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Stein
Gentleman Brown is a notorious sailor who causes havoc for Jim in Patusan, ultimately leading to Jim’s death. Marlow meets Brown on Brown’s deathbed, and so while the version of events that Marlow hears portrays Brown as someone cunning and daring, the reader should take Brown’s version of events with a grain of salt. But even Brown’s version of events makes it clear that Brown was a nasty character. At one point, he orders an innocent Malay man to be shot dead, simply to prove how effective Brown’s crew’s guns are a distance. Later, when Jim shows Brown mercy, Brown returns the favor by ambushing some Malay warriors, killing Dain Waris. This attack accomplishes nothing for Brown—it is simply his way of leaving his mark on the world. Brown represents pure evil in the story, in particular the evil of white men who carelessly exploit and disregard the lives of people in the lands they colonize.
Gentleman Brown Quotes in Lord Jim
The Lord Jim quotes below are all either spoken by Gentleman Brown or refer to Gentleman Brown. 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:
).
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.’
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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.
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Gentleman Brown Quotes in Lord Jim
The Lord Jim quotes below are all either spoken by Gentleman Brown or refer to Gentleman Brown. 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:
).
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:
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Page Number and Citation:
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.
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Explanation and Analysis:
