Lord Jim

At the inquiry, Jim explains how a ship called the Avondale picked them up from the longboat and how he later found out that the Patna had been towed to safety without any loss of life. Jim emphasizes again that the fact they could no longer see lights from the Patna while in the longboat seemed to confirm (wrongly, as it turned out) that the ship had gone down. Marlow relays how the ship’s positioning changing due to the storm would have explained why its lights were no longer visible, and that explanation satisfies those at the inquiry. A French gunboat, coming upon the Patna in the morning following the incident, simply hooked up to the Patna and hauled it very carefully to safety—carefully because the danger from the damage to the ship’s bulwarks was still very apparent and dangerous. As narrator, Marlow describes later getting that full story by chance from the French captain three years after the Patna incident.

The French captain, contemplating Jim’s position, concludes that the young man ran away with the others despite what may have been good intentions. Marlow then describes how upon a series of recommendations from him, Jim has gained but eventually left multiple positions as water-clerk. However, rumors or accounts of the Patna story eventually catch up to Jim at each of the various ports in which he takes these positions, and he then feels compelled to move to another port and position to stay ahead of the story that follows him.

The final day of the inquiry as described by Marlow involves the court making conclusions as to certain evidentiary issues. The court finds: (1) The ship was not entirely seaworthy for the voyage; (2) the ship had been navigated with proper care up until the time of the accident; and (3) there is no evidence to show the exact cause of the accident—though Marlow suspects the Patna collided with the wreckage of an old ship or boat in the dark. Finally, the court concludes that those crew members who abandoned the ship, including Jim, are to have their certificates canceled for disregarding their duties. Two seafarers approach Marlow (as Jim’s presumed friend) immediately after the inquiry concludes and propose to him that they might be able to use Jim in a guano scheme of theirs. Marlow angrily rebuffs the two and refuses to pass this proposition on to Jim, as the scheme and its participants both seem shady to Marlow.

Marlow seeks out and finds Jim near the waterside following the magistrate’s decision, and according to Marlow, Jim then follows him like a child, believing that Marlow is the only person in the world who will not judge him harshly. Marlow takes Jim back to Marlow’s hotel room, where Marlow busies himself writing recommendation letters for Jim for possible future employment. Jim makes no sound during the process until he eventually rousts himself and pushes open a glass door with great force. Noticing Jim standing outside, between his room and the ocean, Marlow continues with his letters but feels a sense of responsibility for Jim.

Marlow previews in his narrative that he will still have occasion to report Jim loved, trusted, and admired in his future life at some point, though as the chapter begins, Jim appears permanently forlorn, still standing outside the door until a thunderstorm drives him back into the room. Marlow describes Jim as a fine but unfortunate man, one whom Marlow does not fully understand and who does not understand himself. Jim smokes a cigarette and then says that if the events on the Patna and the inquiry that followed have not beaten him then nothing can. He thanks Marlow for allowing him to use the room, but when Marlow seems less than positive that Jim will be able over time to re-make what he has lost, Jim says goodbye abruptly and begins to go out into the rainstorm. Marlow convinces him not to do so.

With Jim back in the room, Marlow pleads with him to accept his help rather than leave homeless and without job prospects. Marlow gets angry when Jim first refuses his help, but Jim is moved when Marlow shows him a letter he has prepared for Jim to present to a friend who might have employment to offer. Jim feels like he has been offered something like a clean slate to start over, though Marlow as narrator then expresses skepticism about the possibility of leaving anything in one’s past completely behind.

The friend to whom Marlow recommends Jim for employment writes to Marlow that Jim is doing very well in his employ and in fact is living in the same house with the employer. After Marlow goes on a trip, he returns to find a new letter from the friend employing Jim. The friend, who owns a rice-mill, reports that Jim simply left one day, leaving a note of apology. The friend says he has shut up shop as a result. Marlow finds a letter from Jim in the remainder of his mail, indicating that the second engineer of the Patna had shown up and gained employment with the same mill, and Jim left as a result, feeling that he would otherwise need to tell his employer about the Patna incident.

Jim is now working with Egstrom & Blake as a runner or water-clerk and asks if Marlow could write the company with a recommendation that could likely turn it into permanent employment for Jim. Marlow visits Jim on one of his trips, and Jim gives further detail about how difficult it had been at the mill working with the too-familiar former Patna crew member and how hard it had been to leave the employer. By the time Marlow visits again six months later, Jim has left the employ of Egstrom & Blake also, though Egstrom talks to Marlow warmly about how great a job Jim had done as water-clerk for the firm. However, Jim leaves abruptly, with Egstrom wondering what he is running from. Marlow explains to Egstrom that Jim was mate on the Patna, about which rumors and stories had been circling in that community as well.

Jim continues his pattern of abruptly leaving workplaces and communities when he becomes worried that his past will be revealed. At yet another stop, in Bangkok, Jim gets into a barfight with a Danish seaman who has drunk enough to get upset at being beaten at billiards. He makes a remark that offends Jim, and Jim apparently beats the man and throws him into the river outside the bar. The man is rescued by a passing boat, but Jim is criticized for the violent behavior. Marlow takes Jim away from Bangkok in his own ship. Through a long voyage, Jim takes little interest in the workings of the ship and generally remains below deck. Realizing that the opportunities he has offered Jim have repeatedly led to poor results, Marlow resolves to talk to another friend of his, Stein. Stein & Company operate a lot of trading posts in very out of the way places, and Marlow wonders if Stein might have any options for Jim.

Marlow’s friend Stein is also an entomologist and collector of butterflies. Upon Marlow’s visit, Stein describes how he became interested in collection and entomology from his own mentor. Explaining his passion for the hobby, he recounts an incident in which his enemies had set him up for ambush. After shooting three of his attackers and escaping unharmed, he came upon a rare and beautiful species of butterfly. The butterfly landed, and Stein was able to catch it in his hat, an experience that overwhelmed him with emotion in a way that the ambush and shootings had not. Marlow relates the story of Jim, and Stein identifies Jim as a romantic. Marlow comments that Stein is one as well, and Stein insists that Marlow stay the evening, promising that in the morning they will decide on a practical plan for Jim.