Love and marriage in Lord Jim

Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim is one of the best novels of the twentieth century. This novel is considered to be one of the major literary works of his life. From the beginning to end, the story of this novel revolves around Jim. Jim is a young British seaman serving aboard the ship ‘Patna’. Inspired by popular sea literature, Jim dreams of doing heroic activities, yet he has never faced any real danger. His chance of becoming a hero comes while serving aboard a vessel called ‘Patna’. The ship strikes an underwater object and develops a leak through which water is getting into the ship rapidly. However, Jim abandons the ship and its passengers with other officers. This incident haunts him throughout the novel. However, this incident also plays a very important role for Jim to get a job in Patusan and meets Jewel.

In this novel, Jim is the central figure and Jewel is the heroine. After arriving at Patusan, Jim meets Jewel and falls in love with her. Jewel was much attracted to Jim but Jim notices her love first time when Jewel has become successful to save Jim’s life from a conspiracy. However, Jewel was not the real name. This name was given by Jim as she was very important to Jim.

Jewel is a beautiful and half-native girl. She wanted to lead a happy married life with Jim. She is always worried of the fact that Jim will someday leave her and cannot stay with her lifelong. However, it was her bad luck that she could not enjoy the companionship of Jim. She suffered for his folly. Her sense of desertion often put her to severe stress. She makes him promise never to leave her. When she sees Marlow, she suspects that he has come to Patusan in order to take Jim far away from her. Marlow observes her passion and said,

“Her tenderness hovered over him like a flutter of wings. She lived so completely in his contemplation that she had acquired something of his outward aspect, something that recalled him in her movements, in the way she stretched her arm, turned her head, directed glances.”

Their intimacy develops with the passage of time they start to spend all their leisure-time in each other’s company. Marlow, who comes to visit Jim at Patusan, sees from his own eyes the intimate relation existing between Jim and Jewel. Jim tells Marlow that Jewel is very dear to him and he will never leave her in any circumstances.

In this novel, the idea of love is very meager. Though Jewel appears very late, still she has an impressive role. She is an embodiment of romance and love. Jewel has also an important role in Jim’s life. She encourages Jim to fight for his life. Joseph Conrad shows love between two couples, but in the end of the day, they cannot be united. It is a miserable situation for Jewel. Her dream is broken by Jim. Jim is driven by fantasies. He is concerned about his own identities. Actually, this novel deals with the theme of fidelity, isolation and especially quest for individual identity. That is why, at the end of the novel, we can see that Jim has sacrificed his own life for fidelity. Through the protagonist, the writer tries to show a seaman’s desire and his perspective. In this novel, Jim is presented as a romantic hero. It is his dream that he will perform heroic deeds at the crucial moments. It is his dream to lead a life of a hero. He is ready to face any difficult situation of sea life. However, at the moment of Panta’s collision he failed to do his job. It brought disgrace on him. He thinks his deed has brought shame and humiliation to his life. That is why, in the end of the novel, we can see that he sacrificed his life in Patusan. He did nothing, still he surrendered himself. His death makes him a man of fidelity. Actually, Jewel could not understand Jim’s motives. She believed that Jim could fight against the men of Patusan.

The writer mainly focuses on the idea of individual identity. That is why, the idea of love and marriage does not get priority in this novel. Nevertheless, the writer has portrayed a beautiful love line between hero and heroine. They both were very affectionate. Jewel loves Jim and she is warm and tender towards him. She cares very deeply for him and that is why, once she saved his life. They both are unfortunate that they could not get married. Though she burst out in anger, and showed disrespect towards Jim, it is actually her sorrow to lose her love. 

There is no doubt that Jim loves Jewel, but for him it is important to achieve love of the men of Patusan. So, he does not escape from Patusan rather he faces the situation. Actually, Jim always tries to help the people of Patusan and that is why, they believe that Jim has the supernatural power. For any kind of problem, they just ask for help from Jim. It is his fortune, that he has achieved the trust, respect, and love of the native of Patusan. Jim is always haunted by the sense of guilt, disgrace, and humiliation. At any cost, he does not want to lose the respect. He does not choose the path of happiness. For his idea of fidelity and solidarity, he does not think of Jewel’s love. He does not want to show any ignoble fear in the face of danger. So, Jim has sacrificed his own live.

In Lord Jim, love and marriage is not the main focus. What gets much importance in this novel is finding one’s identity. It looks like that Joseph Conrad did not like the idea of love and marriage. That is why, we cannot find any indication of marriage throughout his novel. He has dealt with the theme of love but much emphasis was not given on it. Jim meets Jewel almost at the last part of the novel. It would not happen if he did not go to Patusan. The love relationship between Jim and Jewel was a complicated one. From Jewel’s conversation, we come to know that her father is a foreigner. One day her father leaves the country and never comes back. That is why, Jewel is always worried of the fact that Jim, like his father, will one day leave her and never come back. So, she makes Jim promise not to leave her.