More Subjects
Your Name
Instructor Name
Course Number
Date
The recurring motif of the jump in Lord Jim
Introduction
Lord Jim is a novel written by Joseph Conrad. The novel is about a man named Marlow who struggles to tell the story of a man named Jim. Jim is a youthful character, who became a chief mate and daydreams about becoming a hero. He never faced danger except for once that changed his course of life. An analysis of the novel highlights that there are a lot of motifs that add to the mood of the story, one such motif is “jump” (Archer, pp.233-249). The reoccurring motif of jump in Lord Jim not only imparts aesthetic sense but it added to the moral structure of the novel.
Discussion
Lord Jim is a collection of symbols, addressing different traits and aspects of life such as goodness, and ill-will. In this novel, the moral sense of Jim is an incomplete paradigm that is brought to completion through a series of events. Similarly, actions also take some symbolic meaning such as Jim’s jumping made up the plot of the novel. His first jump out of the ship Patna was a shift to fear and darkness, a life that was full of guilt and it asserted morality under the cover of shame. Here, it is observed that after jumping from the ship, the moral crisis behooved and forced him to confront the horror, although his confidence in his superiority was much absolute to him. His jump from the vessel became a source of moral isolation and then desolation. Here, the strong desire for peace is waxed stronger and his hopes are declined. After that Jim jumped into the mystery of Patusan, which was also equally frightening but this jump was a preparation to the jump into destination. (death) (Brown, pp. 91-111).
The jump into the unknown agonizes his moral sense and it impels him to scrutinize the essence of betrayal. The jump made him realize that he can separate from his captain and Jim remind us of the tragic heroes of the past who encounter life with both moral instructions and risks (Conrad). It is inferred that the jump has made him admit that he has failed to meet the stands of his moral code. It is observed that Conrad uses Jim as a character to indicate and highlight the moral process of recovery. The author delineates this process of recovery as both a laceration as well as continuous anguish that leads to the judgment of a layman’s personality (Archer, pp.233-249).
It is found that Jim’s personality is his sense of repulsion that is tantamount to moral renunciation. With the end of the story, it is brought into insight that the moral pressure on Jim never eases, the actions of “jumping” that changes the complete essence of the story played a major role in making Jim measure his moral worth. From the perspective of the Official Court of Inquiry, Jim never opposes the charge of cowardness and irresponsibility and it is another vision of the moral goodness that was born in Jim (Brown, pp. 91-111).
Conclusion
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad is a novel that stands on the ground of social, moral and ethical framework. The Motif of an action, “jump”, twisted the plot of story and every time Jim jump, either for the sake of life or out of forwardness, either in reality or in imagination he is brought to a new vision that can teach him morality. It would not be wrong to say that Joseph Conrad has portrayed a fitful but an ascendant procedure of the transfiguration of the life of a hero, deep-rooted in redemption. The story asserted morality as a boat that knows the way to safe destiny (redemption), initiated by the act of jumping that is presented as a plot creator of the novel.
Work Cited
Archer, Alfred. "How Moral Exemplars Can Ruin Your Life: The Case of Conrad’s Lord Jim." The Moral Psychology of Admiration. Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. 233-249.
Brown, James. "Between Shame and Guilt: Lord Jim and the Confounding of Distinctions." Shame and Modern Writing. Routledge, 2018. 91-111.
Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim. Broadview Press, 2000.
More Subjects
Join our mailing list
© All Rights Reserved 2024