Tribulation And Comedy In Lucky Jim
Despite misfortunes, comedy possesses the ability to elevate one's
mood in distressing or unhappy times. The sweet flavour comedy adds to
life makes many situations much more palatable. In Kingsley Amis' Lucky
Jim, the Jim Dixon character is cast into unfavourable relations with other
characters who make his existence quite trying. Jim's involvement with
Margaret is marked by his desire to see it end. His association with
Professor Welch incessantly lands him in a disagreeable position. Moreover,
Jim does nothing to amend this, and the reader becomes frustrated with
Jim's inaction, and his ready acceptance to let things carry on as they are.
However, Jim's extraordinary comic sense ...
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to be partly derived from a
tragic sense that beautiful girls are not for him. As well, it seems to
come from an unprecedented, yet noble sense of duty combined with pity; and
a belief that he hasn't "got the guts to leave her" (Amis, 1953, 201).
Essentially, Jim lacks confidence. In noting Margaret's deceit, one
observes from the inception of their friendship, that Margaret is
manoeuvring Jim into something he is not aware he is being involved: "It
had seemed only natural for a female lecturer to ask a junior...male
colleague up to her place for coffee, and no more civil to accept. Then
suddenly he'd become the man who was `going around' with Margaret, and
somehow competing with this Catchpole" (Amis, 1953, p. 10). Margaret's
imposition of this title on Jim without his taking part, demonstrates her
crafty nature. In addition, Margaret's incorporation of another man into
the pageantry, who is supposedly in pursuit of Jim's title, is
unquestionable evidence of Margaret's ...
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he is often "averting his
attention from the thought that Margaret would be there" (Amis, 1953,
p.204). Despite his apprehensions about meeting with Margaret, Dixon again
makes no effort to relieve himself of her acquaintance, "in a variety of
tones, [Jim] recognizes, but fails to act on, a discrepancy between what he
ought to do or wants to do and what he in fact does" (McDermott, 1989,
p.63). As a recurring theme throughout the book, Jim's failure to take
action against Margaret is very disconcerting and leaves the reader feeling
pity for him.
Much like Jim's involvement with Margaret, his association with
Professor Welch is very discouraging. Ironically, Jim does not want to
teach ...
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"Tribulation And Comedy In Lucky Jim." Essayworld.com. March 8, 2004. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Tribulation-And-Comedy-In-Lucky-Jim/4254.
"Tribulation And Comedy In Lucky Jim." Essayworld.com. March 8, 2004. Accessed April 24, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Tribulation-And-Comedy-In-Lucky-Jim/4254.
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