Lucky Jim Chapter 20 Summary

  • Back at his room, Jim decides to stand up on his bed while rehearsing his lecture. He starts to act all cartoonish and grand because he doesn't believe a word of what he's saying.
  • While he's standing on his bed, Bertrand Welch walks into his room. He demands to know why Jim's up on his bed.
  • Bertrand's found out (from who else but Evan Johns) about Jim's little tea-date with Christine. He doesn't seem to realize that during this date, Jim and Christine decided not to see each other anymore.
  • When he tells Jim to stay away from Christine, all he does is make Jim decide that he wants to be with Christine after all.
  • The two of them get into a long argument. But when Jim's had enough, he calls Bertrand a pretentious fool and makes fun of the way he talks.
  • Bertrand threatens to punch Jim's lights out, but Jim's on a roll now.
  • He tells Bertrand he knows all about Bertrand's affair with Carol Goldsmith, and this provokes a fight.
  • At first, the taller Bertrand seems to have the upper hand. He smashes Jim in the face.
  • But Jim is able to rebound and hit Bertrand on the ear. Bertrand falls to the floor and grabs his head, whining.
  • While Bertrand's on the floor, Jim's student Michie walks into the room.
  • He doesn't know what to make of the situation, but Jim invites him to sit down and chat.
  • Michie just stopped by to tell Jim that the three pretty girls from school aren't going to be taking his special subject course, but Michie thinks he will.
  • In other words, Jim's looking forward to a whole year of sitting in a room with Michie for hours at a time and talking about history.
  • Before Michie leaves he mentions that he'll be at Jim's lecture that night.
  • It turns out that a whole bunch of students will be coming, and that Jim is going to have a really big audience.
  • After Bertrand gets up and leaves, Jim anxiously realizes that his lecture is only a few hours away.
  • So what do you think he does? You got it: he goes to Atkinson's room looking for whiskey.