How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The sight of her seemed an irresistible attack on his own habits, standards, and ambitions: something designed to put him in his place for good. The notion that women like this were never on view except as the property of men like Bertrand was so familiar to him that it had long since ceased to appear an injustice. (4.13)
Jim seems to have accepted his lot in life when it comes to relationships with women. But does that kind of thing ever really stop bothering someone?
Quote #2
What could a man with such eyes, such a beard, and (he noticed them for the first time) such dissimilar ears have to do with a man like Gore-Urquhart? (4.95)
Jim's looking for anything that could discredit Bertrand and make him unworthy of a rich man's attention. It's just too unfair that he's got the girl and the rich guy.
Quote #3
"If one man's got ten buns and another's got two, and a bun has got to be given up by one of them, then surely you take it from the man with the ten buns." (4.129).
For Jim, it's a no-brainer that the British government should tax the rich and give to the poor if they're going to live in a just society. What does it matter to someone with 10 million whether or not they've got another 1 million? For Jim, it's a matter of justice; for Bertrand it's an outrage.
Quote #4
Bertrand must not be a good painter; he, Dixon, would not permit it. (10.49)
We can see how the character of Bertrand sums up everything that Jim believes to be unjust in the world. Thinking that a windbag like B would actually be a good painter would be just too much to bear.
Quote #5
For once in his life, Dixon resolved to bet on his luck. What luck had come his way in the past he'd distrusted, stingily held on to until the chance of losing his initial gain was safely past. It was time to stop doing that. (14.23)
Jim figures that the only way to get something he wants in an unjust world is to just go for it. In the past he'd just accepted his situation and let his chances pass by.
Quote #6
This time [Jim] experienced nothing more than a small rage at the thought of a little louse like that having a flat in London. Why hadn't he himself had parents whose money so far exceeded their sense so as to install their son in London? The very thought of it was a torment. If he'd had that chance, things would be very different for him now. (18.17)
Another injustice: Jim had the bad luck to be born to parents who couldn't pamper him.
Quote #7
But that was to speculate about nonentities: Margaret with Christine's face and body could never have turned into Margaret. All that could logically be said is that Christine was lucky to look so nice. It was luck you needed all along; with just a little more luck he'd have been able to switch his life on to a momentarily adjoining track, a track destined to swing aside at once away from his own. (19.140)
In an unfair world, is luck all you have to hang onto for any hope in changing your life?
Quote #8
There could be no doubt about it; this article was either a close paraphrase or a translation of Dixon's own original article. At a loss for faces, he drew in his breath to swear, then cackled hysterically instead. So that was how people got chairs, was it? (23.12)
Here's a pretty obvious case of injustice: Caton stole Jim's article and published it under his own name. Jim sees that some people get ahead in academia by stealing other people's work. But by this time, Jim's so beaten down by the unfairness of everything that he can't even get angry.
Quote #9
For the first time, he really felt it was no use trying to save those who fundamentally would rather not be saved. To go on trying would be to yield to pity and sentimentality, but wrong and, to pursue it to its conclusion, inhumane. It was all very bad luck on Margaret, and probably derived, as he'd thought before, from the anterior bad luck of being unattractive. (24.53)
Once again, Jim says it's the luck of the draw that makes you happy or not. When you're lucky to be born beautiful, you become a different person. Jim's saying that Margaret's personality formed around the fact that she's unattractive. It's easier for beautiful people to be happy.
Quote #10
Dixon drew in his breath to denounce [Welch and Bertrand], then blew it all out again in a howl of laughter. His steps faltered; his body sagged as if he'd been knifed. (25.65)
Justice at last, at least for Jim. In this final scene, Jim has everything he wants, including Christine and a new job (the job Bertrand was supposed to get). The tables have turned and all's fair. But it's hard to say if Jim ever did anything to deserve this kind of payoff. Maybe the ending isn't all that just. But it's still nice to see Jim laughing in Professor Welch's face.