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Chapter 39
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
Brown hopes to delay until Jim gets back, thinking Jim will be the best person to work with. He plans to work with Jim for a while, believing Jim must be clever to have gotten so far—but ultimately, Brown hopes to stab Jim in the back. In the meantime, however, he needs Kassim to remain unaware.
Having never met Jim before, Brown believes that Jim is probably someone who shares similar views (meaning he is also willing to exploit Patusan). But in spite of that, Brown is ruthless and has no problem betraying Jim—even if it does turn out they’re similar.
Themes
Literary Devices
At one point, to show the power of himself and his men, Brown asks his second-in-command to shoot a random Malay villager dead from a great distance. Brown wants to inspire terror in the Malay because he knows they outnumber his forces 200 to one.
Brown’s cruel and arbitrary show of force shows how he uses fear to his advantage—a darker version of what Jim did earlier to Sherif Ali.
Themes
Kassim goes back to Dain Waris and warns him that Brown’s warship is coming up the river, but he downplays its power and says the Bugis should prepare to oppose it. People of the village sense that there will soon be bloodshed. Rajah Allang is in a constant state of fear and indecision, but old Doramin remains steady.
Kassim is so eager to trick other people that he becomes gullible himself. He thinks that he is sending Dain Waris to his death, but in fact, there is no big, powerful warship of Brown’s coming up the river.
Themes
One of Brown’s men remembers that there is some tobacco left in their longboat and asks if it’s OK to go back and get it at night. Brown allows it. The man returns successfully, but suddenly there’s a flash, and the man says he’s been hit. More rifles sound as Brown’s men fire back. A voice calls out telling everyone to stop firing.
One of Brown’s men is willing to risk his own life over some tobacco, and he ends up paying for it with a severe wound. The episode illustrates how Brown’s men are impulsive, driven by desires and vices.
Themes
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With Cornelius translating, Brown confirms that he hears the voice telling them to stop. The voice says there will be no peace for Brown and his men. He says he is a Bugis who was related to the man Brown randomly murdered earlier. This Bugis undertook a lot of danger to give this message to Brown, but he manages to get away unharmed. The wounded man continues to shout, but Brown refuses to help him.
On the one hand, the Bugis and Brown are now equal, with each having killed (or at least seriously wounded) one from the other group. Nevertheless, Brown doesn’t think in those terms—he wants to always be the one in control.
Themes
Eventually the wounded man dies. There’s a sound from the nearby village, and Brown asks Cornelius what’s happened. Cornelius says Jim must be back and that he’ll come talk to Cornelius. Cornelius says that Jim isn’t afraid of anything, meaning it will be easy for Brown to kill him and frighten the villagers.
Despite Cornelius’s many personal shortcomings, he is nevertheless better at seeing the faults of others, particularly Jim. He correctly identifies pride as Jim’s biggest weakness.
Themes
