Abdul Malek Howlader: A maker of human beings

Abdul Malek Howlader of Madaripur is a skilled craftsman to turn the dropout children of the society into perfect human beings. This person who is averse to publicity has been relentlessly teaching thousands of dropout students unselfishly for 67 years. In his own established school, he is alone carrying on the task of making human beings. Abdul Malek established a school at Mithapur bazar in Dudhkhali union in 1943. Later this school got fame in the name of ‘Abdul Malek Howlader’s Pathshala (school)’ across the area.

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More important thing is that he has spread the luster of light amongst thousands of illiterate and incognizant people. Exhibiting latent talent, he enlightened many people in his school and took them away from the darkness of illiteracy. Many of them are well established and respectable people in the society. Akter Hossain, headmaster of the Kulpadi High School, said, “He was inattentive to studies since his childhood. He did not do studies at the age of 16. One day Malek sir called him and arranged for his education in his school. After studying under his supervision for only three and half years, he sat for SSC exam in private and passed the exam. If that person did not teach me forcefully then I could not be a teacher today. I would remain uneducated whole life.” Akter Hossain said these words with pride. Another student Azharuddin Khan, who is currently the bank officer, also said the same thing. Malek sir taught him forcefully. In this way, he educated innumerable dropout students. Many dexterous people including doctor, engineer, teacher, litterateur, playwright, bank officer, police and army officer learnt lessons from him.

Yet no one stays in touch with him. This centennial person worn out by age spends the day under the extreme hardship. At this age, Abdul Malek Howlader has to do homeopathy treatment and cloth sewing work alongside teaching to earn his livelihood. In 2006, he was elected as a white-hearted person among 10 people across the country in “White-hearted Human Being” competition, a social and patriotic program of Unilever Bangladesh. He got Tk 100,000 as gift from Unilever. But the sad thing is that lucky person of Abdul Malek Howlader school did not get any reception in his own district. Even no one takes notice of the condition of this selfless person.

When asked about his great work and life, he said to Shirsho News Dot Com, “He did not do anything for gaining something. He thinks that it is his mental satisfaction and moral responsibility. In his 67 long years of pursuit, many dropout students of that area have been established. It is his great achievement. Besides, it is his fortune that he taught many helpless and poor children at free of cost. He said these words in smiling face.”

When asked exactly when he started this school, he said, “In 1943, he started teaching small kids three years after doing service in Civil Guard Commander and few days as Ansar commander.” For developing a child completely, since then he has been teaching various subjects, including dance, song, acting, PT and Arabic. He said he has long been teaching in this school. At present, his health condition is so bad that he can leave the earth any day. He is at a loss thinking what would happen to this school after his departure. He was saying these words and was silently looking towards the school holding the pillar of the house trembling.”

The only thinking of this extra-ordinary great-hearted person is about this school and the education and future of the dropout students of this area. This person forced many drop-out students of this area to come back to study. Many of them are in the top positions of the society. Do they not have any responsibility to this great person? Do they not have any responsibility towards Abdul Malek Howlader’s school, which is resounded with the noise of the small children soon after 8 O’clock in the morning?

Every day they sing national anthem standing align under the old banyan tree. With this, they take an oath to build the country being the perfect human being. After that, class starts at the balcony of the decayed house. Students do class keeping books and notebooks on a bench like thing made of one feet tall wood and bamboo and sitting on wood or brick. Like the students, there is a wonky chair for master. Because of the fear for the chair being broken, it is tied tightly with the pillar of the house. Blackboard is also very old. Some of its parts have also been broken. Still there is no shortage of students in this school. There are almost 40 students from class 1 to class 5. They do classes sitting separately in five groups in the same room. Each class has a captain. This is Abdul Malek Howlader’s school. If you make an on-field visit, you will see this.

Local residents have been observing this for 67 long years. Though old age got to Abdul Malek Howlader, who is close to hundred, he did not stop the work of making human. This resolute person is fighting alone to educate students of the area amid thousands of problems. When it rains, rain water falls from the big holes of the tin of balcony. But class does not stop. The distance of the school being very far from his own house, he has to come to school every day in hardship with senile body. This self-confident person does not keep his school closed despite his problem of walking. This is a story of a fearless commander who wins the battle of life, because of whose strong leadership, many dropout soldiers win in the battle of life. Many of his students are today established in high positions of the society.

Local residents said, “Abdul Malek Howlader in his own initiative established a school at Mithapur bazar in Dudhkhali union of Madaripur sadar, which later became famous as Abdul Malek Howlader’s school. Here, he teaches poor and meritorious students of the village selflessly at free of cost. He creates interest about studies in students who have lost it with a newly devised strategy. He provides mental strength to make each student fully self-dependent by making them participate in various cultural activities and exercise along with studies. Local people remember his contribution with utmost respect.” 

On July 19, 2013, at the age of almost hundred, Abdul Malek Howlader breathed his last at his village home. He had long been suffering from old-age related complications.

Source:

https://sdsmf.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/মাদারীপুরের-আব্দুল-মালেক/ 

Narration: Interrogative Sentence Part Two (2)

Narration is perhaps one of the difficult parts of English grammar. Most of learners face problems when it comes to changing speeches from direct to indirect. Here, in this article, I am sharing with you some exercises with solutions of interrogative sentences. Hope it will be helpful for all Bangladesh Civil Services (BCS), Bank, and any kind of job applicants.

1.   He said to me, “Did you go to school yesterday?”

Answer: He asked me if I had gone to school the previous day.

2.   He said to us, “Will you listen to such a fool?”

Answer: He asked us if we would listen to such a fool.

3.   She said to him, “Why have you come here?”

Answer: She asked him why he had gone there.

4.   Anwar said to Arif, “Where have you come from?”

Answer: Anwar asked Arif where he (A) had gone from.  

5.   He said to me, “Are you ill?”

Answer: He asked me if I was ill.

6.   He said to me, “Where did you go yesterday?”

Answer: He asked me where I had gone the previous day.

7.   My mother said to me, “Is not poverty a curse?”

Answer: My mother asked me if poverty was not a curse.

8.   The man said to the stranger, “What is your name and why did you come here?”

Answer: The man asked the stranger what his (S) name was and why he (S) had gone there.

9.   Father said to his son, “Are you interested in Mathematics?”

Answer: Father asked his son if he (S) was interested in Mathematics.

10.                He said to me, “Do you know my friend?”

Answer: He asked me if I knew his friend.

11.                Ruby said to her mother, “What did you see when you were in the states?”

Answer: Ruby asked her mother what she (M) had seen when she (M) had been in the states.

12.                The teacher said to the students, “Can anyone give the correct answer of this question?”

Answer: The teacher asked the students if anyone could give the correct answer of that question.

13.                Tareq said to Rafiq, “Why do you always think about the bad side of things?”

Answer: Tareq asked Rafiq why he (R) always thought about the bad side of things.

14.                You said to me, “Would you help me, please?”

Answer: You politely asked me if I would help you.  

15.                They said to us, “When will you return home?”

Answer: They asked us when we would return home.

16.                You said to Asif, “Have you seen the man who came to visit yesterday?”

Answer: You asked Asif if he (A) had seen the man who had gone to visit the previous day.

17.                The passenger said to the porter, “When will the train arrive?”

Answer: The passenger asked the porter when the train would arrive.

18.                The old man said to his sons, “Why do you quarrel always?”

Answer: The old man asked his sons why they (S) always quarreled.

19.                I said to her, “Will you go to the college tomorrow?”

Answer: I asked her if she would go to the college the next day.

20.                My mother said to me, “Why did you not go to school yesterday?”

Answer: My mother asked me why I had not gone to school the previous day.

21.                He said to me, “Which book do you want?”

Answer: He asked me which book I wanted.

22.                The policeman said to me, “Did you see the accident?”

Answer: The policeman asked me if I had seen the accident.

23.                They said to us, “Why did you write those letters?”

Answer: They asked us why we had written those letters.

24.                He said to me, “When will the next letter come?”

Answer: He asked me when the next letter would come.

25.                I said to the Headmaster, “Sir, will you grant me a full free studentship?”

       Answer: I respectfully asked the headmaster if he would grant me a full free studentship. 

A short biography of Palan Sarkar

Palan Sarkar was born in Bagatipara village of Natore district on September 9, 1921. His birth name was Harez Uddin Sarkar. But since his birth, his mother used to call him “Palan”. His father Hayat Ullah Sarkar died when he was only five months old. After studying till class four, he stopped studying because of financial problem. Then his maternal grandfather Moyen Uddin Sarkar brought Palan Sarkar along with his mother Moifun Nessa in his own house at Bausha village in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi. There he took admission in a school where there was no scope of studying after class six. After completing studies till class six, Palan Sarkar brought an end to his academic education. But he cultivated the habit of reading books. 

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Palan Sarkar’s grandfather Moyen Uddin Sarkar was a local small landlord. At first, he used to collect tax for his grandfather’s landed property. The zamindari system was abolished after the partition of the country. Then he got the job of a tax collector in Bausha union in 1962. He inherited 40 bighas of land from his grandfather. He joined a Jatra or local theater group during the British period. He used to perform the role of a jester. He also used to copy the manuscript of the plays by hand. On the other hand, he would tell the actors dialogue from behind the stage. In this way, his hobby of reading books grew. For a long time, he performed the role of chairman of the board of directors of Harun-ar-Rashid High School. In 1965, after donating 52 Shotangsho of land during the establishment of the school, Palan Sarkar was elected chairman at the request of local people. He has a rice mill in Bausha bazar.

Palan Sarkar used to give books as gift to those who earned the first ten places on the merit list in their respective classes in Bausha Harun-ar-Rashid High School since 1990. After that, when other students also insisted on him getting books, he decided that he would give them books too, but they would have to return the books. Then village people also started asking him for books. This was the beginning of his movement of reading books. In 1992, having being diagnosed with diabetes, Palan Sarkar had to grow the habit of walking. At that time, a new idea came to his mind.

He broke the tradition of distributing books centered on school and decided to deliver and take back the books by physically visiting them. In marriage ceremonies, he would present books along with other gifts. Besides, he also gave books to those who paid their debts in his rice mill. In 2009, the Rajshahi District Council established a library in his courtyard.

At first, people of some villages at Bagha upazila of Rajshahi came to know about this outstanding education movement of Palan Sarkar. On December 29, 2006, Palan Sarkar was portrayed as an enlightened person in an episode of Ityadi, a popular magazine program on state-owned television channel BTV. Later on February 17, 2007, a cover report was published on him in the Shamoyiki section of Chutir Dine of the first-lined daily newspaper, Prothom Alo. The title of the report was “Distributing books for free”. Since then he got recognition across the country.

In 2011, he received Ekushey Padak, the country’s second highest civilian award, for his contribution to the society. On September 20, 2014, on the occasion of ‘Impact Journalism Day’, a report was published on him on the daily newspapers of various languages around the world. Golam Sarwar Dodul made an Eid drama ‘Obodan’ for BTV based on his life story. Unilever Bangladesh awarded him with the title ‘White-hearted human being’ for creating the interest of reading books among the people by distributing books for free. 

On March 1, 2019, at the age of 98, Palan Sarkar died at his village home. At that time, he was surrounded by his family members. According to his son, Haider Ali, the legendary person had been suffering from old-age related complications. His departure was a great loss for our society. It is really hard to get such a benevolent person in this materialistic world. May his soul rest in peace.

Source:

https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/পলান_সরকার

https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2019/03/01/palan-sarker-the-founder-of-book-reading-movement-in-rajshahi-passes-away

http://www.newagebd.net/article/66153/articlelist/323/index.php

https://www.jugantor.com/national/150212/পলান-সরকারের-আলোর-ফেরিওয়ালা-হয়ে-ওঠার-গল্প

http://www.kalerkantho.com/online/national/2019/03/01/742579

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/191880/%E2%80%98Alor-Ferrywala%E2%80%99-Palan-Sarkar-dies

Khairan Aman Qazi: A nine-year-old college student

Taking the phone from his mother, Khairan wanted to know about the reporter’s well-being, “Hello, Assalamu Walaikum. How are you?”

The reporter became surprised hearing the greetings in correct Bengali in Khairan’s mouth. It is unexpected to hear such a Bengali from a child of his age, who was born in a family migrated to the USA quite a long ago.

The reporter was talking to Julia Kazi, mother of Khairan. While giving surprising information about her son, she handed the phone to him. Then the reporter heard the story of Khairan’s likings. It is almost like question-answer session.

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What is your favorite TV program? Khairan said, “Young Children.” What is your favorite color? He said, “Blue.” In this way, the reporter came to know that his favorite actor is Daniel Radcliffe, actor of Harry Potter series. Like many American kids, Khairan’s favorite sport is basketball. In between questions, he also added, “I also play basketball myself.”

Who is that Khairan? In the American press, Huffington Post, Khairan Aman Kazi wrote a column about himself. Reading his writing, many people were dazed. He is only nine years old. He was supposed to study in school. But at this age, he got himself admitted to a college. After the article got published in Huffington Post, Khairan’s story got published in various other media, including the British newspaper ‘The Daily Mail’ and ‘The Irish Times’ of Ireland.

The reporter was talking to Julia Chowdhury Kazi, mother of Khairan, with reference to that news. She is, by profession, an executive of an organization named Wall Street. They live at Bay area in San Francisco, USA. Khairan’s grandfather’s house is in Manikganj. His father, Mustahid Kazi, is an engineer by profession.

School in two years:

It is the story of 2011. Khairan Kazi was just two years old. Family members were busy with him. He was far ahead of other children in intelligence. He could utter full sentences at that age. Then Khairan’s parents had consulted with a doctor. Following various types of examinations, it was fond out that he not only has more IQ or intelligence, but he has more EQ or Emotional Intelligence. Julia Kazi said, “My son’s intelligence is very sharp. He has his own opinion in every matter.”

Being advised by the doctor, they got the two-year-old Khairan admitted to a school. But the problem appeared after his school admission. Teachers had to give more attention to him. He used to understand things as soon as the teachers wrote on the board. He would complete one semester’s tasks in just two weeks.  

Julia Kazi continues, “Brains of children like him continue working whole day. They move from one subject to another subject. So, he was given therapy sometimes in school. Or taking him to the gymnasium, he was told to run.”

According to the rules, he is now fourth grade student. But parents of this intensely meritorious child have decided to enroll him in college. Khairan Aman Kazi was admitted into Las Positas College in California in September 2018. There he is doing associate in mathematics and chemistry. But he has name in the notebook of the gifted school. Julia Kazi said, “Besides college, he has been kept in school too so that he gets the company of kids of his age. Because his father and I both stay busy, my sister-in-law (brother’s wife) usually takes care of him.”

Not only just school and college studies, Khairan is also involved in many activities including playing piano, learning Mandarin language of China, appearing in Karate school in the weekend.

He is mythological like his name:

The name “Gazanfar Ali” is familiar to old Bengali residents in New York city. He is a pioneer to those who started publishing newspaper in Bengali language in that city. Khairan is the grandchild of Gazanfar Ali. Khairan’s mother, Julia Kazi, came to the USA from Moulvibazar along with her family at the age of two. She was grown up in Astoria-Jamaica. Later she got married to Mustahid Kazi and settled down in San Francisco. Khairan came to the family on January 27, 2009.

What is the meaning of the name ‘Khairan’:

What is the meaning of the name ‘Khairan’? The reporter asked the question to Julia Kazi during the conversation. She smiled. Then she started talking about her own liking. Julia Kazi loved to read mythological books since her childhood; especially she was very fond of Japanese stories. She also took her son’s name from Japanese mythology. The meaning of “Khairan” is opening of one door from another under the sea.

Like his name, Khairan’s desire to know is endless. His wish is to go from one door to another in the world of knowledge. Everyone expects Khairan to go ahead towards that goal.

Source:

https://www.prothomalo.com/pachmisheli/article/1576182/৯-বছরেই-কলেজছাত্র

A pathetic story of a father and his daughter

‘I tell the moon you are not beautiful like my mother. I tell the rose you are not sweet like my mother….’ This song painfully comes out of the voice of a six-year-old affectionate child, Jannatul Islam Mawa.

Jannatul is not like any other child. Her life is strange. She has her mother, but is still deprived of her care. Since she was two years old, her father has been both her mother and father. She shares all her emotions- joys and pains, huffs and egos- with her father. When other kids spend this time in playing and learning alphabets, most of her during the day is spent in the street.

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Her father is a driver of battery-run Easy Bike. For having no one to take care of her in safety, Jannatul Mawa spends the whole day with her father in an Easy Bike. She takes food three times every day at hotel. And she sleeps with her father in one corner of the garage where Easy Bike battery is given charge. She does things including taking bath and answering the call of nature at the garage owner’s house.

Two and half years after the birth of Jannatul Mawa, her mother leaves her. For the sake of riches, leaving her father’s hand, Moriom settled with someone else. Since then, she has grown up roaming with her father in his Easy Bike, which is a barrier for her physical and mental development.

The reporter talked with them at the garage at the Sankarpur Chatal junction in Jashore city in the morning last Friday. While the reporter was talking to her father, Jannatul was singing that song on her own sitting beside her father.

Muradur Rahman, father of Jannatul Mawa, said his family background was not that bad. About nine years ago, he fell in love with Mawa’s mother and married her. For getting married against his family, Muradur Rahman had to leave his ancestral home. At that time, he used to do embroidery work on cloth. Afterwards, for decreasing the demand of embroidery work, Muradur fell into a financial crisis. Then Mawa was two and half years old. He took up a salesperson’s job for products like notebook, pen and brush.

At that time, his wife eloped with another person for the greed of money. Muradur did not have anyone to look after the child when he went out to work. When he took his child with him at work, staff of the brush company used to get annoyed with him. For this reason, he left that job and now he is driving Easy Bike. And he is forced to keep his adorable child with him.

Muradur said, “I do not want to keep my daughter in such an environment. My kid catches cold and cough. But what will I do? I do not have any other option. So, I am forced to keep my beloved child with me all the time.”

Thinking about the future of the child, Muradur does not think about getting married for the second time. The child is growing up day by day. Now, Muradur’s only concern is how to provide the child with a clean environment in which she can grow up well.  

Shamimur Rahman, the owner of the garage, said, “I felt sad seeing the painful life of both the father and daughter. So, I have allowed both of them to stay in my garage.”

But if it goes on like this, the child’s natural development will be hampered, said Abul Kalam Azad Litu, the doctor of Jessore’s 250-seat hospital.

Source-

http://www.kalerkantho.com/online/miscellaneous/2019/02/11/736118?fbclid=IwAR1FJmH796OJTqHbmro69kQ9ZFiZw_O1svGVcC1oitOUXkucdzxfmplXyx4

Comparative study between Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and Lord Jim

It is hard to make comparative study between the novels- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and Lord Jim. As all these novels deal with love and marriage, it is natural that we will find some similarities between them, though they are written by different writers. We can find very less dissimilarities. We will also make comparison between characters. Here, readers will also find compare and contrast between these novels.

Except Pride and Prejudice, the other three novels- Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and Lord Jim belong to the Victorian Age. For this reason, we can find the treatment of love and marriage in two different periods. Love and marriage have direct connections with society and culture. With the use of these two themes, the writers also tried to portray the condition of the women of contemporary England. In England, during the Victorian Age, women did not have any rights and they could not inherit their fathers’ property. They always had to depend on male members of the family. Their only duty was to take care of the house, give birth to children, cooking and cleaning. That is why, they chose to marry rich person and by doing so they could gain financial security and saved themselves from spinsterhood. In Pride and Prejudice, we can see that Mrs. Bennet’s only tension is to get her daughters married with rich grooms. In Jane Eyre, the heroine Jane loves Rochester and wants to marry him, but she is at the same time well aware of the social division. In Great Expectations, Pip loves Estella and wants to marry her. To be able to marry her, he wants to become gentleman and rich. However, in Lord Jim, Jim loves Jewel and wants to become happy with her. But love and marriage get less importance in this novel.

The interesting thing is, though Jane Austen belonged to the Romantic Age, her ideals were totally different compared to that time. Instead her ideas were more or less similar to that of the Victorian idea. It looked like that she was not that much influenced by events like the French Revolution. The main reason behind this is she mainly lived inside her house and did not go out that much. Therefore, we cannot find that much romantic elements in her novels.

Compared to other three novels, Lord Jim is different because there is very short description about love and marriage. Love and marriage is not the main focus of this novel. Readers can find the love relationship between Jim and Jewel at the last part of this novel. Till now, we can see Jim’s suffering after he abandons the ship ‘Patna’ and his establishment in Patusan. Neither of the characters gets married. It seems that Joseph Conrad has showed this relation just to show tragic end of this novel.

Like Lord Jim, Great Expectations did not have a happy ending. This novel ends without any clue whether Pip and Estella get married or not. Their marriage was the most anticipated one as Pip tirelessly pursued Estella for love. None of the important characters of this novel had a happily married life except Joe and Biddy. In Lord Jim, we can see that Jim died and Jewel stays alone in her whole life.

We can find many similarities both in Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Both these novels had a happy ending. Jane Eyre suffered a lot in her life but at the end of the novel, she is united with Rochester. They get married and live happily ever after. We can see almost similar ending in Pride and Prejudice. Bennet sisters- Jane Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet- get married with rich grooms. Lydia was an exceptional one. She eloped with Wickham. Later they get married.

Elizabeth was the central female character of Pride and Prejudice. Similarly, Jane Eyre was the central character of the novel Jane Eyre. If we look at them carefully then we can see similarity between them. Both these characters cannot be considered as ideal heroines. There is very less description about their outlook appearance. As a heroine of the novel, they are not that much beautiful and attractive. However, both of them have strong personality. They did not want to sacrifice their independence and honor for silly things.

Both Jane and Elizabeth are romantic heroines. They esteem love and want to marry a person who will love them and respect them. They do not want to lead a married life lack of love. Jane Eyre did not agree to marry Rochester when she came to know that Rochester is married and his wife is still alive. But when Rochester lost everything, including his wife and eye sight, she came back to him and tried her best to take care him. Same thing can be said about Elizabeth. When she meets Darcy at the Marryton ball, she develops a kind of attitude towards him. After realizing that Darcy really loves her, she accepts Darcy’s proposal.

Jane Eyre is different from other novels in a sense that Charlotte Bronte not only depicted the condition of Victorian women but also tried to depict love and marriage from a woman’s point of view. Jane Eyre wants to love and wants to be loved without sacrificing and harming herself. Her fear of losing her independence motivates her refusal of Rochester’s marriage proposal. Jane believes that “marrying” Rochester while he remains legally tied to Bertha would mean rendering herself as a mistress and sacrificing her own integrity for the sake of emotional gratification.

Like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre is also written by female writer. For this reason, condition of women gets much focus in these two novels. Love and marriage are two things which can beautifully portray women’s condition of the contemporary England. So, it can undoubtedly be said that love and marriage play the most vital role of these novels.

Unlike Jane Eyre, Great Expectations does not show happy marriage. At the end of the novel, Pip learns his lessons and reconciles with his friends and family members. But there is no hint of marriage between Pip and Estella. So, readers cannot come to know whether Pip and Estella get married or not. Love and marriage are shown more like part of the overall experience of growing up. None of the major characters of this novel had a happily married life except Joe and Biddy. However, in Jane Eyre, Jane is united with his lover Rochester and they get married and live happily ever after. In this novel, love and marriage are shown connected to each other. From this point of view, Great Expectations has similarity with Lord Jim. In Lord Jim, we do not see happy marriage. Jim, who is the title character of this novel, dreamt of becoming happy with Jewel, but in the end, it did not happen. Jim sacrifices his life and establishes the truth.

Both in Jane Eyre and Great Expectations, the central female characters Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet mainly struggle to establish themselves as human beings in the society. In order to get love or being married with a rich groom, they did not sacrifice their individuality and self-respect. Elizabeth accepts Darcy’s proposal when she realizes that Darcy is no more an arrogant and proud person. Same thing can be said about Jane Eyre. She returns to Rochester after he loses everything, including his wife and eye sight. 

In the conclusion, it can be said that all these novels perfectly dealt with the themes of love and marriage. Writers showed both good and bad sides of these two themes. By going through these novels, one can come to know how love and marriage affects a person’s life. However, true love has been rewarded and fake love or love for specific purpose has also been discouraged. They have also discouraged people choosing their life partner whom they do not love or respect either. So, in the end, it can be said that to be happy in life we should lead a very simple life and try to be happy with our life partner. So, we can say that Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and Lord Jim are romantic novels. These novels are full of examples of love and marriage. Except Lord Jim, the main focus of other three novels was love and marriage.

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.