlow why he was staring at him all morning. Marlow defends himself, saying he was just looking normally, and Jim apologizes.
Jim shows a lot of defensiveness in this passage. Honor is one of the most important virtues to him, and so he reacts angrily whenever anybody questions his honor. Partly, this may be because Jim is insecure about his honor—he remains haunted by memories of the times he failed to live up to his own moral code.
Themes
Marlow can tell Jim has made a mistake and knows it, and so Marlow wants to end the awkward encounter quickly. He can also tell that Jim is angry and doesn’t want to get punched. Jim tells Marlow he wants to prove that he’s not a liar and not a “cur.” Marlow realizes the issue: Jim thought the insult at the dog was meant for him. Marlow tries to explain the situation, and Jim refuses to listen until finally Marlow points to the yellow dog near the floor.
The fact that Jim gets angry over a mistake with a dog adds some humor, showing that Jim is so serious that he verges on becoming silly. Jim and Marlow’s different personalities perhaps reflect their different ages, with Jim being younger and much more sensitive about proving his worth to the world.
Themes
Jim is so humiliated by his mistake about the cur that he doesn’t speak anymore. He gets away from Marlow, but Marlow catches up to him outside the courthouse. Marlow wonders whether Jim will run away, but Jim says he won’t. In fact, Jim says that not only is he not running from Marlow, but he never runs from any man. The eventually both apologize to each other. Jim tries to explain himself by saying that the people in court are such fools that someone really might have been calling him a cur. Marlow feels like he knows Jim better, but he still finds Jim mysterious. Marlow invites Jim to dinner at his hotel.
Jim’s behavior continues to be a little bit ridiculous and perhaps even funny. As much as Jim doesn’t like to picture himself running away from anything, he will continue to run away from different situations for much of the book. What makes his character both tragic and humorous is how he can’t stop running away no matter how much he wants to stay put.
Themes
