On Heroism and Lord Jim

“I need a hero!”—Bonnie Tyler

Not wanting to touch too much on what I will be presenting on tomorrow, I’ve chosen to talk about the nature of heroism and how Lord Jim problematises the notion of heroism in the novel. Jim, at the outset of the novel, covets an opportunity to be a hero. “He saw himself saving people from sinking ships, cutting away masts….He confronted savages on tropical shores, quelled mutinies on the high seas… always an example of devotion to duty, and as unflinching as a hero in a book.” (47) (emphasis mine). However, Jim’s idealism and imagination is let down by his inability to control himself in the face of death, and in one fell swoop, he ‘jumps’, indelibly blotting out his chance to have been a “hero” that stuck to his duty. My impression is that Conrad problematizes the ability of the individual to adhere to the ideals of a romantic tradition of valour and heroism in a modernist age that is sceptical of neat categorisations and prototypes.

We also see a problematisation of heroism, as defined by society, in this case the colonial European ideal, as seen in character of the French lieutenant and the French crew that saved the ship. His adherence to duty in the saving of the Patna did not make him a hero, in his own devotion to his duty on board the Patna. The French complained of the discomfort of doing his duty rather than the supposed heroism that accompanied such a step of rescuing the Patna’s Orientals. Moreover, precautions were taken in the midst of performing their duty, so that the tug boat would not be sucked in with the ship. Therefore, the suggestion that there is little heroic about colonialism, the “duty” of the White Man to his colonised subject of saving them from themselves?