Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

902 Words2 Pages

One should always remember that a coin has two sides. This saying reminds us about the fact that most things in life have a flipside to them; be it a person, object or even a story for that matter. It has been seen that every story, be it a part of history or modern age society, has had at least two sides to it. Observing one side as being the perspective of the narrator and the other being the reality or the truth. The hero of the novel Lord Jim, written by Joseph Conrad, is undoubtedly Jim himself. Marlow, the narrator of the story, was a seafarer and it was his soft spot for Jim that was the force behind Marlow helping Jim to start afresh and to look out for him.
Jim believed that reality was all about a mentally constructed world. He had this mindset because of the fact that he was a dreamer who believed that the world of reality was more about leading a dictated life where he had to live in accordance to various rules and limitations with an understanding that there was no scope of following his dreams or for creativity of any sort. And on the other hand there was Marlow, a sailor, who was a man of discipline, morals and ethics. Marlow shared something with Jim that took their relationship to a whole new level that is their love for the sea and the glory, honor and adventure that comes with it.
The central character of the story, Jim, started off with sailing the seas, but, his incident with Patna was the biggest interruption in his life. Abandoning the ship meant that Jim was the stripped off his position as Chief mate and he also claimed that there was no other option but to desert the ship. Although, he did spend the rest of life in regret, wishing that he could go back in time and change his decision. On hearing of th...

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...r nothing would have been possible without the involvement of Marlow, for he wanted nothing more than to lead his ‘simple’ and unambiguous life. Now, talking about Jim it can be seen that there has been a significant growth in character since the start. Jim, who has always been the dreamer, visionary and romantic, is after all human and humans learn from common error or mistakes. “I may have jumped, but I don’t run away”(Conrad). He took complete responsibility for his actions and was ready to face the consequences. “’I whom you have tried and found always true ask you to let them go.’ He turned to Doramin. The old Nakhoda made no movement. ‘Then,’ said Jim, ‘Call in Dain Waris, or son, my friend, for in this business I might not lead’”(Conrad). After all, the real hero does prove himself only to come out as a true hero.

Works Cited

• Conrad, J. Lord Jim. Oxford.

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