Quotes

Question 1

Jim’s training for becoming officer (Chapter 2) - Sea life

Answer 1

“He became chief mate of a fine ship, without ever having been tested by those events of the sea that show … the inner worth of a man.”

Question 2

Jim’s description through Marlow (Chapter 5) - Appearance

Answer 2

“He was the kind of fellow you would, on the strength of his looks, leave in charge of the deck—figuratively and professionally speaking.”

Question 3

Jim’s failure on the Patna (Chapter 12) - Patna incident

Answer 3

“I had jumped—hadn’t I? … That’s what I had to live down. The story didn’t matter.”

Question 4

Marlow meets a French lieutenant and talk about the Patna incident (Chapter 12) - Patna incident

Answer 4

“This affair … had an extraordinary power of defying the shortness of memories. … It seemed to live … in the minds of men, on the tips of their tongues.”

Question 5

Stein’s remedy for Jim (Chapter 20) - Jim’s revelation

Answer 5

“Strictly speaking, the question is not how to get cured, but how to live.”

Question 6

Jim’s description in his Patusan life through Marlow (Chapter 29) - Patusan

Answer 6

“He was imprisoned within the very freedom of his power.”

Question 7

Jim about his lover Jewel to Marlow (Chapter 32) - Jim’s love

Answer 7

“You take a different view of your actions when you come to understand … that your existence is necessary … to another person.”

Question 8

Jim to Doramin after Dain Waris death (Chapter 45) - Honor

Answer 8

“I am come in sorrow. … I am come ready and unarmed.”

Question 9

Marlow on Jim after Patna incident, knowing he can rebound (Chapter 5) - Jim’s courage

Answer 9

“I watched the youngster there. I liked his appearance; he came from the right place; he was one of us.”

Question 10

Captain Brierly on Jim’s case (Chapter 6) - Jim’s case and secret

Answer 10

“No wonder Jim’s case bored him, […] he was probably holding silent inquiry into his own case. The verdict must have been one of unmitigated guilt, and he took the secret of the evidence with him into that leap into the sea.”

Question 11

Quote about man’s behavior

Answer 11

“Men act badly sometimes without being much worse than others”

Question 12

Marlow on Jim’s dependance

Answer 12

“He existed for me, and after all it is only through me that he exists for you.”

Question 13

Marlow to Jim after announcing he found a job for Jim with Stein - notion of power

Answer 13

“There is a weird power in a spoken word.”

Question 13

Jim on his power in Patusan and secret not know by Bugis

Answer 13

“I am stupid, am I not? What more can I want? If you ask them who is brave–who is true–who is just–who is it they would trust with their lives?–they would say, Tuan Jim. And yet they can never know the real, real truth….”

Question 14

Jim to Marlow on Patna incident description

Answer 14

“All this happened in much less time than it takes to tell, since I am trying to interpret for you into slow speech the instantaneous effect of visual impressions.”

Question 15

Jim to Marlow, searching sb to talk about the Patna incident

Answer 15

“I don’t want to excuse myself; but I would like to explain—I would like somebody to understand—somebody—one person at least! You! Why not you?”

Question 16

Marlow after Jim told about the Patna incident that he jumped

Answer 16

“While there’s life there is hope, truly; but there is fear, too.”

Question 17

Jim constant leaving as afraid of being recognized (Patna incident)

Answer 17

“Thus in the course of years he was known successively in Bombay, in Calcutta, in Rangoon, in Penang, in Batavia—and in each of these halting-places was just Jim the water-clerk.”

Question 18

Stein to Marlow about his regret in life to not be able to live his dreams

Answer 18

“do you know how many opportunities I let escape; how many dreams I had lost that had come in my way?” [… ] It seems to me that some would have been very fine — if I had made them come true. Do you know how many? Perhaps I myself don’t know.”

Question 19

Marlow on Jim trial (the facts)

Answer 19

“They wanted facts. Facts! They demanded facts from him, as if facts could explain anything”

Question 20

Marlow description of Jim romanticism side

Answer 20

“At such times his thoughts would be full of valorous deeds: he loved these dreams and the success of his imaginary achievements.”

Question 21

Marlow on Brown malicious side

Answer 21

“Brown, as though he had been really great, had a satanic gift of finding out the best and the weakest spot in his victims.”

Question 22

Jim’s Moral Crisis: Honor and Guilt

Answer 22

“There is no greater sin than to doubt one’s own worth.”

Question 23

Jim’s Moral Challenges in the East

Answer 23

“There is no wrong in falling. But there is wrong in staying down.”

Question 24

Jim’s Redemption: Sacrifice and Legacy

Answer 24

“The act of sacrifice is not only a heroic gesture, but also a form of personal redemption.”