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Amanda Henderson
19th Century Studies
5/14/09
Close Reading of a Selection From “Lord Jim”
“His station was fore-top, and often from there he looked down, with the
contempt of a man destined to shine in the midst of dangers, at the peaceful
multitude of roofs cut in two by the brown tide of the stream, while scattered
on the outskirts of the surrounding plain the factory chimneys rose
perpendicular against a grimy sky, each slender like a pencil, and belching
out smoke like a volcano. He could see the big ships departing, the bread-
beamed ferries constantly on the move, the little boats floating far below his
feet, with the hazy splendor of the sea in the distance, and the hope of a
stirring life in the world of adventure.”

This selection carries on a few themes that run throughout the novel. The first of these (especially noticed in the beginning) is Jim’s idea of his stalwart potential as a hero –the kind he has read about in books. Here, this is carried on in a few ways. First, he is stationed at fore-top. From this perch he is above everything, looking down upon the town, upon the other boats, and seems to pass judgment upon them all, to say “I see all, therefore I know all, and therefore, I can do anything.” His arrogance is pronounced in the use of the word “contempt” in the first sentence –he is not looking benevolently down on the population, but scornfully so, presumably because he is “destined to stand in the midst of dangers” and those he looks down upon are not.
As he watches the ships, Jim sees the larger ones “constantly” moving off to some adventure. The “little boats” remain “floating far below his feet”; using the word “floating” makes these seem stagnant, like they are small in purpose as well because they will never go anywhere, do anything. Literally, boats like this are beneath Jim, who sees himself doing heroic things on the larger boats which are moving towards the “hazy splendor of the sea in the distance” and the “hope of a stirring life”. The words “hazy” and “hope” in this selection are paramount, I believe, because Jim’s prime position on fore-top almost makes the reader forget that he is merely dreaming, that he does not know what he will or won’t face out at sea. He may face adventure, but he does not know that it will be “stirring” –this is only a “hope”- and the “splendor of the sea” is only a “hazy” concept to him.
Secondly, this novel seems to constantly juxtapose images of nature with those of civilization. It is interesting to me that the “peaceful” roofs are “cut in two” by the stream –perhaps this is meant to signify some sort of division because of it, be it divided ideas about expansionism or ships carrying off members of the family I’m not sure, but it remains interesting to muse about it. Factory chimneys rise “perpendicular against a grimy sky and are described as “slender like a pencil” and “belching out smoke like a volcano”. The repeated tries to accurately describe the chimneys seems to tell of the difficulty of doing so. They rise from a sky filled with their own grime. They are compared to pencils –straight, outlining, man-made, one of many- and to volcanoes, which destroy many things when they “belch” smoke.
This image of the town is painted alongside a less clear but much lovlier image of the wild sea. It holds a “hazy splendor” and a “world of adventure”. As was discussed before, the “hazy” nature of the “splendor” makes it unclear what kind of “splendor” we are dealing with. However, “the hazy splendor of the sea” can also be read in a slightly more literal context, as a way of describing the glowing, shimmering aura of the ocean, which I have seen a bit of and can attest to –the way it glitters in the sun but falls away to where it cannot be seen so quickly. In either case, it seems to harbor for Jim “the world of adventure”, which is all he has been dreaming of since he read of such things, and so the ocean is clearly romanticized in the novel.