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Lord Jim | Introduction

Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, first published in England in 1900, has long been acknowledged as a very difficult book for readers to understand, especially on the first read. However, those who have taken the time to understand the book acknowledge that the effort is worth it. Lord Jim, which Conrad began as a short sketch, grew into a novel that is widely recognized for its modernism—its tendency to buck the conventional narrative trends of its day. The most obvious technique that Conrad used was a shifting form of narration, in which the reader hears a tale first from one narrator, then another, and finally from several disparate accounts.

Like many Conrad novels, this book features autobiographical elements from Conrad's own naval past. The story concerns a young man named Jim, who undertakes the training to become a naval officer, but his certificate is revoked when he deserts his ship during a crisis, leaving eight hundred Moslem pilgrims to what he thinks is a certain death—although the pilgrims live to tell the tale of his cowardice. Jim continually runs from this past, eventually to Patusan, a remote island in the Far East. Here, Jim starts fresh, earning the respect of the natives, who call him Lord Jim and attribute his many successes to supernatural powers. Jim must face the fears from his old life, however, and his ability to finally do this leads to the novel's tragic and ambiguous ending. Conrad's tale is so complex and open to individual interpretation that many critics have noted that the book has no one meaning and that it is all based on a paradox. However, this ambiguity has captivated readers for over a hundred years, and since its publication, many have regarded the book as Conrad's best.

Lord Jim Summary

Chapters 1-12
Lord Jim starts out with a capsule description of Jim—a tall, powerful man—by a third-person narrator, who gives both Jim's background and briefly mentions events that take place far in Jim's future. This jumping around in time is a common technique in the book. As a child, Jim is drawn to the sea and goes into training to be an officer, hoping to be a hero someday. His first attempts at heroism fail, and, in fact, the narrator starts to talk about a mysterious incident that haphappens to Jim on the Patna but does not explain exactly what happens. At this point, the story shifts to a first-person narration by Marlow, a man Jim meets at his yet unexplained trial. Marlow's language reveals that he is telling Jim's story to a group of people, and the reader is merely listening in. Eventually, the reader learns that Jim was one of the officers aboard the Patna who deserted the ship when they thought it was going to sink, leaving their eight hundred Moslem pilgrims to die. However, the ship is saved, and Jim stands trial for his dishonorable actions.

Chapters 13-21
The night before Jim's sentencing, Marlow offers him money to flee from punishment. Jim refuses to run, and faces his sentencing, which involves the revoking of his naval certificate. Marlow gives Jim a second chance by referring him to a job with Mr. Denver, the owner of a rice mill. However, when one of the Patna crew shows up and threatens to blackmail Jim for a full-time job, Jim leaves the position. He does this several more times, earning a reputation as a transient individual. When Jim throws a drunken navy officer off a verandah and into a river after the officer makes a remark about the Patna, Marlow realizes that Jim will never get over his guilt unless something is done. Marlow goes to see Mr. Stein, a merchant and butterfly collector, who says that Jim is a romantic and that a romantic cannot be cured, people can only tell them how to live. Marlow then describes the island of Patusan, introducing it to his audience and talking briefly about a visiting the island two years later, when he finds Jim is a changed man.

Chapters 22–27
At this point, Marlow jumps back to the time when he told Jim about Patusan. Although Jim is nervous at first, he warms to the idea of escape there, and Marlow helps him pack, giving him a silver ring that Stein received from Doramin, one of the island's leaders. Jim and Marlow say their emotional... » Complete Lord Jim Summary