Lord Jim, a novel by Joseph Conrad, is the story of a young sailor named Jim and the mistake that he makes in a moment of terror, a mistake that reverberates throughout the remainder of his life. Jim is a promising young man who quickly promoted and quickly became the first mate. He had always dreamed of becoming a hero, but a decisive voyage changed everything. When he was serving on the ship 'Patna', he encountered a storm and he abandoned the ship and passengers with the other crew members. However, Patna did not sink, and Jim is undergoing a formal investigation and Jim was stripped of his police officer's certificate. During the trial, Jim met Marlowe, and with the help of Marlowe's assistant Stein, Jim had the opportunity to help run a trading station in a remote village called Patusan. There, Jim gradually regained his confidence and life goals. But one day, Jim made another mistake and ordered the cunning pirate Brown to be released. As a result, the tricky Brown and his subordinates killed Doramine's son Diane Wallis. Jim realized that he still couldn't escape his initial failure in Patna. He went to Doramin's residence, where his sorrowful father shot and killed him. Jim is essentially a brave person, but he is overwhelmed by his own sense of guilt. Jim always carries a sense of guilt, which is in stark contrast to his inner desire to become a hero. He takes responsibility for what he has done and pays the price of his own life, making him a tragic hero.
Fantasy is full, reality is bony. Fantasy inspires people, and real-life teaches them to give up unrealistic fantasies. People always feel that their dreams will come true, but reality often tests the weakest aspects of human nature. Early in his career, Jim dreams of a life of heroic adventure, and his rapid success at sea seems to assure the fulfillment of all his naïve dreams. When the Patna strikes an underwater object and begins to sink. Rather than playing the hero as he had always dreamt, however, Jim makes the split-second decision to abandon the ship, leaving the passengers onboard. The ship does not sink, however, and the passengers survive, but Jim and the rest of the crew are tried for dereliction of duty. Jim is formally censured, and stripped of his officer's certifications. This formal punishment, though, is nothing compared to Jim's own self-recrimination, his feeling that his actions have revealed himself to be that which he hates most--a coward. Marlow believes that Jim isn’t so unusual and that many sailors wouldn’t live up to their ideals when put to the test—they’re just lucky enough to never face such a test. Nevertheless, Jim remains haunted by his failure to live up to his fantasies long after the rest of the world has forgotten about the Patna disaster. For a while, Jim gets to lead the fantasy life he always dreamed of, becoming a respected leader that many people trust with their lives. But this fantasy life reaches an appropriately dramatic conclusion when Jim makes a judgment error and offers his own life as a sacrifice rather than running away or fighting. Marlow keeps retelling Jim’s life as a celebration of fantasy and Jim’s real life, but it’s also a warning of the anguish and misfortune a person can suffer when his real life doesn’t live up to his fantasies.
Everyone should bravely take responsibility for the choices and decisions they make. Not all the choices and decisions made by everyone are necessarily right, and sometimes people make the wrong choices and decisions, just like Jim in Lord Jim. Jim is on trial for failing his duty as a sailor, having abandoned the passengers traveling on the Patna in order to save his own life. While Jim’s accomplices all flee the scene to avoid trial and Jim has ample opportunity to do the same, he nevertheless decides to stand trial and face whatever consequences come of it. Although Jim has dutifully fulfilled all of his legal obligations, he nevertheless remains haunted by feelings of guilt. This is the first time in Jim's life that he bravely took the consequences of his own wrong decision. Although the cost was very heavy, he lost his qualification to sail as a sailor, which was his childhood dream. Jim did not choose to evade punishment, but instead stood in court and took responsibility for what he had done. Later, Jim becomes a respected leader in the remote island village of Patusa. When Jim makes the mistake of trusting the visitor Gentleman Brown, Dain Waris, the son of the local leader Doramin, is killed by Brown. Echoing his earlier behavior, Jim decides that instead of running from his error, he will go right to Doramin to face judgment. He is still haunted by his earlier failure to live up to his duty on the Patna and perhaps sees an opportunity to make amends. Doramin responds by shooting Jim in the chest, killing him. Despite making mistakes again, Jim ultimately tries to do what he believes is right, even if it costs him dearly. He has had a heroic dream since he was young. He insists on taking responsibility for his mistakes and even paying the price of his own life. Jim's daring spirit is admirable and exudes the color of a tragic hero. No matter what price he would pay for his choices and decisions, he bravely chose to face and take responsibility.
People must look forward and move on, and not let their past mistakes punish their future life. People are not saints, who can't make mistakes? But when people make mistakes and take responsibility for their own mistakes, they should learn to let go of their mistakes, and continue their life optimistically. Jim becomes aimless after the trial, having faced the legal consequences of his actions but still feeling haunted by them. With Marlow’s help, he gets a series of low-level jobs where he doesn’t need certifications, but he runs away from them all, often after someone makes a casual reference to the Patna incident. Jim is a brave individual at heart, but he is overpowered by his guilty feelings. Jim is someone who lives in fear. He longs to be a hero at sea and his aspirations are repeatedly dashed. As a result, guilt becomes the motivating factor in Jim’s life, he has never been able to truly let go of his mistakes and reconcile with himself. His guilt has made him no longer brave and confident, even though he has always insisted on doing the right thing. When Jim first started working as a middleman in Patusa, he seemed to have let go of his guilt and gradually had new goals to strive for. He regained his courage and confidence. Therefore, he also became a local leader and was respected by everyone. However, when he faced important decisions, he was too afraid of making the wrong decision again. He thought he could use his kindness to resolve the conflict, but his softness of heart killed his companions and he made the wrong decision again. Although he did not escape this time, Jim could no longer forgive his mistake. He had been burdened with a sense of guilt for too long, oppressing him and unable to stand up again. Faced with his mistake, he ultimately chose to bear everything with his own life. Jim has been tying himself up with his past mistakes, and his strong sense of guilt prevents him from courageously thinking about his new life goals. He punished his future self with his past mistakes, which also doomed his tragic end.
Lord Jim is a fascinating novel that provides a great deal of insight into human nature. The entire book is based on Marlowe's curiosity about Jim's experience and his inability to understand why Jim did not evade responsibility like other crew members, but bravely took responsibility for his wrong decisions in court. When Marlowe learned about Jim's heroic dream, he also sympathized with him and did his best to help him. Courage, responsibility and redemption are the main ideas of this book, in my opinion. Jim is a decent guy who made a terrible error and refuses to forgive himself for his actions. He committed a craven act but should not prevent him from moving on. He was not brave enough to forgive his mistake, which irritated him. It’s a different kind of courage, the kind that most of us will never know. To be able to live with oneself after making a mistake, one must have courage. And Jim finally had that. He is going back to his origins, to the place where he was born and raised. It is like he is starting over again, this time as a new man who has learned from his mistakes. Making mistakes is not scary, what's scary is that we can't get out of them ourselves. Lord Jim's teaches us to learn to reconcile with our own mistakes, and to always look forward bravely and continue to move forward optimistically.
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