# Chapter III explained — Lord Jim

> Chapter companion for Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

## What happens

Jim stands his watch on the Patna, lost in dreams of heroic adventure and feeling invincible. The captain and second engineer engage in a vulgar, drunken quarrel, shattering Jim's romantic illusions and revealing the squalid reality of the men around him.

## Themes in this chapter

### Romantic Idealism vs. Reality

Jim's heroic daydreams clash with the vulgar, corrupt reality of the Patna's officers.

### Honor and Shame

Jim's sense of superiority and his disdain for the captain's baseness reflect his internal honor code.

### Isolation and Belonging

Jim feels separate and different from the crew, isolated in his dreams and moral judgments.

## Character check-ins

### Jim

Lost in dreams of valorous deeds, feeling invincible and superior to the crew, but disturbed by the captain's vile presence.

### Marlow

Not present in this chapter.

### Gentleman Brown

Not present in this chapter.

### Stein

Not present in this chapter.

### Cornelius

Not present in this chapter.

### Jewel

Not present in this chapter.

### Doramin

Not present in this chapter.

### Dain Waris

Not present in this chapter.

### Tamb' Itam

Not present in this chapter.

### Tunku Allang

Not present in this chapter.

### Kassim

Not present in this chapter.

### Brierly

Not present in this chapter.

### Chester

Not present in this chapter.

### Captain Robinson

Not present in this chapter.

### Sherif Ali

Not present in this chapter.

### Archie Ruthvel

Not present in this chapter.

### Captain Elliot

Not present in this chapter.

### Alexander M'Neil

Not present in this chapter.

### Egström

Not present in this chapter.

### Blake

Not present in this chapter.

### Mr. Jones

Not present in this chapter.

### Mariani

Not present in this chapter.

### Schomberg

Not present in this chapter.

### Little Bob Stanton

Not present in this chapter.

### De Jongh

Not present in this chapter.

### George

Not present in this chapter.

### Bullock

Not present in this chapter.

### Mr. Symons

Not present in this chapter.

## Key lines

> He felt he cared for nothing that could happen to him to the end of his days.

Jim felt invulnerable and indifferent to any future misfortune.

_Jim's hubris before the crisis._

> the odious and fleshy figure, as though seen for the first time in a revealing moment, fixed itself in his memory forever as the incarnation of everything vile and base that lurks in the world we love

The captain's repulsive appearance became for Jim a permanent symbol of all the vileness hidden in the world.

_Jim's disillusionment with the captain._

> he shared the air they breathed, but he was different.

Jim felt he was fundamentally unlike the other men, even though they occupied the same space.

_Jim's sense of moral superiority._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lord_jim_se/chapters/iii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lord_jim_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lord_jim_se/chapters