Chapters 1-12

Lord Jim starts out with a capsule description of Jim—a tall, powerful man—by a third-person narrator, who gives both Jim's background and briefly mentions events that take place far in Jim's future. This jumping around in time is a common technique in the book. As a child, Jim is drawn to the sea and goes into training to be an officer, hoping to be a hero someday. His first attempts at heroism fail, and, in fact, the narrator starts to talk about a mysterious incident that happens to Jim on the Patna but does not explain exactly what happens. At this point, the story shifts to a first-person nar-

After receiving his education in Poland, Conrad took a trip through Europe and decided not to ration by Marlow, a man Jim meets at his yet unexplained trial. Marlow's language reveals that he...