Essay About Jim Dixon And Succession Of Practical Jokes

Lucky Jim
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Characters
There is more than a touch of the picaresque rogue in Jim Dixon. Jim perpetrates a
succession of practical jokes, tricks, and deceptions on other characters in the novel,
especially those who offend his democratic sensibility.
He has a talent for “pulling faces” and projecting voices gestures Amis uses to
enhance Jims social commentary. He is sometimes aided and abetted in his roguery
by his fellow boarder, the salesman Bill Atkinson.
On campus, in addition to Welch, Johns, and Margaret, Jim is seen interacting with
certain female students to whom he is attracted and with Mr.
Michie, an ardent overachiever who keeps pushing Jim to provide him with the
syllabus for Jims honors tutorial.
Off campus, Jim meets Christine Callaghan and eventually steals her away from
Bertrand Welch. Through Christine he meets her uncle Julius GoreUrquhart, a wealthy
entrepreneur and critic who hires Jim as his personal secretary.
Themes
As in all good comedy, the theme of this book is the difference between appearance
and truth, between illusion and reality. The theme plays itself out through the
conventional concerns of romantic love. Jim is caught between the falsity of Margaret
Peel and the freshness of Christine Callaghan. He is caught between one job, the
future of which involves kowtowing to Welch until he becomes an historical fossil
like his superior, and another job the prospect of which offers a supportive employer
and interesting work. Amis projects Jim through a series of complications during the
course of which the author critiques the stodginess of Englands moribund social
system.