Marlow realises that Jim needs a new situation, something that will take him far away from modern ports and keep him occupied so that he can finally forget his guilt.

Jim then finds work as a ship chandler's clerk in ports of the East Indies, always succeeding in the job then leaving abruptly when the memory of the Patna incident catches up with him. Jim is accepted there but leaves abruptly when an engineer who had also abandoned the ship appears to work at the house. Wracked with guilt, Jim confesses his shame to Marlow, who finds him a place to live in a friend's home. Brierly, a captain of perfect reputation who is on the panel of the court, inexplicably commits suicide days after the trial.Ĭaptain Charles Marlow attends the trial and meets Jim, whose behaviour he condemns, but the young man intrigues him. When the other men leave town before the magistrate's court can be convened, Jim is the only crew member left to testify. The captain's actions in abandoning both ship and passengers are against the code of the sea, and the crew is publicly vilified. When they reach port, they learn that the Patna and its passengers were brought in safely by a crew from a French navy ship. A few days later, they are picked up by an outbound steamer. In a crucial moment, Jim jumps into the boat with the captain. The helmsmen remain, as no order has been given to do otherwise. The captain and two other crewmen think only to save themselves, and prepare to lower a boat. Captain Gustav thinks the ship will quickly sink, and Jim agrees but wants to put the passengers on the few boats before that can happen. After some days of smooth sailing, the ship hits something in the night and the bulkhead begins bulging under the waterline. Recovering from an injury, Jim seeks a position on the Patna, a steamer serving the transport of 800 'pilgrims of an exacting belief' to a port on the Red Sea. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Lord Jim 85th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. He is publicly censured for this action and the novel follows his later attempts at coming to terms with himself and his past and seeking redemption and acceptance.

An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, including a young British seaman named Jim. Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900.

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad