feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/pinkmonkey/Lord Jim/section_37_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: Lord Jim.chapter 39
feat_summary_id: chapter 39
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter 39", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20180820051943/http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmLordJim48.asp", "summary": "The arrival of Brown and his men in Patusan create a stir amongst the natives, who try to overcome the invaders. Unfortunately, Jim is away in the interior, and Dain Waris has to mastermind the attack. Though they love and respect him, the Bugis do not believe that he has supernatural powers like Jim. They think that Dain Waris will be defeated; therefore, they refuse to fight and wait for Jim to return, crowding into the fort that he has built. They send messengers out to look for Jim. Jewel, who has the key to the supply room, takes command at the fort. She urges Dain Waris to attack, but Doramin goes against her. He is afraid for his son. Doramin tells Dain Waris to go down the river and cut off the robbers' retreat. Kassim, Raja Tungku Allang's spokesman, has a desire to become the ruler of Patusan. To gain his end, he thinks it may be wise to side with Brown. He seeks out the villain and opens communication with him by using Cornelius as an interpreter. Cornelius tells Brown that he can become lord of Patusan if he kills Jim. Kassim is trying to manipulate Brown to murder Jim and clear a path for himself. He has no intention of allowing Brown to become the lord of the island.", "analysis": "Notes The novelist has set the stage for the final catastrophe. The intrigues and counter-intrigues between different groups of people in Patusan are realistic and graphic, for Conrad had full knowledge about the intrigues and double-dealings of Malay communities. Tungku Allang, Doramin, Kassim, and Cornelius are all depicted as scoundrels with their own agendas. Tungku Allan wants to seize power once again on the island; Doramin wants to protect his son, Dain Waris, so he can rule the island; and Kassim wants to become ruler of Patusan himself. Cornelius just wants to rid himself of Jim. It is important to note that the Bugis will not fight against Brown and his men because Jim is not present. It is ironic that they trust him so fully that they will not protect themselves if he is not there to give the order. Even though Dain Waris and Jewel urge them to battle, they ignore their pleas and simply send out messengers to search for Jim. There is even greater irony in the fact that when Jim returns he does not order the death of Brown, a fact that leads to several deaths, including his own."}
text: 'All the events of that night have a great importance, since they
  brought about a situation which remained unchanged till Jim's return.
  Jim had been away in the interior for more than a week, and it was Dain
  Waris who had directed the first repulse. That brave and intelligent
  youth ("who knew how to fight after the manner of white men") wished to
  settle the business off-hand, but his people were too much for him.
  He had not Jim's racial prestige and the reputation of invincible,
  supernatural power. He was not the visible, tangible incarnation of
  unfailing truth and of unfailing victory. Beloved, trusted, and
  admired as he was, he was still one of _them_, while Jim was one of
  us. Moreover, the white man, a tower of strength in himself, was
  invulnerable, while Dain Waris could be killed. Those unexpressed
  thoughts guided the opinions of the chief men of the town, who elected
  to assemble in Jim's fort for deliberation upon the emergency, as if
  expecting to find wisdom and courage in the dwelling of the absent white
  man. The shooting of Brown's ruffians was so far good, or lucky, that
  there had been half-a-dozen casualties amongst the defenders. The
  wounded were lying on the verandah tended by their women-folk. The women
  and children from the lower part of the town had been sent into the
  fort at the first alarm. There Jewel was in command, very efficient and
  high-spirited, obeyed by Jim's "own people," who, quitting in a body
  their little settlement under the stockade, had gone in to form the
  garrison. The refugees crowded round her; and through the whole affair,
  to the very disastrous last, she showed an extraordinary martial ardour.
  It was to her that Dain Waris had gone at once at the first intelligence
  of danger, for you must know that Jim was the only one in Patusan who
  possessed a store of gunpowder. Stein, with whom he had kept up intimate
  relations by letters, had obtained from the Dutch Government a special
  authorisation to export five hundred kegs of it to Patusan. The
  powder-magazine was a small hut of rough logs covered entirely with
  earth, and in Jim's absence the girl had the key. In the council, held
  at eleven o'clock in the evening in Jim's dining-room, she backed up
  Waris's advice for immediate and vigorous action. I am told that she
  stood up by the side of Jim's empty chair at the head of the long table
  and made a warlike impassioned speech, which for the moment extorted
  murmurs of approbation from the assembled headmen. Old Doramin, who had
  not showed himself outside his own gate for more than a year, had been
  brought across with great difficulty. He was, of course, the chief man
  there. The temper of the council was very unforgiving, and the old man's
  word would have been decisive; but it is my opinion that, well aware of
  his son's fiery courage, he dared not pronounce the word. More dilatory
  counsels prevailed. A certain Haji Saman pointed out at great length
  that "these tyrannical and ferocious men had delivered themselves to
  a certain death in any case. They would stand fast on their hill and
  starve, or they would try to regain their boat and be shot from ambushes
  across the creek, or they would break and fly into the forest and perish
  singly there." He argued that by the use of proper stratagems these
  evil-minded strangers could be destroyed without the risk of a battle,
  and his words had a great weight, especially with the Patusan men
  proper. What unsettled the minds of the townsfolk was the failure of
  the Rajah's boats to act at the decisive moment. It was the diplomatic
  Kassim who represented the Rajah at the council. He spoke very little,
  listened smilingly, very friendly and impenetrable. During the sitting
  messengers kept arriving every few minutes almost, with reports of the
  invaders' proceedings. Wild and exaggerated rumours were flying: there
  was a large ship at the mouth of the river with big guns and many more
  men--some white, others with black skins and of bloodthirsty appearance.
  They were coming with many more boats to exterminate every living thing.
  A sense of near, incomprehensible danger affected the common people.
  At one moment there was a panic in the courtyard amongst the women;
  shrieking; a rush; children crying--Haji Sunan went out to quiet them.
  Then a fort sentry fired at something moving on the river, and nearly
  killed a villager bringing in his women-folk in a canoe together with
  the best of his domestic utensils and a dozen fowls. This caused more
  confusion. Meantime the palaver inside Jim's house went on in the
  presence of the girl. Doramin sat fierce-faced, heavy, looking at the
  speakers in turn, and breathing slow like a bull. He didn't speak till
  the last, after Kassim had declared that the Rajah's boats would be
  called in because the men were required to defend his master's stockade.
  Dain Waris in his father's presence would offer no opinion, though the
  girl entreated him in Jim's name to speak out. She offered him Jim's own
  men in her anxiety to have these intruders driven out at once. He only
  shook his head, after a glance or two at Doramin. Finally, when the
  council broke up it had been decided that the houses nearest the creek
  should be strongly occupied to obtain the command of the enemy's boat.
  The boat itself was not to be interfered with openly, so that the
  robbers on the hill should be tempted to embark, when a well-directed
  fire would kill most of them, no doubt. To cut off the escape of those
  who might survive, and to prevent more of them coming up, Dain Waris was
  ordered by Doramin to take an armed party of Bugis down the river to a
  certain spot ten miles below Patusan, and there form a camp on the shore
  and blockade the stream with the canoes. I don't believe for a moment
  that Doramin feared the arrival of fresh forces. My opinion is that his
  conduct was guided solely by his wish to keep his son out of harm's
  way. To prevent a rush being made into the town the construction of a
  stockade was to be commenced at daylight at the end of the street on
  the left bank. The old nakhoda declared his intention to command there
  himself. A distribution of powder, bullets, and percussion-caps was made
  immediately under the girl's supervision. Several messengers were to be
  dispatched in different directions after Jim, whose exact whereabouts
  were unknown. These men started at dawn, but before that time Kassim had
  managed to open communications with the besieged Brown.
  
  'That accomplished diplomatist and confidant of the Rajah, on leaving
  the fort to go back to his master, took into his boat Cornelius, whom he
  found slinking mutely amongst the people in the courtyard. Kassim had a
  little plan of his own and wanted him for an interpreter. Thus it came
  about that towards morning Brown, reflecting upon the desperate nature
  of his position, heard from the marshy overgrown hollow an amicable,
  quavering, strained voice crying--in English--for permission to come up,
  under a promise of personal safety and on a very important errand. He
  was overjoyed. If he was spoken to he was no longer a hunted wild beast.
  These friendly sounds took off at once the awful stress of vigilant
  watchfulness as of so many blind men not knowing whence the deathblow
  might come. He pretended a great reluctance. The voice declared itself
  "a white man--a poor, ruined, old man who had been living here for
  years." A mist, wet and chilly, lay on the slopes of the hill, and after
  some more shouting from one to the other, Brown called out, "Come on,
  then, but alone, mind!" As a matter of fact--he told me, writhing with
  rage at the recollection of his helplessness--it made no difference.
  They couldn't see more than a few yards before them, and no treachery
  could make their position worse. By-and-by Cornelius, in his
  week-day attire of a ragged dirty shirt and pants, barefooted, with a
  broken-rimmed pith hat on his head, was made out vaguely, sidling up to
  the defences, hesitating, stopping to listen in a peering posture. "Come
  along! You are safe," yelled Brown, while his men stared. All their
  hopes of life became suddenly centered in that dilapidated, mean
  newcomer, who in profound silence clambered clumsily over a felled
  tree-trunk, and shivering, with his sour, mistrustful face, looked about
  at the knot of bearded, anxious, sleepless desperadoes.
  
  'Half an hour's confidential talk with Cornelius opened Brown's eyes as
  to the home affairs of Patusan. He was on the alert at once. There were
  possibilities, immense possibilities; but before he would talk over
  Cornelius's proposals he demanded that some food should be sent up as
  a guarantee of good faith. Cornelius went off, creeping sluggishly down
  the hill on the side of the Rajah's palace, and after some delay a
  few of Tunku Allang's men came up, bringing a scanty supply of rice,
  chillies, and dried fish. This was immeasurably better than nothing.
  Later on Cornelius returned accompanying Kassim, who stepped out with
  an air of perfect good-humoured trustfulness, in sandals, and muffled
  up from neck to ankles in dark-blue sheeting. He shook hands with Brown
  discreetly, and the three drew aside for a conference. Brown's men,
  recovering their confidence, were slapping each other on the back, and
  cast knowing glances at their captain while they busied themselves with
  preparations for cooking.
  
  'Kassim disliked Doramin and his Bugis very much, but he hated the new
  order of things still more. It had occurred to him that these whites,
  together with the Rajah's followers, could attack and defeat the
  Bugis before Jim's return. Then, he reasoned, general defection of
  the townsfolk was sure to follow, and the reign of the white man who
  protected poor people would be over. Afterwards the new allies could be
  dealt with. They would have no friends. The fellow was perfectly able to
  perceive the difference of character, and had seen enough of white men
  to know that these newcomers were outcasts, men without country.
  Brown preserved a stern and inscrutable demeanour. When he first heard
  Cornelius's voice demanding admittance, it brought merely the hope of a
  loophole for escape. In less than an hour other thoughts were seething
  in his head. Urged by an extreme necessity, he had come there to steal
  food, a few tons of rubber or gum may be, perhaps a handful of dollars,
  and had found himself enmeshed by deadly dangers. Now in consequence
  of these overtures from Kassim he began to think of stealing the whole
  country. Some confounded fellow had apparently accomplished something of
  the kind--single-handed at that. Couldn't have done it very well though.
  Perhaps they could work together--squeeze everything dry and then go out
  quietly. In the course of his negotiations with Kassim he became aware
  that he was supposed to have a big ship with plenty of men outside.
  Kassim begged him earnestly to have this big ship with his many guns and
  men brought up the river without delay for the Rajah's service. Brown
  professed himself willing, and on this basis the negotiation was carried
  on with mutual distrust. Three times in the course of the morning the
  courteous and active Kassim went down to consult the Rajah and came up
  busily with his long stride. Brown, while bargaining, had a sort of grim
  enjoyment in thinking of his wretched schooner, with nothing but a heap
  of dirt in her hold, that stood for an armed ship, and a Chinaman and
  a lame ex-beachcomber of Levuka on board, who represented all his many
  men. In the afternoon he obtained further doles of food, a promise
  of some money, and a supply of mats for his men to make shelters
  for themselves. They lay down and snored, protected from the burning
  sunshine; but Brown, sitting fully exposed on one of the felled trees,
  feasted his eyes upon the view of the town and the river. There was much
  loot there. Cornelius, who had made himself at home in the camp, talked
  at his elbow, pointing out the localities, imparting advice, giving his
  own version of Jim's character, and commenting in his own fashion upon
  the events of the last three years. Brown, who, apparently indifferent
  and gazing away, listened with attention to every word, could not make
  out clearly what sort of man this Jim could be. "What's his name?
  Jim! Jim! That's not enough for a man's name." "They call him," said
  Cornelius scornfully, "Tuan Jim here. As you may say Lord Jim." "What is
  he? Where does he come from?" inquired Brown. "What sort of man is he?
  Is he an Englishman?" "Yes, yes, he's an Englishman. I am an Englishman
  too. From Malacca. He is a fool. All you have to do is to kill him and
  then you are king here. Everything belongs to him," explained Cornelius.
  "It strikes me he may be made to share with somebody before very long,"
  commented Brown half aloud. "No, no. The proper way is to kill him the
  first chance you get, and then you can do what you like," Cornelius
  would insist earnestly. "I have lived for many years here, and I am
  giving you a friend's advice."
  
  'In such converse and in gloating over the view of Patusan, which he had
  determined in his mind should become his prey, Brown whiled away most
  of the afternoon, his men, meantime, resting. On that day Dain Waris's
  fleet of canoes stole one by one under the shore farthest from the
  creek, and went down to close the river against his retreat. Of this
  Brown was not aware, and Kassim, who came up the knoll an hour before
  sunset, took good care not to enlighten him. He wanted the white
  man's ship to come up the river, and this news, he feared, would be
  discouraging. He was very pressing with Brown to send the "order,"
  offering at the same time a trusty messenger, who for greater secrecy
  (as he explained) would make his way by land to the mouth of the river
  and deliver the "order" on board. After some reflection Brown judged
  it expedient to tear a page out of his pocket-book, on which he simply
  wrote, "We are getting on. Big job. Detain the man." The stolid youth
  selected by Kassim for that service performed it faithfully, and was
  rewarded by being suddenly tipped, head first, into the schooner's empty
  hold by the ex-beachcomber and the Chinaman, who thereupon hastened to
  put on the hatches. What became of him afterwards Brown did not say.'
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Chapter 39
target: The arrival of Brown and his men in Patusan create a stir amongst the natives, who try to overcome the invaders. Unfortunately, Jim is away in the interior, and Dain Waris has to mastermind the attack. Though they love and respect him, the Bugis do not believe that he has supernatural powers like Jim. They think that Dain Waris will be defeated; therefore, they refuse to fight and wait for Jim to return, crowding into the fort that he has built. They send messengers out to look for Jim. Jewel, who has the key to the supply room, takes command at the fort. She urges Dain Waris to attack, but Doramin goes against her. He is afraid for his son. Doramin tells Dain Waris to go down the river and cut off the robbers' retreat. Kassim, Raja Tungku Allang's spokesman, has a desire to become the ruler of Patusan. To gain his end, he thinks it may be wise to side with Brown. He seeks out the villain and opens communication with him by using Cornelius as an interpreter. Cornelius tells Brown that he can become lord of Patusan if he kills Jim. Kassim is trying to manipulate Brown to murder Jim and clear a path for himself. He has no intention of allowing Brown to become the lord of the island.
feat_summary_analysis: Notes The novelist has set the stage for the final catastrophe. The intrigues and counter-intrigues between different groups of people in Patusan are realistic and graphic, for Conrad had full knowledge about the intrigues and double-dealings of Malay communities. Tungku Allang, Doramin, Kassim, and Cornelius are all depicted as scoundrels with their own agendas. Tungku Allan wants to seize power once again on the island; Doramin wants to protect his son, Dain Waris, so he can rule the island; and Kassim wants to become ruler of Patusan himself. Cornelius just wants to rid himself of Jim. It is important to note that the Bugis will not fight against Brown and his men because Jim is not present. It is ironic that they trust him so fully that they will not protect themselves if he is not there to give the order. Even though Dain Waris and Jewel urge them to battle, they ignore their pleas and simply send out messengers to search for Jim. There is even greater irony in the fact that when Jim returns he does not order the death of Brown, a fact that leads to several deaths, including his own.