The hero as an embodiment of his own age : a study of Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim

Abstract EN

When Kingly Amis wrote his novel, Lucky Jim in1954, no one accepted the hero as a real character, for his approach and deeds seemed neither heroic nor anti-heroic.

Jim Dixon, a lecturer in a provincial university appears to be sarcastic of everything he wants to indulge himself in.

He dislikes the society around him, mocking of people by creating funny faces behind their backs, and all the time has a repulsive conduct toward his supervisor, Professor Welch.

Nevertheless, throughout the whole novel, he fights to be part of this society.

Later on, all his efforts turn to be a complete disaster.

Amis’s character is not a hero in the classical sense.

He is weak, hesitated, misjudge people and ridicule them.

Nevertheless, he is clever, convincing people to hire him instead of the intelligent person, diplomatic, honest and handsome.

That is why he is the hero.

The writer is depicting a picture of the society he has lived in portraying ordinary man acting, somehow, normally with whatever ups-and-downs the character may carry.

What Amis has done in his novel is that he changes the heroic unbelievable acts of classical hero and makes them more suitable to normal life.

Gods, free will and fate are all replaced by luck, which redirects everyone’s life.

Rewarding the good and punishing the bad is expected since this is a comedy, which is why everything ends for the benefit of the hero.