Lucky Jim Chapter 2 Summary

  • Jim sits down at a pub (his favorite place to be) with Margaret, who's telling the story about how she tried to commit suicide.
  • It turns out that the only reason Margaret's alive is because her downstairs neighbor came upstairs to ask her to turn down her music. He found her half-dead on the bed and called the hospital.
  • Jim asks her if she'd ever try something like it again, but she tells him she's not interested in her old boyfriend anymore (which doesn't really answer Jim's question).
  • We also find out that this ex of hers (named Catchpole) dumped her for another girl. What a jerk.
  • When he can't think of anything to say, Jim studies Margaret's face and decides that he doesn't find her attractive.
  • At this point, Margaret asks him to buy her more beer, even though he's pretty poor and she makes a ton more money than him.
  • Jim thinks about hanging out with Margaret the morning of the day she tried to kill herself. Suddenly, Margaret thanks him for giving her so much support. She asks him if he's going to come to the Welches' for the artsy weekend.
  • Jim says that sadly yes, he needs to come.
  • Margaret goes on to list all of the fun activities the Welches have planned, while Jim dreads how soul-crushingly boring it's all going to be.
  • It turns out that one of the Welches' sons, Bertrand, is going to be at the party with his new girlfriend, a ballet dancer named Sonia Loosmore.
  • Jim wonders out loud if Welch is testing him to see if he's classy enough to be part of the university History Department.
  • At this point, Margaret asks Jim if they can talk a little more about themselves instead of other people. Jim suddenly gets uncomfortable, since he doesn't want to act like her boyfriend.
  • Jim clams up, and Margaret seems to take the hint. She looks sadly down into her beer glass and asks him if they can sit somewhere more private.
  • Jim really wishes he could dump both Margaret and the Welches and move to London. But he knows he'd have a hard time finding a job there, and feels like he's trapped.