Jim Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• Jim grows up reading adventure novels and dreaming of a heroic life. When it comes time to pack up his stuff and go make a life, he opts to become a sailor. Adventures await.
• After a couple quiet years and one doozy of an injury, Jim takes a job aboard the Patna.
• One night, the Patna hits something and appears to be sinking. Jim, along with other members of the crew, jumps ship, leaving hundreds of passengers on board.
• He and thre crew are rescued and brought to a seaport, where they learn that the Patna didn't sink after all.
• While the other crew members flee or weasel their ways out of punishment, Jim decides to face the music and goes on trial for abandoning ship.
• At this point, Jim meets Marlow and tells him the Patna story. After Jim is formally censured and publicly disgraced at the end of the trial, Marlow helps him find work.
• But his Big Mistake keeps catching up with him, so he quits a series of jobs in an effort to avoid gossip.
• A frustrated Marlow calls in a favor to his friend Stein and gets Jim a job managing trade on an island called Patusan.
• On Patusan, Jim gets involved in local politics and quickly becomes a leader on the island.
• A woman named Jewel catches his eye, and they start a romantic relationship.
• Two years after seeing Jim off, Marlow visits Jm on the island and sees that Jim is still struggling to move beyond the Patna incident.
• Nevertheless, all goes well for Jim on Patusan until a pirate named Gentleman Brown arrives to stir up trouble.
• Jim agrees to give Brown safe passage off the island and argues with the native islanders about it.
• Jewel's stepfather Cornelius plays both sides of the conflict and tricks Brown into thinking Patusan's citizens are going to attack. Brown beats them to the punch and attacks first, killing Jim's friend Dain Waris. Jim feels responsible, so he goes to Dain Waris' parents to atone and accept his punishment.
• Bad move. At this, Dain Waris's father Doramin shoots and kills Jim.