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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Skipper:
Near the beginning of the novel, when Jim is just starting his time on the Patna, he looks around at his crew mates, judging them based on their appearance. In the following passage, the narrator uses both a simile and hyperbole to capture Jim’s feelings of disgust when looking at the skipper:
[T]he fold of his double chin hung like a bag triced up close under the hinge of his jaw. Jim started, and his answer was full of deference; but the odious and fleshy figure, as though seen for the first time in a revealing moment, fixed itself in his memory for ever as the incarnation of everything vile and base that lurks in the world we love.
The simile here—in which the narrator describes how “the fold of [the skipper’s] double chin hung like a bag triced up close under the hinge of his jaw”—communicates the large size of the man’s double chin. Taken together with the hyperbole in the next line—in which the narrator communicates Jim’s belief that the skipper is “the incarnation of everything vile and base that lurks in the world we love”—this simile is clearly a demeaning one.
The intensity of Jim’s reaction to the large man’s appearance suggests that Jim is struggling to reconcile his romantic visions of what a life on the sea would be like versus what it is. The Patna is not full of young, vivacious sailors like himself searching for adventure, but “odious” and “vile” men like the skipper. (The association of fatness with “everything vile and base that lurks in the world” is, of course, a prejudiced notion.)
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Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Jim's Father:
Early on in the novel, when describing to readers the relationship between Jim and his father, Marlow uses a hyperbole, as seen in the following passage:
“I can’t tell you whether Jim knew he was especially ‘fancied,’ but the tone of his references to ‘my Dad’ was calculated to give me a notion that the good old rural dean was about the finest man that ever had been worried by the cares of a large family since the beginning of the world […] ‘He has seen it all in the home papers by this time,’ said Jim. ‘I can never face the poor old chap’.”
The hyperbole here—in which Marlow describes Jim’s father as “the finest man that ever had been worried by the cares of a large family since the beginning of the world”—is meant to communicate the intensity of Jim’s devotion to his father, and it explains why Jim is so afraid of his father reading about his trial (for his decision to abandon the passengers on the Patna) in the “home papers.”
Marlow’s exaggerated language is also an example of verbal irony, as he does not actually believe that Jim’s father is "the finest man […] since the beginning of the world." Rather, he's using sarcasm to gently mock the ways that Marlow idolizes his father. This moment highlights how Jim lives in a fantasy world at times, viewing his father, sailing, and adventure in romantic, unrealistic ways.
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Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Panic on the Patna:
When describing Jim’s experience aboard the Patna after the ship hit a mysterious object underwater and seemingly began to sink, Marlow uses a simile and a hyperbole, as seen in the following passage:
“Then, the squall being very near now, another and a heavier swell lifted the passive hull in a threatening heave that checked his breath, while his brain and his heart together were pierced as with daggers by panic-stricken screams. ‘Let go! For God’s sake, let go! Let go! She’s going.’ Following upon that the boat-falls ripped through the blocks, and a lot of men began to talk in startled tones under the awnings. ‘When these beggars did break out, their yelps were enough to wake the dead,’ he said.”
The simile here—“his brain and his heart together were pierced as with daggers by panic-stricken screams”—captures the intensity of Jim’s fear and anxiety in this moment, as well as the panic of all of the passengers aboard the Patna. Daggers piercing a brain and heart simultaneously is an evocative description. The passengers’ panic becomes even more palpable via Jim’s hyperbolic statement that their screams “were enough to wake the dead.” This exaggeration helps readers understand the volume and force of the “yelps” of people certain that they are about to die.
The enormity of the passengers’ panic communicates to readers that this wasn’t an ordinary occurrence. The crew and passengers earnestly believed that they would all soon drown. In this way, the figurative language here helps readers understand why Jim failed to perform his duty as a member of the crew, fully abandoning the ship and all of its passengers in the process. It is not something he intentionally chose to do, but a decision he automatically made from a place of fear.
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Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Marlow's Racism:
When Marlow and Jim are on their way to drop Jim off in Patusan, Marlow describes the characteristics of one of the ship’s crew members using racist hyperbolic language and verbal irony, as seen in the following passage:
“[H]er master, a dapper little half-caste of forty or so, in a blue flannel suit, with lively eyes, his round face the colour of lemon-peel, and with a thin little black moustache drooping on each side of his thick, dark lips, came forward smirking […] His flowing English seemed to be derived from a dictionary compiled by a lunatic.”
The first hyperbole here—in which Marlow describes the man’s face as being “the colour of lemon-peel”—is clearly exaggerated. Marlow’s exaggeration is built on the racist notion that East Asian people have a yellow skin tone. The rest of the description of the sailor’s looks also have a racist edge to them, as he describes the man’s “drooping” “thin little black moustache” and “thick, dark lips.” This imagery rests on stereotypical tropes of Southeast Asian people.
The verbal irony in this passage—in which Marlow describes how the man's “flowing English seemed to be derived from a dictionary compiled by a lunatic”—communicates Marlow’s elitism. This sarcastic description communicates how he looks down on the sailor for not having a command of the English language, despite the fact that he is a non-native speaker. With this moment, Conrad is highlighting how white Europeans like Marlow perpetuate racism in both the ways they treat and talk about members of colonized nations like the sailor in this passage.
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