Lucky Jim Chapter 21 Summary

  • Wham. Now we're at the university, and the head of the university is asking Jim about the bruising on his face.
  • Jim tries the old "I hit my face on the sink" explanation.
  • While the small talk continues, Jim realizes that a porter is coming around with a tray full of sherry (yup, the alcoholic kind), and he decides to help himself to a few glasses.
  • By this point, he's starting to feel a little drunk. Can you tell where Amis is going with this?
  • Jim's approached by Christine's uncle, Mr. Gore-Urquhart, who's decided to attend Jim's lecture.
  • He asks Jim if he actually likes working at the university, and Jim feels honest enough to say no. He tells Gore-Urquhart that there are too many phonies working in the system, and that Jim's life would be better if he could be a personal boredom detector for rich people.
  • In other words, Jim wishes that a rich person would hire him to go to parties and report back on whether they're interesting enough to attend.
  • Mr. Gore-Urquhart finds this little speech very interesting. Remember that.
  • During their conversation, Gore-Urquhart also decides to level with Jim.
  • He says that he finds most of the people around him boring, too. But he likes to make people do what he wants, so smiling and nodding at the things they say is a strategy of his.
  • Jim admires Mr. Gore-Urquhart's discipline.
  • At this point, Christine and Bertrand come over.
  • Bertrand doesn't want to talk to Jim, but Christine forces him to be civil.
  • Before they can start to talk, though, Carol Goldsmith comes over and leads Bertrand away (keep your eye on that pair, too).
  • That leaves Jim with Christine, who wants to know what happened to Jim's face.
  • He admits that it came from a fight with Bertrand. Christine's surprised, but not mad.
  • She basically says that this is goodbye between the two of them, since she'll be heading back to London and probably won't see him again.
  • As Christine walks away, Margaret sidles up to Jim and teases him about taking his last look at Christine.
  • The time has come. People start filing into the auditorium, and the lecture is about to start.
  • Just as Jim steps toward the doors, though, Gore-Urquhart takes him by the arm and stops him.
  • It turns out the guy has a flask of hard liquor in his pocket, and he offers Jim a few swigs of it. Now there's no question: Jim is downright drunk for the lecture that's supposed to save his career.
  • Before Jim steps away, Gore-Urquhart tells him not to worry, and says to hell with the university and all of its boring Professors. We don't exactly know what he means by this, but we'll find out soon enough.