Early on in the novel, when describing to readers the relationship between Jim and his father, Marlow uses a hyperbole, as seen in the following passage:
“I can’t tell you whether Jim knew he was especially ‘fancied,’ but the tone of his references to ‘my Dad’ was calculated to give me a notion that the good old rural dean was about the finest man that ever had been worried by the cares of a large family since the beginning of the world […] ‘He has seen it all in the home papers by this time,’ said Jim. ‘I can never face the poor old chap’.”
The hyperbole here—in which Marlow describes Jim’s father as “the finest man that ever had been worried by the cares of a large family since the beginning of the world”—is meant to communicate the intensity of Jim’s devotion to his father, and it explains why Jim is so afraid of his father reading about his trial (for his decision to abandon the passengers on the Patna) in the “home papers.”
Marlow’s exaggerated language is also an example of verbal irony, as he does not actually believe that Jim’s father is "the finest man […] since the beginning of the world." Rather, he's using sarcasm to gently mock the ways that Marlow idolizes his father. This moment highlights how Jim lives in a fantasy world at times, viewing his father, sailing, and adventure in romantic, unrealistic ways.
In an example of situational irony, George (one of the engineers aboard the Patna) tries to stay alive by fleeing from the damaged ship during the storm—only to die from a heart attack in the process. Marlow’s commentary on the man’s death highlights the irony of this moment:
“Weak heart. The man had been complaining of being out of sorts for some time before. Excitement. Over-exertion. Devil only knows. Ha! ha! ha! It was easy to see he did not want to die either. Droll, isn’t it? May I be shot if he hadn’t been fooled into killing himself! Fooled—neither more nor less.”
Marlow laughs before noting how “[i]t was easy to see [George] did not want to die” and stating that the man was “fooled into killing himself.” Marlow sees how it is “droll” (or comical) that George would have survived had he not tried to stay alive, since the Patna did not end up sinking after all. In other words, had George acted heroically by staying with the ship rather than abandoning the 800 passengers on board, he might not have died.
George’s ironic death acts a sort of warning to Jim, hinting to him that being selfish can lead to one’s ruin. Unlike George, Jim does not run away from his problems when he gets into trouble at the end of the novel, instead facing them head on and dying while taking accountability for his actions in Patusan.
In a subtle example of situational irony, Jim leaves his comfortable home in England in order to become a hero and find success—hoping to impress his family and community back home—only to end up finding that kind of “success” on a remote island unknown to the outside world. In other words, while Jim becomes a hero in Patusan—earning the title of “Lord Jim” in the process—this kind of success is not legible to the people back home (who, because of their colonial mindsets, look down on the residents of Southeast Asia) and also not something they would easily hear about in the first place.
The irony of Jim’s situation comes across in the following passage, in which Marlow describes the lack of external validation for Jim’s success:
“The conquest of love, honour, men’s confidence—the pride of it, the power of it, are fit materials for a heroic tale; only our minds are struck by the externals of such a success, and to Jim’s successes there were no externals. Thirty miles of forest shut it off from the sight of an indifferent world, and the noise of the white surf along the coast overpowered the voice of fame.”
As Marlow notes, “there were no externals” when it came to Jim’s heroism in Patusan—“thirty miles of forest” and “the noise of the white surf” kept him from experiencing the kind of “fame” that he had always craved.
When Marlow and Jim are on their way to drop Jim off in Patusan, Marlow describes the characteristics of one of the ship’s crew members using racist hyperbolic language and verbal irony, as seen in the following passage:
“[H]er master, a dapper little half-caste of forty or so, in a blue flannel suit, with lively eyes, his round face the colour of lemon-peel, and with a thin little black moustache drooping on each side of his thick, dark lips, came forward smirking […] His flowing English seemed to be derived from a dictionary compiled by a lunatic.”
The first hyperbole here—in which Marlow describes the man’s face as being “the colour of lemon-peel”—is clearly exaggerated. Marlow’s exaggeration is built on the racist notion that East Asian people have a yellow skin tone. The rest of the description of the sailor’s looks also have a racist edge to them, as he describes the man’s “drooping” “thin little black moustache” and “thick, dark lips.” This imagery rests on stereotypical tropes of Southeast Asian people.
The verbal irony in this passage—in which Marlow describes how the man's “flowing English seemed to be derived from a dictionary compiled by a lunatic”—communicates Marlow’s elitism. This sarcastic description communicates how he looks down on the sailor for not having a command of the English language, despite the fact that he is a non-native speaker. With this moment, Conrad is highlighting how white Europeans like Marlow perpetuate racism in both the ways they treat and talk about members of colonized nations like the sailor in this passage.
Near the end of the novel, Marlow describes a conversation he had with Jewel about whether Jim is planning to leave Patusan or not, using a simile and a metaphor in the process:
“Why did I come, then? After a slight movement [Jewel] was as still as a marble statue in the night. I tried to explain briefly: friendship, business; if I had any wish in the matter it was rather to see him stay. . . . ‘They always leave us,’ she murmured. The breath of sad wisdom from the grave which her piety wreathed with flowers seemed to pass in a faint sigh. . . . Nothing, I said, could separate Jim from her.”
The simile here—in which Marlow describes how Jewel “was as still as a marble statue” while waiting to hear why Marlow came back to Patusan—captures the intensity of Jewel's anxiety about Marlow possibly coming to take Jim back with him. She is so scared that her husband might be leaving her that she cannot move or breathe.
The metaphor in this passage is a bit more complex. When Marlow describes “the grave which [Jewel’s] piety wreathed with flowers” he is capturing something important about the effects of colonialism. Because Jewel is so used to white colonizers coming to Patusan, taking what they want, and then leaving, she is preparing herself to lose Jim (if he were to go back to Europe), and, Marlow imagines, has already built a grave for him inside of her mind and heart.
The ultimate irony, of course, is that Jim ends up in a literal grave (after choosing to stay in Patusan) rather than in a metaphorical one (if he had left Jewel and gone home to Europe). This situational irony becomes clear at the end of the novel when Jim is killed by Doramin after failing to protect the Malay community from Brown’s attack.
In an example of dramatic irony, Gentleman Brown convinces Jim that he is trustworthy, while readers know that Brown is intentionally manipulating him. When Jim decides to free Brown from confinement and trust that he will leave Patusan for good, readers are aware that Brown is working with Cornelius to plan an attack on the island community. The following passage in Chapter 40, narrated by Marlow, captures Brown’s true intentions:
“The idea of there being a fort—all ready to his hand—a real fort, with artillery (he knew this from Cornelius), excited him. Let him only once get in and . . . He would impose modest conditions.”
It is clear from this passage that Brown has plans from the beginning of his time in Patusan to take control of the island community in a classically colonial way. The irony comes in when, just a few chapters later, in Chapter 43, Brown successfully convinces Jim that he comes in peace, as Marlow describes:
“It is evident that [Jim] did not mistrust Brown; there was no reason to doubt the story, whose truth seemed warranted by the rough frankness, by a sort of virile sincerity in accepting the morality and the consequences of his acts. But Jim did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man which made him, when resisted and foiled in his will, mad with the indignant and revengeful rage of a thwarted autocrat.”
This passage makes it apparent that Jim (incorrectly) trusts Brown’s performance of “rough frankness” and “virile sincerity.” Marlow’s narration that Jim “did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man” highlights the irony of this moment. While Jim believes that it’s possible for white Europeans (such as himself) to have positive intentions in Southeast Asia, he overlooks the fact that many are driven by the desire to control and conquer.
In an example of dramatic irony, Gentleman Brown convinces Jim that he is trustworthy, while readers know that Brown is intentionally manipulating him. When Jim decides to free Brown from confinement and trust that he will leave Patusan for good, readers are aware that Brown is working with Cornelius to plan an attack on the island community. The following passage in Chapter 40, narrated by Marlow, captures Brown’s true intentions:
“The idea of there being a fort—all ready to his hand—a real fort, with artillery (he knew this from Cornelius), excited him. Let him only once get in and . . . He would impose modest conditions.”
It is clear from this passage that Brown has plans from the beginning of his time in Patusan to take control of the island community in a classically colonial way. The irony comes in when, just a few chapters later, in Chapter 43, Brown successfully convinces Jim that he comes in peace, as Marlow describes:
“It is evident that [Jim] did not mistrust Brown; there was no reason to doubt the story, whose truth seemed warranted by the rough frankness, by a sort of virile sincerity in accepting the morality and the consequences of his acts. But Jim did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man which made him, when resisted and foiled in his will, mad with the indignant and revengeful rage of a thwarted autocrat.”
This passage makes it apparent that Jim (incorrectly) trusts Brown’s performance of “rough frankness” and “virile sincerity.” Marlow’s narration that Jim “did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man” highlights the irony of this moment. While Jim believes that it’s possible for white Europeans (such as himself) to have positive intentions in Southeast Asia, he overlooks the fact that many are driven by the desire to control and conquer.
