Unbearable Light
"'it is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges
to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge’” (51).
Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1900)
Points for Reflection
Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1900), chps. 1-15
- Conrad quickly intimates that some as-yet-unnamed “fact” pursues Jim (8), yet refrains from immediately identifying that nature of that fact/event; he doles out details very, very slowly. Does this create in the first-time reader a delightful sense of suspense, or is his reticence infuriating? At what points does Conrad add key bits of information that help us complete this ghostly portrait of the novel’s core occurrence?
- does the first narrator betray any opinions concerning his characters and their actions, or does he reserve judgment and remain detached?
- what of our second narrator, Marlow; is his an unbiased perspective?
- Conrad’s first and omniscient narrator suggests that the “Imagination” is “the enemy of men” (12 top). Does this prove to be the case for Jim, or does his imagination empower him?
- does this novel, filled as it is with carefully constructed passages and phrases, suggest that words can accurately and deftly convey truth?
- does the novel suggest it is impossible to read another person’s appearance accurately?
- are we to agree with Marlow's declaration--and the authorities' conclusion--that any evidence to be gained from the mentally unbalanced chief engineer is not "material" (37)?
- is Nature beneficent or cruel, compassionate or capricious? Does it guide or confuse?
- why does Marlow talk so long (39-45) about the peripheral Captain Brierly?
- what draws Jim and Marlow towards one another?
- why does Jim share his story with Marlow?
- why does Marlow desire to learn about Jim from the (now insane) chief engineer in teh hospital where Marlow discovers him while visiting one of his own men?
- does Marlow consider Jim heroic or blameworthy? Does he believe he would have himself acted otherwise than Jim did during the crisis faced by the Patna?
- does Nature appear more as a comforting mother in this novel, or a malevolent destroyer?
- is Jim helplessly deceived about his deepest motivations and character, or does he accurately self-assess?
- what do you think? Could the Patna and its passengers have been saved?
- Marlow’s opinion of Jim dips and crests like a ship on turbulent waves, eh? Ultimately, where does Marlow come out—does he think well of Jim, all things considered? Do Jim’s rhetorical questions of Marlow—in which he asks whether Marlow would not have done the same thing as Jim—ultimately convince Marlow of the younger man’s cowardice or his humanity?
- Marlow is no passive observer of Jim’s ordeal, but an active participant deeply affected by his new friend’s struggles. Why is Marlow so interested in Jim? What does Jim represent/symbolize for him?
- what does Jim's tale force Marlow to face? Is it similar to what Captain Brierly recognized, prior to his suicide?
- we discover early on that Jim's father is a parson. Does Conrad appear to follow the trend of many other modernist novels and work to reject traditional religious concepts? Look for allusions to Christianity and Islam, references to God, reflections on the spiritual, etc.
- what idea is the following passage orbiting? “‘If I understand anything of men, the matter was no doubt of the gravest import, one of those trifles that awaken ideas—start into life some thought with which a man unused to such a companionship finds it impossible to live’” (39 mid).
- does Conrad employ the word “soul” to indicate one's innermost self, or an actual, eternal spirit?
- is Conrad’s narrator sympathetic to the faith of the Muslim pilgrims?
- what are the two narrators’ own attitudes towards traditional Christian concepts?
- does this inexplicable force which puts Jim in such a difficult position appear—in the words of the narrator—more as a malevolent god or an impersonal but fatalistic hand of destiny?
- do you agree with Marlow that it is possible to lie unconsciouly (83)?
- does the combination of diametrically opposed attributes contained within Jim's personality seem normal, or do his thoughts and behavior deserve classification under some kind of mental disorder?
- why does Jim characterize himself as isolated in the boat, despite the presence of others?
- at what points does his own tale feel like a comedy of the absurd to Jim?
- does Nature appear more as a comforting mother in this novel, or a malevolent destroyer?
- what narratological purpose is served by Marlow's mentioning his (apparently tangential) conversation with the French lieutenant concerning the Patna (84-93)?
- in the same vein, what purpose is served by Conrad's including that seemingly irrelevant digression about the fate of "poor Bob" who drowned trying to save a girl who would not abandon ship that, when it sank, went down so fast it pulled the two of them with it?
Sky Blue (1940)
Wassily Kandinsky
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
