The Irony Of Lord Jim

1118 Words3 Pages

The Irony Of Lord Jim

Lord Jim was written by Joseph Conrad in 1900. Lord Jim’s tale is a lesson in life. It includes many key literary aspects; the main one, nevertheless, would be irony. With parts of the story exhibiting heroic redemption and others cowardice and shortcomings, it shows the vast conflicts that take place in the story. Lord Jim shows the many hardships the main character,Tuan Jim or Lord Jim, had to go through with great detail. Lord Jim tests the basic worth of a man and the truth that lies within one’s soul. The central irony in this book balances itself upon morality and guilt with a tragic result.

Jim’s soul continued to torture itself for the betrayal he performed when he left the Patna to sink. Jim’s soul would forever punish him for the unspeakable act he committed when he left the Patna to sink. As so, Jim was destined to live the rest of his life in misery when he left the eight hundred passengers to die. The Patna incident caused a chain of self hatred and self loathing that would go on until Jim’s death. Jim’s ever churning soul made him very unhappy. Fighting constantly within himself made Jim experience extreme guilt and anguish. The way Jim struggled on the inside caused Jim to seem lack luster and lazy on the outside. If Jim would have been more at peace with his soul he would not have been in such pain. Being that Jim was somewhat innocent when he first became a water clerk aboard the Patna; he lacked the mental toughness that would be crucial in key situations. With virtue and perseverance Jim struggled on. Trying to find his inner self and to become a good sailor was important to Jim. Forced into maturing because of the importance of his job; Jim often felt isolated and alone. But his love for the sea kept him going even in tough times; ironically it would be the same love that would lead to his destruction.

Indeed, Jim had a great love for the sea. He respected it and its powers. Although it took a tragic event to learn the seas authoritative powers , Jim still admired it. The sea was Jim’s motivation and his passion.

Show More
Related

  • Main Themes In Christopher Mccandless's Into The Wild

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.” – Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Boat By Alistair Macleod

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alistair Macleod’s “The Boat” is a tale of sacrifice, and of silent struggle. A parent’s sacrifice not only of their hopes and dreams, but of their life. The struggle of a marriage which sees two polar opposites raising a family during an era of reimagining. A husband embodying change and hope, while making great sacrifice; a wife gripped in fear of the unknown and battling with the idea of losing everything she has ever had. The passage cited above strongly presents these themes through its content

    Read More

  • Themes in The Boat by Alistair MacLeod

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...He is still anchored to his past and transmits the message that one makes their own choices and should be satisfied with their lives. Moreover, the story shows that one should not be extremely rigid and refuse to change their beliefs and that people should be willing to adapt to new customs in order to prevent isolation. Lastly, reader is able to understand that sacrifice is an important part of life and that nothing can be achieved without it. Boats are often used as symbols to represent a journey through life, and like a captain of a boat which is setting sail, the narrator feels that his journey is only just beginning and realizes that everyone is in charge of their own life. Despite the wind that can sometimes blow feverishly and the waves that may slow the journey, the boat should not change its course and is ultimately responsible for completing its voyage.

    Read More

  • The Twain Juxtaposition

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Convergence of the Twain” is a nonlinear retelling of the Titanic disaster of 1912; however, on a deeper level, the poem explores hubris, downfall, and how fate connects hubris to downfall. Through tone, diction and juxtaposition, the speaker describes the sinking of the Titanic as inevitable and necessary. The juxtaposition of the Titanic and the environment in the first five stanzas symbolizes the opposition between man and nature, suggesting that nature overcomes man. The speaker characterizes the sea as being “deep from human vanity” (2) and deep from the “Pride of Life that planned” the Titanic. The diction of “human vanity” (2) suggests that the sea is incorruptible by men, and then the speaker’s juxtaposition of vanity with “the Pride of Life” (3), an allusion to humanity, further implies a connection between the two.

    Read More

  • The Awakening Water Analysis

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.

    Read More

  • Comparing Mary Anne in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong and Kurtz in Apocalypse Now

    2598 Words  | 6 Pages

    Watts, Cedric. 'Heart of Darkness.' The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Stape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 45-62.

    Read More

  • Symbolism of the Sea in Chopin’s The Awakening

    448 Words  | 1 Pages

    “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”

    Read More

  • The Voice of the Sea in The Awakening

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.  The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.  The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace (Chopin 25).

    Read More

  • The Open Boat Essay

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    They are forced to contend with the realization that their survival does not matter to nature. The correspondent comes to the realization, “When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples” (Crane 213). While the men may try to pin their trouble on the “mythicized deity,” that really does not serve them. When discussing this, Hilfer says, “The discomfiting thing about nature is that though we can address it, our messages can only come back stamped ‘return to sender’” (251). No matter how much the men in the boat try to make sense of what is happening to them, they cannot find the being or force behind

    Read More

  • Epic of Beowulf

    1716 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Seafarer highlites the transience of wordly joys which are so little important and the fact thet we have no power in comparison to God.

    Read More

  • Overview of Gary Carey's Themes in Treasure Island

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    From this critical analysis, I have experienced a new insight on Treasure Island. My idea of a quest before reading Gary Carey’s analysis was a rough adventure the protagonist forgoes only to obtain a treasure. Now, Carey has provided a further definition to the term quest. It is a tale of hardship, courage, and one’s place in the world. The quest story is often an analogy of the protagonist’s salvation and life’s purpose. I agree that Jim finds himself through the other characters as well as through perilous adventures.

    Read More

  • Relationship between the Individual and Nature in The Open Boat

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    The human voyage into life is basically feeble, vulnerable, uncontrollable.  Since the crew on a dangerous sea without hope are depicted as "the babes of the sea", it can be inferred that we are likely to be ignorant strangers in the universe.  In addition to the danger we face, we have to also overcome the new challenges of the waves in the daily life.  These waves are "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall", requiring "a new leap, and a leap."  Therefore, the incessant troubles arising from human conditions often bring about unpredictable crises as "shipwrecks are apropos of nothing."  The tiny "open boat", which characters desperately cling to, signifies the weak, helpless, and vulnerable conditions of human life since it is deprived of other protection due to the shipwreck.  The "open boat" also accentuates the "open suggestion of hopelessness" amid the wild waves of life.  The crew of the boat perceive their precarious fate as "preposterous" and "absurd" so much so that they can feel the "tragic" aspect and "coldness of the water."   At this point, the question of why they are forced to be "dragged away" and to "nibble the sacred cheese of life" raises a meaningful issue over life itself.  This pessimistic view of life reflects the helpless human condition as well as the limitation of human life.

    Read More

  • The Character of the Captain in Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Symbolism was used to express the Captains minds set. In the beginning paragraphs, the Captain is viewed as depressed, apprehensive, and insecure. The Captain viewed the land as insecure, whereas the sea was stable. The Captain was secure with the sea, and wished he were more like it.

    Read More

  • Comparing Colonialism and Imperialism in Heart of Darkness and Kipling's Poetry

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    * Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor.  (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)

    Read More

  • Ship Wreck

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fear has taken a hold of every man aboard this ship, as it should; our luck is as far gone as the winds that led us off course. For nights and days gusts beyond measure have forced us south, yet our vessel beauty, Le Serpent, stays afloat. The souls aboard her, lay at the mercy of this ruthless sea. Chaotic weather has turned the crew from noble seamen searching for glory and riches, to whimpering children. To stay sane I keep the holy trinity close to my heart and the lady on my mind. Desperation comes and goes from the men’s eyes, while the black, blistering clouds fasten above us, as endless as the ocean itself. The sea rocks our wood hull back and forth but has yet to flip her. The rocking forces our bodies to cling to any sturdy or available hinge, nook or rope, anything a man can grasp with a sea soaked hand. The impacts make every step a danger. We all have taken on a ghoulish complexion; the absence of sunlight led the weak souls aboard to fight sleep until sick. Some of us pray for the sun to rise but thunder constantly deafens our cries as it crackles above the mast. We have been out to sea for fifty-five days and we have been in this forsaken storm for the last seventeen.

    Read More

More about The Irony Of Lord Jim

Open Document