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Winston

Book Review of Lord Jim

The novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad is about the story of a young sailor named Jim, with his life told from the perspective form another man, Marlow. Jim goes on an expedition on the Patna, a ship carrying travelers when the ship hit something and sank. Jim and the rest of the crew members go to inquiries, and Jim meets a man named Marlow. Jim then skips from job to job, before getting assigned to go to Patusan for a trading post and to start a new life. While he is at Patusan, he meets Doramin, his son Dain Waris, and even married a woman named Jewel with her mean stepfather, Cornelius. Before long, Jim is a leader in a group named the Bugis. Marlow often went to visit Jim, and he end the story of Jim's life with some guests at a dinner party in modern time. He then writes letters to someone, and recounts the later parts of Jim's life. A pirate and thief named Brown comes to Patusan and the villagers and Jim get into conflict, eventually leading to the death of Dain Waris, who is Jim's best friend. Soon after, Jim surrenders himself and goes to Doramin's house where he is shot and killed by request in return. 


Guilt gives one the thought of remorse, which is in most cases a good thing, and the character learn true values. When one is feeling guilt and remorse, and is hoping that something never happened, it can lead to one choosing to do something conflicting by choice, ultimately resulting in a negative ending. In the book, when Jim is first introduced, he feels very brave and bold, and felt as though he will be a hero, not knowing what was waiting for him. After the sinking of the Patna, Jim begins to feel worse about himself, as to already having many incidents and accidents during the time when he was out at sea. During the inquiries, he felt like he could have done something different, and was desperate to do something that will help him to fix what he did, even though his decision to abandon the Patna was a decision between life and death. He was able to know what was right, and realized the mistake, and tried to correct it. Guilt can be hard to have to begin with, since it can usually only happen when one has done something wrong. Guilt can often lead to many things at once, including a reat feeling of remorse that can often overcome many other feelings. Remorse often happens when one realizes what they had done, and attempts to make the best out of it, although it might not be exactly what they had wanted to do. Guilt is often a good thing, where the character gets to learn remorse and is also able to get a strong motivation to behave responsibly.


Redemption is often a neglected aspect of someone who is being saved, especially at thair own cost, when sometimes it is planned. It helps give one the power to make decisions at their own will, especially during hard situations when things can become overwhelming. In the book, Jim is ultimately expressed as a heroic character. In the end of the book, when he was in Patusan and encountered Brown and the rest of his crew, he was lenient. He was not so hostile towards them and were neutral to them, not antagonistic. However, when Jim let Brown go and have his ship leave, he had a surprise when Brown came back and attacked. When Dain Waris, Jim’s friend, was killed, he was very sad and suffered a very hard blow. So in the end, he decided to save everyone and end all the mess by surrendering himself and letting Doramin kill him. Redemption can vary in many ways, especially when it comes to saving someone by preventing them from a bad fate. Redemption gains one honor and self-forgiveness through a selfless act that reflects off of one's regretful actions of their past, sometimes just like guilt and remorse. It can often occur when one needs to pay the price from something bad, but it doesn’t always happen that way, like in Lord Jim. Redemption is an unforgivable trait that can give one motivation to save or change what they did, especially when one wants to prevent something from happening.


The complexity of human nature can vary, and not everyone does or thinks the same, while having different approaches to the subject can change throughout. Human nature can often be hard to describe, or simply too varied or different to be described, like in some cases when one is so overwhelmed and confused in the situation that they just freeze and do what their instincts tell them to do. In the book, Jim was a normal young man who wanted to be a hero. First of all, anyone would want to be known and be able to do great things. When the Patna sank, Jim was again following his instincts, driven by one’s human nature of fleeing or saving themselves, and saved himself instead of staying on the ship. However, when Jim was in Patusan, and Dain Waris had died, everyone told him to flee or flight, but instead of trusting what to do and do everything he could to save himself, he turned himself in and volunteered to be killed. Human nature is usually what drives one to do something, but sometimes, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one will trust it. Sometimes, when one is desperately trying to do something and are running out of choices, they will sometimes act against their instincts and human nature, making it the complexity of human nature. The conflicts are often developed thropugh needs and feelings, especially when one feels like they are in a certain state and need something. The complexity of human nature can vary between people, and it usually always develop through human nature and one’s thoughts and actions. 


Guilt, redemption, and the complexity of human nature are all important themes from the novel Lord Jim. In the book, during the inquiries for the Patna, he felt like he could have done something different, and was desperate to do something that will help him to fix what he did, even though his decision to abandon the Patna was a decision between life and death. He was able to know what was right, and realized the mistake, and tried to correct it. Near the end of the book when Dain Waris, Jim’s friend, was killed, he was very sad and suffered a very hard blow. So in the end, he decided to save everyone and end all the mess by surrendering himself and letting Doramin kill him. Anyone would want to be known and be able to do great things. When the Patna sank, Jim was again following his instincts, driven by one’s human nature of fleeing or saving themselves, and saved himself instead of staying on the ship. When Jim Dain Waris had died, everyone told him to flee or flight, but instead of trusting what to do and do everything he could to save himself, he turned himself in and volunteered to be killed, which ultimately marked Jim as a heroic character.


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