Chapter 17 Summary

Marlow insists that Jim allow him to help him and makes Jim read the letter he had written and wanted Jim to take. Jim is at first derisive but then wholly appreciative, excited and extremely thankful, realizing that Marlow has given him what he wanted: a clean slate. And with this, he does at last depart.

Chapter 17 Analysis

Through Marlow, Jim receives the one thing he thinks he needs. Jim is under the illusion that all he needs is a clean start and in so doing deludes himself into believing that he can reclaim the glory and honor he has yearned for since childhood. He would like to believe that as long as the world does not know about his past, he could go on living, but what he has yet to realize (even though he has said almost as much previously) is...