Character Clues

Character Analysis

Names

Names can be a powerful thing, and Jim Dixon pays attention to them. Take, for example, the fact that Professor Welch decided to give his two English sons, Bertrand and Michel, French names. Jim fantasizes about bashing Welch over the head and demanding why he gave his English sons French names. Indeed, when you first run across Bertrand, his French name seems to be just one of the many things that make him appear pretentious.

Then there's a name like Margaret Peel, which seems kind of prissy and old-fashioned. (Shmoop's apologies to all the perfectly lovely Margarets out there.) Christine Callaghan seems to us a fresher, more modern-sounding name, definitely more melodic. And there's Gore-Urquhart, an aristocratic-sounding name for a classy, wealthy gentleman. And don't even get us started on Sonia Loosmore.

Clothing

Whether it's Professor Welch's fisherman's hat, Bertrand's beret, or Margaret Peel's paisley frock, clothes, as they say, make the man (or woman). Both Welch and Bertrand's hats strike Jim as completely ridiculous and certainly useless (as do Welch and Bertrand). In fact, all of Bertrand's outlandish clothes seem to signal a pretentious and bogus guy.

Margaret Peel's frock indicates that Jim and Margaret will never be on the same page, since Margaret has a way of always wearing this dress even though it's Jim's least favorite. She's obviously clueless about that. Jim gets annoyed by Margaret's tendency to wear "a sort of arty get-up" (7.29) designed to give off a certain impression. He thinks it's silly to dress a certain way if you aren't really that way.

When Jim first sees Christine, she's dressed in attractive but very simple clothing that shows off her natural beauty. He notices this again at the Summer Ball, when her simple dress puts Margaret's more elaborate gown to shame. He notices that she tends to wear the same clothing over and over again. This adds to his growing impression that she's not as uptight and pretentious as he first thought when she appeared as Bertrand's girlfriend.

Actions

They say actions speak louder than words. And when it comes to Jim always getting drunk, Margaret faking a suicide, Evan Johns tattling, or Bertrand Welch seeing two women at once, that definitely seems to be the case in this novel. In each of these examples, the person's behavior conveys certain impressions about his or her character; then additional actions confirm our first impressions.

Take Margaret, for example. She seems a little melodramatic and pushy early on in the story. We suspect she's overly emotional from her reaction to the supposed breakup with Catchpole. But it's not until we get the full story of the fake suicide attempt that we're confident in our initial impressions of Margaret.

Occupation

For the most part, Lucky Jim is a satire of the world of the 1950s English university. So immediately all professors are guilty until proven innocent of being out-of-touch with the real world, accountable to no one, and preoccupied with trivial and useless subjects. Think "Ivory Tower" types. They're not all as boring or dense as Professor Welch, but Jim has little respect for the occupation or for most of the occupants of the university. Welch's obsession with medieval culture is the icing on the cake—his head is in another era altogether.

As a junior lecturer on a one-year probationary contract, we immediately know a few things about Jim: he's going to have to be obedient and he's going to have to keep his mouth shut. He won't be able to say what he thinks.

Bertrand's job as a painter isn't what defines his character for us, it's how he presents himself as an artist. In Bertrand's case, painting seems to be just another worthless career, useful less for what it is than for what he thinks it says about him. He thinks it sets him apart as unusually cultured and special. Amis begs to differ.

Christine works in a bookshop. This puts her squarely in the real world, which is a place Jim values. Her job isn't special or fancy. It's our first look at Christine as someone who might end up being down-to-earth and authentic.

Physical Appearances

Appearance is another tool Amis uses to suggest certain personality characteristics. Jim Dixon seems to care quite a lot about physical appearances, especially when it comes to women. To be honest, his reactions to women's looks show us that he's a pretty Shallow Hal. When he cringes at Margaret's appearance or when he prefers Christine for being attractive, it's hard to sympathize.

It's not just women—Amis (and Jim) size up other people in terms of appearances, too. We know that Professor Welch is foolish just by Jim's description of his bumbling way of walking and his silly fishing hat. And there's Bertrand Welch, whose bushy beard and outlandish clothes scream "artist." No, make that artiste.

It does seem that the least genuine characters have the least genuine appearances. Characters like Margaret and Bertrand, who try to dress to create a certain impression, make us suspect that they're not really who they seem. Christine, on the other hand, has an unadorned and simple style of dress that makes her seem more honest and open. In fact, it's when Jim first notices that she wore the same clothes two days in a row that he begins to change his opinion about her.

Language

Jim (aka Amis) is a genius at noticing the way people communicate. As he tells Gore-Urquhart, he has an amazing radar for pretentiousness and boringness. We get lots of hilarious descriptions of Bertrand's affected way of speaking, which totally falls apart when he gets angry.

Jim also pays close attention to Margaret's tone of voice to see if she's upset with him, about to go into hysterics, or just being surprisingly calm and matter-of-fact. It's a critical skill for Jim in trying to manage their relationship. Her "silver bells" laugh drives him nuts—it seems so insincere and phony, just like Bertrand's accent.

When Jim's trying to be most straightforward, he deliberately accentuates his "northern" accent. The north of England tends to be more working-class than the south, so by doing this Jim is trying to come across like a regular guy. But is that any more genuine than Bertrand's trying to come across as high-class?

And of course, Professor Welch's bumbling absent-mindedness is portrayed in the dialogue. He loses his train of thought in the middle of a sentence, calls people by the wrong names, and seems vague and evasive with Jim. Amis has an amazing "ear" for dialogue.