"Cliff Notes - Lord Jim" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

objectivity. For example, in his talk with the French
lieutenant (Chapters Twelve and Thirteen), Marlow wants to think
that the lieutenant's sympathy and understanding of human fear
will lead to his pardoning Jim. Conrad lets Marlow build this
house of cards out of his hopes--then has the lieutenant topple
it with a few words about a topic Marlow has been avoiding:
honor.

Jim's emotions are essentially simple because he views the world
in simple, even naive terms. Marlow, on the other hand, is
endlessly complex in his responses to events and his analyses of
them. He's exasperated by Jim's immaturity, though he's also
drawn to the way Jim has held on to his youthful illusions. But
though Marlow may have lost his own illusions, he's anything but
a cynic. In fact, he's the opposite--a moralist. Marlow is
concerned with the essential goodness or badness of people,
their "butterfly" or "beetle" natures. (See the Note in Chapter
Twenty.) He readily condemns the Patna's captain and engineers,
or Cornelius and Brown; and he doesn't hesitate to heap praise
on characters like Stein and Dain Waris. What disturbs him
about Jim's case is the ethical problem. Marlow is an adept
enough judge of character to recognize that Jim is a far cry
from the scoundrel he would have expected in a first mate who
deserted his ship. In fact, his confidence in Jim goes so far
that he's willing to make himself "unreservedly responsible" for
Jim's behavior by recommending him for employment in terms you
would use only for a close friend. So Marlow faces the moral
puzzle: how could a genuinely good man behave like a very bad
one?

Philosopher though he is, he balks at the one answer that might
let Jim off. He's unwilling to concede that the "fixed standard
of conduct," the code of ethics by which we behave, isn't
grounded or "fixed" in any cosmic sense as, for example, the law
of gravity is fixed. He refuses to believe it's an arbitrary
standard, "fixed" only for our own convenience but dispensable
in certain situations. For Captain Marlow the good sailor, a
ship's officer doesn't abandon the passengers under any
circumstances--period. But Jim seems no more villainous,
really, for his action. This moral puzzle is part of what draws
Marlow to Jim. In addition, of course, he likes him. And he
feels a certain responsibility, recognizing that nobody will
help the young man if he doesn't, and that without help Jim is
probably bound for a future of alcoholic ruin.

And yet for all his kindness Marlow is so reserved that he seems
cold. He seems to have difficulty handling affection. Whenever
Jim tries to express friendship or gratitude, Marlow dodges with
a joke or a gruff reply. He actively avoids moments of what he
calls "real and profound intimacy," preferring for such intimacy