Lord Jim

by

Joseph Conrad

Doramin Character Analysis

Doramin is the elderly but steady leader of a group of Malay called the Bugis in Patusan, who rebel against the cruel rule of Rajah Allang. Marlow describes Doramin as one of the most impressive Malay men he’s ever met, and Jim also admires him, although it’s clear that old age has diminished Doramin—he needs help to stand and rarely leaves his village. Doramin’s son is Dain Waris, and though Doramin’s ultimate goal is to have Dain Waris succeed him, Doramin also takes a fatherly interest in Jim and Jim’s growth as a leader—at least until Jim makes a mistake that causes Dain Waris’s death. The novel ends with Doramin personally executing Jim with a gunshot to the chest. Doramin embodies history and tradition. His character shows how justice is an important concept in remote parts of the world, even if it takes different forms than European notions of justice.

Doramin Quotes in Lord Jim

The Lord Jim quotes below are all either spoken by Doramin or refer to Doramin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Fantasy vs. Reality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 25 Quotes

‘“This is where I was prisoner for three days,” he murmured to me (it was on the occasion of our visit to the Rajah), while we were making our way slowly through a kind of awestruck riot of dependants across Tunku Allang’s courtyard. “Filthy place, isn’t it?”’

Related Characters: Jim (speaker), Marlow (speaker), Doramin, Rajah Allang
Related Symbols: Patusan
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

‘Doramin was one of the most remarkable men of his race I had ever seen. His bulk for a Malay was immense, but he did not look merely fat; he looked imposing, monumental. This motionless body, clad in rich stuffs, coloured silks, gold embroideries; this huge head, enfolded in a red-and-gold headkerchief; the flat, big, round face, wrinkled, furrowed, with two semicircular heavy folds starting on each side of wide, fierce nostrils, and enclosing a thick-lipped mouth; the throat like a bull; the vast corrugated brow overhanging the staring proud eyes—made a whole that, once seen, can never be forgotten. His impassive repose (he seldom stirred a limb when once he sat down) was like a display of dignity.’

Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), Jim, Doramin, Rajah Allang
Related Symbols: Patusan
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 44 Quotes

‘Thus Brown balanced his account with the evil fortune. Notice that even in this awful outbreak there is a superiority as of a man who carries right—the abstract thing—within the envelope of his common desires. It was not a vulgar and treacherous massacre; it was a lesson, a retribution—a demonstration of some obscure and awful attribute of our nature which, I am afraid, is not so very far under the surface as we like to think.’

Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), Jim, Doramin, Dain Waris, Gentleman Brown, The Privileged Reader
Related Symbols: Patusan
Page Number: 309
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

‘Who knows? He is gone, inscrutable at heart, and the poor girl is leading a sort of soundless, inert life in Stein’s house. Stein has aged greatly of late. He feels it himself, and says often that he is “preparing to leave all this; preparing to leave . . .” while he waves his hand sadly at his butterflies.’

September 1899—July 1900.

Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), Jim, Doramin, Dain Waris, Stein, Gentleman Brown, Jewel, The Privileged Reader
Related Symbols: Patusan, Butterflies, The Patna
Page Number: 318
Explanation and Analysis:
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Doramin Quotes in Lord Jim

The Lord Jim quotes below are all either spoken by Doramin or refer to Doramin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Fantasy vs. Reality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 25 Quotes

‘“This is where I was prisoner for three days,” he murmured to me (it was on the occasion of our visit to the Rajah), while we were making our way slowly through a kind of awestruck riot of dependants across Tunku Allang’s courtyard. “Filthy place, isn’t it?”’

Related Characters: Jim (speaker), Marlow (speaker), Doramin, Rajah Allang
Related Symbols: Patusan
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

‘Doramin was one of the most remarkable men of his race I had ever seen. His bulk for a Malay was immense, but he did not look merely fat; he looked imposing, monumental. This motionless body, clad in rich stuffs, coloured silks, gold embroideries; this huge head, enfolded in a red-and-gold headkerchief; the flat, big, round face, wrinkled, furrowed, with two semicircular heavy folds starting on each side of wide, fierce nostrils, and enclosing a thick-lipped mouth; the throat like a bull; the vast corrugated brow overhanging the staring proud eyes—made a whole that, once seen, can never be forgotten. His impassive repose (he seldom stirred a limb when once he sat down) was like a display of dignity.’

Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), Jim, Doramin, Rajah Allang
Related Symbols: Patusan
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 44 Quotes

‘Thus Brown balanced his account with the evil fortune. Notice that even in this awful outbreak there is a superiority as of a man who carries right—the abstract thing—within the envelope of his common desires. It was not a vulgar and treacherous massacre; it was a lesson, a retribution—a demonstration of some obscure and awful attribute of our nature which, I am afraid, is not so very far under the surface as we like to think.’

Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), Jim, Doramin, Dain Waris, Gentleman Brown, The Privileged Reader
Related Symbols: Patusan
Page Number: 309
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

‘Who knows? He is gone, inscrutable at heart, and the poor girl is leading a sort of soundless, inert life in Stein’s house. Stein has aged greatly of late. He feels it himself, and says often that he is “preparing to leave all this; preparing to leave . . .” while he waves his hand sadly at his butterflies.’

September 1899—July 1900.

Related Characters: Marlow (speaker), Jim, Doramin, Dain Waris, Stein, Gentleman Brown, Jewel, The Privileged Reader
Related Symbols: Patusan, Butterflies, The Patna
Page Number: 318
Explanation and Analysis: