The novel "Lord Jim" by Joseph Conrad is a story about a sailor named Jim who has to go through life trying to put a hideous act of cowardice behind him. He has no place to call his own, and it seems as though his history follows him everywhere he goes. This makes it difficult to keep a job because not only does everyone know what he did, but also he knows that they look at him poorly.
Jim always wanted to be a sailor. He loved the sea, and so he entered a training program for merchants where he excelled. He was injured while on board, and this sets up the story to have Jim aboard a boat called the Patna. This boat held 800 Moslem pilgrims, and Jim was first mate aboard it. One night, the ship hit something in the water and weakened the boat while the Moslems were asleep.
novel
Jim, the Photographer (On the Far Left)
JimAfraid the ship would sink, Jim and the other officers took a lifeboat to safety while the ship went under. They could even hear the screams of horror aboard the ship.
Jim went before a panel for them to determine if he was guilty of leaving them to die or if he could have saved them. They revoked his navel certificate, and Jim's image of himself and his self-esteem were shattered. A man named Marlow went to Jim and spoke with him about his future and even offered him a job. Jim accepted, but soon after ran away because people remembered his history and he was scared. Eventually, Marlow got in touch with Jim and had a job for him on a trading post in Africa where he could be by himself and no one would bother him. On the way there, he was captured...