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영어

The critical attention on Lord Jim has often focused on deconstructive reading based on ambiguity. Against the critical consent, this paper aims to show that this novel is more effective in humanistic reading than deconstructive reading by analyzing ambiguity and identifying Conrad’s moral sense. Lord Jim has three separate narratives. First, the omniscient narrator’s presentation of Jim in the first four chapters. Secondly, Marlow’s long monologue from chapter 5 through chapter 35. Thirdly, Marlow’s response to Jim’s death on Patusan with an epistle form. Because of such a narrative complex, the novel has often been accepted as the theme of deconstructive reading based on ambiguity. As I showed in this paper, there are many ambivalent attitudes in Lord Jim. But despite the indeterminacy we must pay attention to the fact that Jim attempts to take moral sense opposed to inhumanity. Finally, we can find out Conrad’s moral sense through Marlow’s self-recognition in the light of the process of moral recovery embodied in Jim.