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Chapter 31
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lord Jim, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fantasy vs. Reality
Justice and Duty
Racism and Colonialism
Truth and Perspective
Summary
Analysis
Jim orders the three surviving attackers to link arms and march for him. Jim tells the men to go to the river, jump in, and take his regards to Sherif Ali. They follow orders, afraid Jim might shoot them. Jim is speechless for a while. Later, when Jim tells Marlow about this episode, he mentions how fond he is of Jewel and how at that moment, she was clearly fond of him too.
Jim’s affection for Jewel grows because of the trust they formed overcoming a shared ordeal. That night also represents the first time that Jim comes to terms with his power to inflict fear in people, an idea that will be important later on.
Themes
Jim tells Marlow during Marlow’s visit that he can’t imagine living anywhere other than Patusan—because he still can’t forget when he came there in the first place. Marlow tries to console Jim, but Jim refuses to listen.
Even though Jim has taken advantage of the blank slate he received in Patusan, he has come to learn what Marlow already knew: that no one’s slate can ever be fully cleared.
Themes
After Jim and Marlow part ways, Jewel stops Marlow—she seems to have been waiting for him. She’s looking for some sort of assurance from Marlow, but Marlow isn’t quite sure what kind. She has lived in Patusan her whole life, and this has given her an unusual kind of innocence. She sees Marlow as part of an outside Unknown that might take Jim back at any moment.
Jewel’s innocence here reflects her sheltered upbringing, but her apprehension toward Marlow also shows that she is familiar with European colonial practices: colonizers come to foreign lands, take what they want, and leave as soon as they have what they want—with little regard for the welfare of the native communities they have exploited.
Themes
