Lord Jim · Chapter
XXXVII explained
Marlow recounts his interview with the dying Gentleman Brown in Bangkok, who exults in having 'paid out' Jim.
What happens
Marlow recounts his interview with the dying Gentleman Brown in Bangkok, who exults in having 'paid out' Jim. He then describes visiting Stein in Samarang, where he finds Tamb' Itam and learns that Jim is dead. Stein leads him to Jewel, who is consumed by grief and resentment, unable to understand why Jim left her. Marlow pleads with her to forgive Jim, but she remains unmoved, and Stein insists Jim was 'true.'
Themes in this chapter
Judgment and Redemption
Jewel's inability to forgive Jim and Marlow's plea for forgiveness highlight the tension between judgment and the possibility of redemption.
Love and Sacrifice
Jewel's grief and sense of abandonment underscore the theme of love and the sacrifice Jim made for his own ideals.
The Nature of Courage and Cowardice
Brown's taunts about Jim being a 'hollow sham' and Tamb' Itam's lament 'He would not fight' probe the ambiguous nature of courage.
Characters to notice
- Marlow
Narrates his encounters with Brown and Stein, and his conversation with Jewel.
- Gentleman Brown
Dying in Bangkok, he gloats over having destroyed Jim, calling him a 'hollow sham.'
- Stein
Found in Samarang, deeply distressed, he leads Marlow to Jewel and defends Jim's truthfulness.
- Jewel
Grief-stricken and resentful, she cannot forgive Jim for leaving her, feeling betrayed.
- Tamb' Itam
Found at Stein's house, he repeats 'He would not fight' and appears unable to explain further.
- Cornelius
Mentioned as having revealed 'unsuspected depths of cunning' and abject hate that aided Brown's revenge.
Key passages
“He a man! Hell! He was a hollow sham. As if he couldn't have said straight out, 'Hands off my plunder!' blast him! That would have been like a man!”
Brown dismisses Jim as a fraud, insisting a real man would have simply threatened him directly.
Brown's contempt for Jim's idealism.
“He would not fight. He would not fight.”
Tamb' Itam repeats that Jim refused to engage in battle.
Tamb' Itam's distress at Jim's passive choice.
“He has left me. You always leave us—for your own ends.”
Jewel accuses Marlow and all white men of abandoning others for selfish purposes.
Jewel's bitter generalization about European behavior.
“He went away from me as if I had been worse than death. He fled as if driven by some accursed thing he had heard or seen in his sleep.”
Jewel describes Jim's departure as a flight from a nightmare, making her feel more terrible than death itself.
Jewel's sense of being abandoned for an incomprehensible dream.
“No! no! no! My poor child! Not false! True! True! True!”
Stein vehemently insists that Jim was not false but true, trying to console Jewel.
Stein's defense of Jim's essential truthfulness.