Lucky Jim

Study Guide by Course Hero

ABOUT THE TITLE

What's Inside The novel's title alludes to an old song: "Oh, lucky Jim, / How I
envy him. / Oh, lucky Jim. / How I envy him." James "Jim" Dixon
is a miserable man for much of the novel. Despite his
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 incompetence and frustrations, he eventually lands the job and
the woman of his dreams. This turn of events can only be
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
chalked up to luck.
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2

h Characters .................................................................................................. 3

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 7

d In Context
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 12

g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 27
Lucky Jim and the Tradition of
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 30 the British Comic Novel
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 31 In Amis's obituary in the London Times, the English writer David
Lodge describes his friend's work as part of the tradition of
e Suggested Reading ............................................................................... 31
British comic writing (of which Lodge is also an example). In
the "English comic novel ... satirical comedy of manners and
robust farce are combined in an entertaining and easily

j Book Basics
assimilable story," he writes. Lodge goes on to mention
"obvious [English] precursors" to Amis such as Henry Fielding,
Charles Dickens, P.G. Wodehouse, and Evelyn Waugh.
AUTHOR
Kingsley Amis Fans of British fiction will undoubtedly notice these writers'
influence on Amis's works. Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones
YEAR PUBLISHED (1749), the first great "picaresque" novel—a work about a
1954 lower-class hero who goes on a roving journey through class
and environment. Lucky Jim's James Dixon is at least lower-
GENRE
middle class, and he certainly is looking to change his
Comedy
circumstances. Charles Dickens's descriptions of ridiculous
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR people are among the most vivid in all of fiction. Lucky Jim's
Lucky Jim's events are seen through the eyes of James Dixon, Professor Welch is an almost perfect Dickensian character,
the titular protagonist, in a close third-person point of view. pure ego and mannerism. P.G. Wodehouse, whose Jeeves
novels (1915–74) are among the most famous in all of comedic
TENSE fiction, is echoed in Lucky Jim's physical comedy—for example,
Lucky Jim is narrated in the past tense. when Dixon hides the cigarette-burned bedclothes from Mrs.
Lucky Jim Study Guide Author Biography 2

Welch, or when he delivers his disastrous "Merrie England" In Philip Larkin's poem "Annus Mirabilis" (1967), he tackles the
lecture. Finally, Evelyn Waugh was a master of misanthropy conundrum of the time, arguing—with tongue in cheek—that
(hatred of humankind), and Dixon's pessimism and sheer sex did not exist in England before the 1960s: "Up to then
misery owe much to him. Amis even describes one of Dixon's there'd only been / A sort of bargaining, / A wrangle for the
expressions as his "Evelyn Waugh face." To say these writers ring." As Amis and Larkin show in their works, this sexual
had an impact on Amis, however, is not to say his writing is in repression did not work terribly well for anyone.
any way derivative; on the contrary, it is delightfully original.

Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin

Britain's Post–World War II
English poet Philip Larkin was Amis's great friend from college
Years onward. Amis dedicated Lucky Jim to him, reflecting the
resemblance between Larkin and the book's protagonist,
At the end of World War II, in 1945, England emerged James Dixon. In the 1950s Larkin was a librarian at Leicester
victorious, but the nation did not revert to its prewar power. University. As Amis told the Paris Review in a 1975 interview,
The war had practically bankrupted England, and London was "The young man surrounded by bores whom for various
still in ruins after bombings by German forces. In 1947 England reasons he doesn't dare to offend—that was all there." Larkin
withdrew from its rule over India, marking the end of its reign read and reread drafts of Lucky Jim, encouraging Amis to
as an empire. Rationing of food continued—though to a lesser "tighten" the prose and commenting on overwritten passages
extent—until 1954. The Victorian ideals of sexual purity and as having a "horrible smell of arse."
women's subservience may have weakened during the war, but
afterward women were expected to return to their traditional Their friendship was sometimes contentious, especially when

role as keepers of the home and hearth. Amis grew conservative and alcoholic, but still the friendship
lasted until Larkin's death in 1985. As critic Christopher
Historians agree the British didn't truly feel the "weight" of Hitchens, who knew both writers, explained, "Both men thought
World War II lift until the freedoms and revolutions of the of boredom as a form of tyranny and also (more important) as
1960s. Postwar Britain was so restrictive—a culture built on the a symptom of it." They felt the "bores of the world were not
idea of empire, even as it crumbled; on propriety, even as the merely tedious. They were, by their dogma and repetition and
strains of rock 'n' roll music grew ever more audible from righteousness, advertising an evil will to power."
across the Atlantic; on chastity, as the 1960s waited, ever
groovy, around the corner. James Dixon, Lucky Jim's
protagonist, is stuck in the middle like Britain itself—awkwardly
a Author Biography
waiting for change and both reflecting and rejecting the mores
of the past.

Early Life
Kingsley Amis was born April 16, 1922. He was the only child of
Taboo of Sex a clerk at Colman's Mustard and a housewife. The family lived
in Clapham, a lower-middle-class suburb of London. From
Sex was a taboo subject in the British provinces in 1953.
childhood, Amis loved to make people laugh. An avid reader, he
People were not supposed to enjoy it or talk about it, yet some
not only absorbed the literary lessons of English writers
people did both. This fluctuating taboo reflects World War II's
Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare but he also loved
loosening of moral constraints when women left home and
science fiction, adventure stories, and satire. Amis attended
stayed unmarried while working for the war effort and the
Oxford University with the aim of becoming a poet. At Oxford,
attempts during the 1950s to bring the prewar morals back in a
he met future British poet laureate Philip Larkin, who became
more buttoned-up way.
Amis's lifelong best friend. However, World War II (1939–45)

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Characters 3

interrupted Amis's Oxford years, and he left school to serve in brilliant career as a novelist—Kingsley and Hilary Amis
the Royal Signal Corp in Normandy, Belgium, and Germany. divorced. That same year he married Elizabeth Jane Howard,
After the war he returned to Oxford to finish his degree. During herself an acclaimed novelist. They divorced in 1983. Three
this time he met Hilary Bardwell, known as Hilly. The couple years later—when many considered him well past his literary
married in 1946. prime—Amis published the novel The Old Devils, which would
go on to win the Man Booker Prize. The novel explores a group
Amis went on to teach at University College of Wales, of couples in their "golden years." Martin Amis has said the
Swansea, but he was restless in both his academic and home novel is his father's masterpiece.
life. He wrote Lucky Jim, his first novel, after a visit to Larkin at
University College, Leicester. Larkin was not as successful a Throughout his life, Amis was famous for his conversational
ladies' man as Amis—who had a famously roving eye even early wit, his spot-on imitations, and a variety of vices. He was a
in his marriage—and he was unhappier in general. Still, the prodigious smoker and drinker, and he served as "drink
writers famously relished their misery, describing it at hilarious correspondent" for Penthouse Magazine in the 1970s. He also
length in letters to each other. Lucky Jim's antihero bears a remained, in the words of his son, Martin, "a heroic adulterer."
strong resemblance to Larkin during this period.
A liberal in his early years, Amis became considerably more
conservative—both politically and socially—over time. He took a

From Angry Young Man to right-wing stance on issues ranging from the Vietnam War
(1955–75) to women's equality. The British writer Julian Barnes,

Fame and Fortune one of Amis's dear friends, explained, "The price you had to
pay for his company got higher" over time, as Amis set off on
diatribes about everyone from Jews to women to
Upon its publication in 1954, Lucky Jim made Amis a star,
homosexuals. In later years he was generously referred to as a
winning fans with its mixture of disenchantment and satirical
curmudgeon.
humor. It would remain his most famous work. Not long after
this success, he quit teaching for a time and moved with his
family to London. His second novel, That Uncertain Feeling,
was published in 1955 and has a similarly disgruntled Later Life and Death
protagonist. In 1958 he published I Like It Here, a novel inspired
by a trip to Portugal, and in 1963 came the novel One Fat In 1990 Amis received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth and

Englishman based on Amis's experiences teaching in the became Sir Kingsley Amis. His children arranged for him to

United States. move into a house in Hampstead, London, with his ex-wife
Hilary and her new husband.
The Anglo-American writer Christopher Hitchens described
Amis's early career in an article for the Atlantic, noting Amis Amis died on October 22, 1995, at age 73. His official cause of

belonged to a group of post–World War II writers known as the death was a stroke, but his copious smoking and drinking also

Angry Young Men. This group was "bored by the despair of the may have played a role in his failing health. He left behind an

Forties, not much interested in suffering, and extremely imposing literary legacy including more than 40 books: 20

impatient of poetic sensibility." Zachary Leader, American novels, numerous poetry collections, and several essay

author of The Life of Kingsley Amis (2006), told London's collections.

Telegraph newspaper that after Lucky Jim, "Amis was a

dominant figure in the writing of his age" and "the most
prominent literary figure among political, cultural and social h Characters
polemicists"—those who attack one another with the written
word. His work appealed to highbrow and middlebrow readers
alike.

In 1965, after nearly 20 years of marriage and three

children—including Martin Amis, who would go on to his own

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Characters 4

have a hilarious fistfight near the end of the novel; Dixon bests
James Dixon Welch but just barely.

After serving in the Royal Air Force, James "Jim" Dixon decides
to take a college teaching job rather than return to his
hometown and a life of drudgery teaching high school. Still, he
Margaret Peel
now hates everything about his life: his field of study, medieval
Margaret Peel, Dixon's semigirlfriend, is a sad, lonely, and
history; his boss, Professor Welch; his students; his sometime
emotionally unstable female academic who contributes to
girlfriend, Margaret Peel. He does, however, enjoy drinking and
Dixon's feelings of "stuckness." Dixon doesn't want to marry
smoking and criticizing everything and everyone around him.
Margaret, but he feels sorry and responsible for her. However,
When Dixon meets Christine Callaghan, his feelings for her
she rebuffs his sexual overtures and gets wildly upset when
inspire him to try to change his life. In the end sheer luck leads
she feels he isn't paying enough attention to her. When
to a new job in London and a potentially bright future with
Margaret's ex-boyfriend, Catchpole, tells Dixon her suicide
Christine.
attempt was a sham, both men deem her malevolently neurotic.
To a modern reader, Margaret may seem more sympathetic:
she is an intelligent woman caught in an unliberated time.
Christine Callaghan
Christine Callaghan is young, attractive, and charming, and
Dixon assumes she is altogether too good for him. On top of all
Bill Atkinson
her other charms, Christine lives in London—Dixon's dream
Bill Atkinson is almost the only grownup in Lucky Jim. He works
destination. Christine acts as a foil to Margaret's awkwardness
as an insurance salesman, and his humor and dissatisfaction
and desperation, and she offers Dixon the ideal escape from
with his life exemplify Dixon's fears for his own future. Atkinson
his unhappy relationship.
often acts as Dixon's savior, pulling pratfalls and making phone
calls to help his friend escape various obligations.

Ned Welch
Professor Ned Welch is Amis's comic masterpiece. He plays
Julius Gore-Urquhart
the recorder, forgets what he's talking about, can barely drive
Julius Gore-Urquhart needs to hire a secretary, and Bertrand
his "wheezing" car, and delights in the accomplishments of his
Welch is desperate to land the job. However, Gore-Urquhart
pretentious sons, Bertrand and Michel. He is also married to
gives it to Dixon instead, in part because the two share
the terrifying Mrs. Welch. Professor Welch seems to take deep
contempt for the strictures of polite society. Gore-Urquhart
personal delight in testing Dixon's personal and emotional
turns out to be Dixon's "luck"; the job will give him a new life in
limits. Perhaps this action is purposeful, or perhaps he is truly
London, financial security, and proximity to Christine
clueless. In the end it doesn't matter. The professor stays at
Callaghan.
the college, singing madrigals and drinking tea into the
foreseeable future.

Bertrand Welch
Even more than his father, Professor Welch, Bertrand Welch is
Dixon's nemesis. Loud, pretentious, and born with a silver
spoon in his mouth, Bertrand seems to have everything Dixon
covets: money, privilege, Christine, and a strong shot at a
coveted job with Julius Gore-Urquhart. Dixon and Bertrand

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Characters 5

Character Map

Ned Welch
Doddering history
department chair

Father Employer

Margaret Peel
Bertrand Welch Employer Neurotic female
Terrible painter
history lecturer

Unsatisfactory
romance
James Dixon
Girlfriend College history lecturer;
bumbles through life
Potential
lovers

Friends

Christine
Callaghan Bill Atkinson
Attractive, privileged Ex-military man
Londoner

Uncle

Julius
Gore-Urquhart
Wealthy man

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Characters 6

Full Character List Alfred Beesley is one of Dixon's

boardinghouse friends. A fellow college
Alfred drudge, he teaches in the English
Beesley department; since he and Dixon aren't
Character Description
professional rivals, they can be
sympathetic to one another.
James "Jim" Dixon, the book's
protagonist, is unhappily employed as a
Catchpole is Margaret Peel's ex-
history lecturer at an unnamed
boyfriend—the person who supposedly
provincial college, and his personal life
James Dixon causes her suicide attempt. When
is a mess. Dixon yearns to escape but
Catchpole and Dixon meet for tea, they
feels hopelessly trapped—though that
Catchpole realize Margaret has exaggerated her
doesn't mean he's lost his sense of
relationship with each of them for
humor.
sympathy; this knowledge gives Dixon
the push he needs to finally break off
At the novel's start, Christine Callaghan his relationship with her.
is Bertrand Welch's sparkling girlfriend
Christine and a guest at the Welch family's "arty"
L.S. Caton is a journal editor who
Callaghan weekend. Dixon thinks she is attractive
agrees to publish Dixon's article about
but out of his league; gradually their
shipbuilding. Instead, Caton takes a
friendship turns into romance. Caton
teaching position in Argentina,
presenting Dixon's article as his own
Professor Ned "Neddie" Welch is chair work.
of the history department and,
Ned Welch
therefore, has power over Dixon's
Miss Cutler is the landlady at Dixon's
professional destiny.
boardinghouse; her main role in the
novel is serving breakfast and tea.
Miss Cutler
Bertrand Welch, a.k.a. "the painter," is Previously "in service" for an upper-
the eldest Welch son. Dixon despises class family, she represents desexed
Bertrand Bertrand, who's a rich, bearded, and and complacent elderly British women.
Welch beret-​wearing dilettante; it doesn't help
that Bertrand is dating Christine
Carol Goldsmith is married to Cecil
Callaghan, Dixon's dream woman. Carol
Goldsmith. Her affair with Bertrand
Goldsmith
Welch reveals his repellent nature.
Margaret Peel, a faculty member in the
history department, is "small, thin, and
Cecil Goldsmith is a member of the
bespectacled, with bright make-​up," and history department and a colleague and
to Dixon's eyes she is utterly Cecil
friend of Professor Welch. His wife,
unappealing, which is problematic since Goldsmith
Carol, is having an affair with Bertrand
Margaret Peel they're dating. Margaret purportedly Welch.
attempted suicide after her previous
boyfriend dumped her, which affects
how everyone treats her; as the novel Evan Johns is Dixon's boardinghouse
progresses, she turns out to be almost enemy and an office worker at the
deliriously unstable. college. Johns, who plays the oboe and
is a favorite of the Welches, betrays
Dixon several times, telling Professor
Bill Atkinson is an ex–army major who Evan Johns
Welch Dixon made excuses to leave his
Bill Atkinson lives in Dixon's boardinghouse. He is a party early, stole a taxi, and
friend and comic foil for Dixon. impersonated a reporter on the phone;
in return Dixon plays various pranks on
Julius Gore-​Urquhart, also known as him.
Christine Callaghan's Uncle Julius, is a
Julius Gore-
wealthy "devotee of the arts" who lives
Urquhart
in London but has a house near the
college.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Plot Summary 7

The local composer appears at the

Welches' party and at Dixon's
k Plot Summary
Local disastrous "Merrie England" lecture. The
composer composer is a friend of Evan Johns, Lucky Jim is the story of James Dixon, a college lecturer in
which means he is Dixon's natural
enemy. medieval history in the early 1950s. Dixon is disgruntled about
most everything: the boring "special topic" he's assigned to
teach; his sometime girlfriend, the priggish Margaret Peel; and
Sonia Loosmore, referred to with some
regularity though she never makes an his boss, Professor Welch, the boorish chair of the history
appearance, is one of Bertrand Welch's department. While wartime was relatively easy for him,
Sonia
former girlfriends. After he broke up
Loosmore peacetime is unfocused, except in terms of what he despises.
with her, he immediately took up with
Christine Callaghan—proof of his During a disastrous "arty weekend" at Professor Welch's home,
womanizing ways. Dixon meets Christine Callaghan, an attractive young woman
he sees as a potential salvation. Meanwhile, he must work on
Maconochie is the college porter. He his "Merrie England" lecture, the success of which will dictate
Maconochie
repeatedly calls Dixon "Mr. Jackson." his continued employment at the college.

Michie is Dixon's unctuous student and During one college term, Dixon and Margaret break up and
a fellow World War II veteran, though reunite, Dixon becomes embarrassingly drunk more than once,
unlike Dixon he was a hero. He wears
Michie and everyone becomes embroiled with the Welches. Bertrand
annoying blue trousers and has a
mustache; Jim despises him for these Welch, Professor Welch's son, is a pretentious painter and
and other reasons. Christine's putative boyfriend. Bertrand wants a job with
Christine's uncle, Julius Gore-Urquhart, a rich patron of the
The registrar's clerk is "another very arts. Meanwhile, Dixon works on his lecture and wishes he
Registrar's bad man," according to Dixon. He could muster the nerve to break up with Margaret. She had
clerk represents the college's administration
and bureaucracy. overdosed on sleeping pills earlier that year over a love affair
gone wrong, and Dixon doesn't want to be responsible for
Wilson is Margaret Peel's downstairs another suicide attempt.
Wilson neighbor; he finds her unconscious after
she overdoses on sleeping pills. At the college ball, all the characters meet and mingle.
Christine and Dixon return to the Welch house together and
Michel Welch is Professor Welch's share a kiss. Bertrand reveals his womanizing ways. Gore-
younger son; he is a writer and is "as Urquhart observes the goings-on. Margaret is furious.
Michel Welch indefatigably Gallic as his mother,"
which implies he is as annoying and After much conversation, bouts of hysterics, and some
dreadful as the rest of his family.
madrigal singing, the evening of Dixon's "Merrie England"
lecture arrives. True to form, he gets spectacularly drunk
Mrs. Welch, Professor Welch's wife, is a
classic British comic nemesis. Her before the talk, making himself a sort of folk hero among the
mission in life seems to be discovering undergraduates for his imitations of Welch and the college's
Dixon's social "crimes" and pursuing his principal. He passes out at the lectern; when he wakes up he
Mrs. Welch
punishment while obsessing over her
finds out he's been fired from his post.
boorish sons, Bertrand and Michel, and
the state of her bedsheets—which
Dixon destroys in a drunken stupor. However, Dixon will turn out to be "lucky" after all. Gore-
Urquhart offers him the job Bertrand Welch so hoped to get. It
comes with a salary of 500 pounds a year and requires a move
to London—Dixon's ideal destination. At a lunch with
Catchpole, Margaret's former boyfriend, Dixon discovers
Margaret staged her suicide attempt. He immediately breaks
up with her and pursues Christine in a literal pursuit. The

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Plot Summary 8

book's final chapters detail Dixon's race for a bus and then the
harrowingly slow ride to catch up with her at the local train
station. Eventually the two reunite and decide to go for tea.
The Welches, the college, and the provincial world are now in
their past.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Plot Summary 9

Plot Diagram

Climax

Rising Action 4 Falling Action

6
3

2 7
1
Resolution
Introduction

Introduction Falling Action

1. James Dixon is wretched both professionally and personally. 6. Professor Welch fires Dixon.

Rising Action Resolution

2. Professor Ned Welch asks Dixon to lecture on "Merrie 7. In one day Dixon gets a London job and joins Christine.
England."

3. During a weekend at the Welches', Dixon meets Christine.

4. Dixon and Christine kiss; he and Margaret split and reunite.

Climax

5. Dixon's "Merrie England" lecture is a disaster.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Plot Summary 10

Timeline of Events

1940s

James Dixon serves in World War II.

Early 1950s

Dixon works as a history lecturer at a provincial British

college.

Spring

Margaret Peel apparently overdoses on sleeping pills but

survives.

Later that spring

Professor Ned Welch asks Dixon to deliver the term's

evening lecture on "Merrie England."

A week later

At the Welches' "arty" weekend, Dixon meets Christine

Callaghan.

Two weeks later

At the Summer Ball, Dixon and Christine dance.

The next day

Dixon and Margaret end their relationship.

The next day

Dixon and Margaret get back together.

A few days later

Dixon and Bertrand Welch fight.

That night

Dixon delivers his "Merrie England" lecture.

The next day

Professor Welch fires Dixon.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Plot Summary 11

Two days later

Julius Gore-Urquhart offers Dixon a job in London.

Later that day

Catchpole and Dixon figure out Margaret probably faked

her suicide attempt.

Later that day

Dixon rushes to the train station to catch Christine

before she leaves for London.

Later that day

Dixon and Christine see the Welches for the last time;
the two laugh and head off together.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 12

disaster. His continued employment in the college history

c Chapter Summaries department comes up with Welch, and he agrees to deliver a
lecture on "Merrie England" that will become the novel's climax.
Throughout the novel, any mention of "Merrie England" is both

Chapter 1 a comic trope and a millstone around Dixon's neck. There is

nothing "Merrie" about this England, and in Dixon's mind—and,
it might be deduced, Amis's—there never was.

Summary This chapter also sets up Amis's complex comic tone for the
novel. Dixon is horrified by nearly everything Welch says. He's
Lucky Jim begins with James Dixon, the protagonist, in also horrified by nearly everyone else he encounters; he's none
conversation with Professor Ned Welch, his supervisor in the too happy with his own listless efforts at success, either. Amis
history department of a provincial British college. Professor expresses this feeling with effusive language and almost
Welch is discussing his recent concert. He played the recorder terrible linguistic joy, as when Dixon thinks his shipbuilding
and sang, and Evan Johns performed on oboe with him. Welch article's title perfectly captures its "niggling mindlessness, its
does not seem to notice whether Dixon is listening to him talk. funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo-light it
threw upon non-problems."
The professor has "decisive power over [Dixon's] future,"
which is why Dixon is listening to his boorish conversation.
While the two walk, Dixon makes the first of many "faces"—his
silent responses to the unending torture of his life.
Chapter 2
The professor mentions Dixon's fellow lecturer and friend
Margaret Peel. She is recovering from a suicide attempt she Summary
made several weeks earlier; Dixon hasn't seen her since.
Recalling Margaret's shaky state of mind, Dixon realizes he Margaret and Dixon are having a drink at the Oak Lounge, a
feels a certain responsibility for her though he doesn't want to. pub near the Welches' house. Margaret recalls her suicide
attempt and how she felt as she was roused from
Welch drives Dixon to his home, eight miles from campus, and unconsciousness. Dixon worries she will attempt suicide again,
asks him about the progress of his article, "The Economic and she assures him she will not. Her ex-boyfriend,
Influence of the Developments in Shipbuilding Techniques, Catchpole—the man who purportedly inspired the suicide
1450 to 1485." Welch continues chattering, inviting Dixon to his attempt—has disappeared.
house for the next weekend for "one or two little shows, little
bits of music and that." Dixon agrees, wondering how he will Margaret is amused to learn Dixon will be present at the
possibly survive. His employment is contingent upon Welch's following weekend's "arty get-together" at the Welch home.
good graces. Welch also asks him to deliver the lecture for the She horrifies Dixon by describing all that will take place. She
college Open Week. His suggested topic is "Merrie England." and Dixon are good friends, with much in common, especially
their sense of humor about the ridiculousness of their lives and
milieu. Margaret explains the elder Welch son, Bertrand, will be
Analysis coming down for the weekend with his girlfriend. Margaret
seems to think she and Dixon have a special relationship, more
The majority of Lucky Jim's concerns and plot twists are set up than a friendship. Meanwhile, Dixon fantasizes about leaving
in Chapter 1. The primary relationship between Welch and for London.
Dixon: boor and servile-yet-despising sycophant. Margaret
Peel and her mental health is also a topic for which Dixon feels
what comes to be his customary combination of disgust and Analysis
concern. Welch invites Dixon to the musicale weekend, which
will be the start of the younger man's cascade of self-imposed This chapter highlights Dixon and Margaret's relationship and
their different perceptions of it. To a contemporary reader, it is

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 13

interesting to note how much power Margaret may or may not excuse to leave early on Sunday. He worries the oboist Johns
have in the relationship. Who will decide whether she and has heard the plan, but he decides it doesn't matter. Dixon
Dixon are truly romantically attached? Is their friendship, which leaves for the Welches' home.
Amis writes as genuine, the same as attraction? It is not yet
clear what the sexual mores of their scene might be, but it
seems safe to assume they will be less than "free." Analysis
Margaret and Dixon both feel they must treat Professor Welch Anzio was a particularly long and bloody battle in Italy between
with respect; their continued employment depends on it. In Allied and Axis forces during World War II. Michie, then, is a
private, however, they deride him. Their humor may surprise war hero. Dixon is nothing like a hero; he experienced his war
modern readers who expect 1950s-era characters to be rather on the home front as a lowly corporal.
dour and preoccupied with rationing and fear of nuclear war.
That's not apparent in this book—Amis relishes depicting the This chapter sets up the relationship between the
absurd and the laughable. boardinghouse residents: Dixon, Beesley, Atkinson, and Johns.
The first three universally despise Johns, taking every
opportunity to play pranks on him and make his life miserable.
Chapter 3 His crimes are playing the oboe and being a prig, an insult in
Amis's world. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a prig is "a
self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if ... superior
to others." The word is British in origin, dating back several
Summary hundred years. While not slang, it never quite crossed into
common usage in the United States.
Michie, a student Dixon despises, accosts him after a lecture.
Like Dixon, Michie served in World War II; he "commanded a Johns may or may not be of a higher class than the other three
tank troupe at Anzio" while Dixon was a Royal Air Force men at the boardinghouse, but he acts as if he is superior. This
corporal in western Scotland. In other words, Michie was superior display is a high crime in class-conscious Britain.
rather more heroic than Dixon. Michie asks Dixon for a syllabus Dixon, Atkinson, and Beesley may be middle class, but they
for the next term's class. However, Dixon doesn't know if he'll don't act as if they're trying to surpass their station by playing
even be teaching the class so he doesn't want to make a oboe and currying favor with Professor Welch. Their solidarity,
syllabus. He doesn't feel the students should be able to choose which runs to drinking copious amounts of liquor and helping
their class and teacher based on the perusal of a syllabus each other (that is, helping Dixon) out of various disasters, is
ahead of time; this option feels like another one of Welch's perhaps the most authentic friendship in Lucky Jim. It also
hoops for him to jump through. mirrors Amis's own lifelong close friendships with men,
particularly Philip Larkin.
Back at his boardinghouse, Dixon discovers his article has
been accepted by a journal, even though his name is
misspelled on the envelope and the letter, from L.S. Caton, is
written as if in great haste. The post also contains a musical Chapter 4
magazine for Evan Johns, Dixon's enemy, and he defaces the
composer on the cover. Dixon and Alfred Beesley commiserate
about their chances of employment next term; they are both in Summary
the same situation but in different departments—their fates
dependent upon currying favor with their despised Everyone is at the Welches' house for the arty weekend. Mrs.
"professors." Beesley asks Dixon why he chose to pursue a Welch appears and is even more boorish and priggish than her
career in academia, and Dixon explains he chose medieval husband. The company is singing madrigals, and Dixon has not
studies because it seemed like a "soft option." been able to tell his hosts he cannot read music. His history
department colleague Cecil Goldsmith has been drowning out
Dixon asks Bill Atkinson, who's also in the boardinghouse Dixon's uncertain vocal efforts.
tearoom, to call him at the Welches' house, offering him an

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 14

Dixon looks at Margaret and almost wishes he loved her. Johns As biting as Amis's social commentary may be, his views on the
is hoping Dixon's lack of musical ability will embarrass him sexes are more complex. Dixon sees Bertrand's girlfriend,
utterly. Just in time to save him from a solo, the "pacifist Christine, as "an irresistible attack" on his own "habits,
painting Bertrand" appears. Dixon hates him on sight. standards, and ambitions." Women like Christine "were never
"Bertrand's girl" makes her entrance. Dixon does not yet know on view except as the property of men like Bertrand," while
who she is, but he feels an immediate attraction to her as she "the huge class that contained Margaret was destined to
is blonde and simply dressed with a small waist and an air of provide [Dixon's] own womenfolk."
not trying too hard.
Christine's need to introduce herself is beyond the British
There is a mix-up regarding the girl's identity. Bertrand's norms. That Bertrand's rudeness is taken for granted by his
previous girlfriend was a ballet student, and Dixon assumes parents indicates he is both spoiled and considers himself
this woman is she. However, that girlfriend is now thrown over "above" Dixon and the other provincials at the house party.
for this one. Everyone is very embarrassed and attempts to
make the mix-up reflect badly on Dixon rather than on This chapter also contains a rare discourse on social

Bertrand, who may be a womanizer and impolite in not inequalities. Dixon and Bertrand are discussing the

introducing her to the entire party upon their entrance. The girl government's spending policy. When Bertrand opposes the

finally introduces herself as Christine Callaghan. "soak the rich" approach, Dixon responds with vague socialism.
He says, "If one man's got ten buns and another's got two," and
Margaret notices everything: Dixon's lousy madrigal someone needs to give up a bun, "then surely you take it from
performance, his social gaffe, and his attention to Christine. the man with ten buns."
When Dixon dissembles about Christine's attractiveness,
Margaret laughs her phony "silver bells" laugh, and Dixon
knows he needs to be careful of Margaret's feelings. Chapter 5
Meanwhile, Dixon and Margaret determine Christine is there
possibly because her uncle, Julius Gore-Urquhart, a "rich
devotee of the arts," has a summer home nearby, and Bertrand
Summary
Welch would like an appointment as his secretary. When Dixon
Dixon is very drunk after his escape to the pub during the
discovers the party doesn't have any alcohol on offer, he
Welches' house party. He returns to the house and catches
sneaks off to the pub.
sight of Bertrand Welch kissing Carol Goldsmith. Though
surprised and disturbed, he is also too drunk to think about it.

Analysis He goes upstairs. The room in which he is staying is accessible

only through the shared bathroom, which is currently occupied.
Amis's humor is at its most deliciously wicked here, like English
Margaret invites him into her room to wait. They chat and then
author P.G. Wodehouse gone rude. "A soporific droning filled
kiss. Dixon attempts to take things further, moving his hand
the air" during the singing, and Dixon has "a bad setback ... in
under her robe and then under her nightdress. Eventually—and
some Brahms rubbish." Dixon is embarrassed in his current
before they are able to consummate whatever relationship
environment but not ashamed at his lack of skill at the recorder
they have—Margaret throws him out of the room. She is
and madrigal singing. This is a crucial emotional difference.
furious; he is confused. He goes downstairs, drinks the
Embarrassment is a fundamental element of the British
Welches' sherry, and then finally returns to his room and
character and humor. As writer Kate Fox explains in her book
passes out. Between the sherry and the passing out is
Watching the English (2014), "Most British comedy is
probably the most vivid description of drunkenness in the
essentially about embarrassment." Shame, however, is a
history of British prose.
different beast. Why should Dixon feel ashamed he cannot do
something that is fundamentally embarrassing? Instead, he
feels proud. Only idiots such as Welch and Johns would
actually enjoy playing a tootling little medieval pipe.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 15

he decides to cut the bedclothes to shreds with a razor blade.

Analysis
Dixon heads downstairs for breakfast, where he finds "the
The sexual fumblings Amis describes trace to Philip Larkin and Callaghan girl" alone, placidly eating an enormous plate of
his admissions to the much more sexually "successful" Amis. food. She offers to help him with his disaster of a room, and
From a contemporary standpoint, Margaret's problems seem they go upstairs and start giggling and running around with
clear: no matter what she wants she can't have sex with Dixon. various shreds of bedclothes and pieces of furniture. Margaret
To do so would be to imply she is either a licentious woman or notices, naturally, and throws open her door, saying, "What do
they are engaged. He has not proposed to her. She is you imagine you're up to, James?"
recovering from a suicide attempt. Acting on her adult sexual
instincts is a bad idea for her. This belief makes her anger at
Dixon understandable. She's not being a clichéd 1950s gal, Analysis
upset at her boyfriend for being "fresh." She's angry with her
friend for putting her in the position of having to be the The hangover description is arguably Amis's best-known
grownup. This rather feminist act on Margaret's part may not paragraph. As his son, Martin, explained in his own memoir,
have been meant as such, given Amis's later outspoken Experience (2000), his father was "the laureate of the
anathema to anything feminine, let alone feminist, but it's still hangover." An entire chapter of the elder Amis's On Drink is
progressive for its time. called "The Hangover." What makes that condition so essential
to Amis's oeuvre? If drunkenness represents freedom, then the
The pages-long description of Dixon's drunkenness is almost
hangover is the tax on such liberty. It is the moment when
as famous as his description of a hangover at the beginning of
man—and it is always a man, in Amis's world—is closest to his
Chapter 6. Amis was like a cartographer of inebriation. Later in
essential, animal state. He is both at his least British—unable to
life he wrote a drinks column for Penthouse Magazine, and his
put on a graceful social face—and most British—suffering,
books include the nonfiction On Drink (1972). Plus, he was an
embarrassed. Since Amis was an alcoholic, it's hardly
alcoholic. However, Dixon's overindulgence is almost heroically
surprising he wrote about hangovers, quite possibly while he
pure. He drinks to forget his embarrassment, to escape his
had one.
fate, to tolerate the boorishness of his life. Still, getting ragingly
drunk also will have less pleasant consequences. Regarding the burned bedsheets, blanket, rug, and tabletop,
poor Margaret is once again the only grownup in the room.
When she asks Dixon what he is up to, she is referring both to
Chapter 6 his crazed antics with the burned items, but also, more
generally, what is he up to with this young woman? Why does
she, Margaret, have to be the one to stop his sexual advances
Summary and then deal with him giggling around the house with another
woman? It's so patently unfair from Margaret's perspective. In
This chapter begins with an infamous description of a Dixon's eyes, she should take the blame for rejecting his
hangover. Dixon feels as if "his mouth had been used as a sloppy pass of the night before. Whether or not she wants to
latrine by some small creature of the night," and "he'd have sex with him is not apparent. However, Dixon wants
somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly something from her, and, like the mean mommy, she denies
beaten up by secret police." In short: "He felt bad." him. Then he goes and almost burns the house down.

Sometime in the night, Dixon has burned his bedclothes, the Because Christine doesn't know about the botched pass, she
blanket, the rug, and the table with a cigarette. He has no also doesn't know why Margaret is so angry. Therefore,
memory of this, but in his deteriorated state he panics: "He Christine can look as if she's charming and fun and Margaret
thought that on the whole he must have done it himself, and seems like a prig. It's almost the perfect crime for Dixon. He
wished he hadn't." Worrying Mrs. Welch will discover his gets a pretty young woman to help him, and he punishes the
destruction and tell her husband, leading Dixon to lose his job, older and more familiar woman for reasonably rejecting him.
he desperately attempts to hide the damage. For some reason Welcome to the patriarchy, 1950s British style.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 16

on the other hand, depends on his job for its income and social
Chapter 7 status. Finally, Bertrand has a beard, wears a beret, and is a
blowhard. These are easy targets for Dixon's derision. Not until
the final chapters is Bertrand revealed as a truly unpleasant
Summary and hostile man, not simply a lucky one.

Margaret thinks Dixon and "the Callaghan girl" are acting

insane and so disapproves. Dixon hides the burned table in a Chapter 8
spare room and then attempts to explain to Margaret how
hilarious the whole thing is, but she is not amused.

Dixon attempts to apologize for his sloppy pass of the night Summary
before. "Poor old Margaret," he thinks, and "rested his hand, in
a gesture he hoped was solicitous, on her nearer shoulder." A few weeks have passed. Dixon is at the college, and

She does not find him solicitous; she is still furious. Finally, she Professor Welch summons him. This summoning reminds

gives up and says she needs to go back to sleep. Dixon of his flight sergeant during the war, who often used the
same tone to summon him. Welch says he is concerned about
Dixon feels "the Callaghan girl" has behaved much better than Dixon's shipbuilding article; a friend told him the editor of the
Margaret. As he's contemplating their differences, he receives publishing journal might be unreliable.
the phone call from Atkinson excusing him to come home
early. With deep relief he flees the Welches' house. Dixon uses this conversation as his cue to ask Welch about his
continued employment, but Welch neatly dodges the question.
Dixon's hatred of Welch grows the longer he talks. He
Analysis fantasizes about hitting him, humiliating him, speaking his mind.
Finally he realizes "he'd never be able to tell Welch what he
It's just funny. Poor Margaret comes off very, very badly in wanted to tell him." It's the same problem he has with
comparison to Christine. How could she not? She's a grownup, Margaret.
and she and Dixon already have a relationship. Dixon behaves
Dixon heads to the Common Room where the faculty gather
like a child. Boys will be boys! Yes, the Welches are terrible,
and drink tea. There he sees Margaret, and they have a tiff.
and he is reacting to their lack of genuine culture and their
Margaret is in a difficult mood. She cries, explaining to Dixon
middle-class terrors, but he still mistreats Margaret rather
"she can't go on like this," which alarms him; is she
badly, even if only by treating the younger and more attractive
contemplating suicide again? It turns out the Summer Ball is
woman better.
the coming weekend. Dixon has not asked her to go with him.
Dixon's flight from the Welches' weekend is the beginning of When he does, her mood brightens immediately. Bertrand is
his descent from semiapproval at the college to full-on also coming, and he's bringing Carol Goldsmith. When
disaster. It's not clear if he's behaved this badly before. Margaret leaves, Dixon writes to the journal editor as
Professor Welch's obliviousness is his essential characteristic; Professor Welch asked him to do. He is being an obedient
he wouldn't refer to Dixon's previous behavior because he young man.
probably never noticed it anyway. His son Bertrand, however, is
a new and sharp comic foil to Dixon. Bertrand represents so
much of what Dixon simultaneously despises and yet longs for. Analysis
The elder Welch son is tall, monied, and seemingly free to
sleep with whichever ballet dancers, bookshop girls, and Professor Welch is ludicrous, Margaret is emotional, and Dixon

friend's wives he chooses. Dixon, meanwhile, can't even get is resentful yet agreeable. The semester is ending, and he has

into Margaret's knickers. Bertrand lives in London, which might no idea if he has a job lined up. (The system at this 1950s

as well be a foreign land to Dixon. Bertrand is a painter, a great British college is sadly similar to that of adjuncts in the United

career for someone who doesn't need to earn money. Dixon, States.) Unsure of his professional status, Dixon feels unsure
of his social status as well. A steady job covers a multitude of

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 17

sins. Post looking for the brilliant painter Bertrand Welch. He claims
to Bertrand he wants to write a paragraph about him for the
Amis mentions Dixon's military service infrequently, which is paper, making Bertrand describe to Dixon Bertrand's
surprising at first. Today, World War II and its attendant pretentious paintings. Finally, Dixon claims to Bertrand, "Miss
obligations and privations seem to be the defining Callaghan ... put the notion of this little paragraph" to the
characteristic of that era. Amis and Dixon seem to have had paper's staff. Dixon goes deeper into his story, claiming
quite a different wartime experience. Dixon never served Bertrand must call Christine that evening.
overseas. His military is one of drills and shouting sergeants,
not heroism or particular privation. He was not an officer like Sweating and smoking, Dixon plans his next steps: "It was all
Michie. Part of his character must be that "his war" was not so wonderful ... The campaign against Bertrand he'd fantasized
much of a change from his life before or after: cold-water about at the Welches' had begun, and with dazzling tactical
baths and damp feet, shouting bosses and pointless activities. success." He'll call Christine and explain how to play along with
Amis never mentions fascism or the fight against it. Professor his story.
Welch's sentimentality regarding "Merrie England" is almost
fascist—in the sense of exercising dictatorial power—itself.
Analysis
Chapter 9 Dixon is giving in to his most antisocial, animal instincts, and it's
hilarious. To be sure, "giving in," "antisocial," and "animal" are
relative terms in the oh-so-proper world of 1953 provincial
Britain. Dixon is only about one step removed from your
Summary average American middle-school boy, prank calling a grocery
store. However, Dixon's lack of control over his life is genuine,
The porter, Maconochie, asks Dixon to take a phone call meant
and this ploy is a small way for him to feel in charge.
for Welch. Strangely, it's Christine Callaghan on the phone.
Christine is attempting to ascertain whether Bertrand will be Another thematic thread in this chapter is Dixon's burgeoning
going to the Summer Ball at the college without her. Her uncle, loyalty to Christine Callaghan. It is unclear as to why he likes
Julius Gore-Urquhart, will be attending the ball, and she thinks her so much. She seems like a nonentity, albeit good natured
Bertrand may bring her as his date if he knows his would-be and attractive. However, as Dixon's idea of her grows—she is
employer will be attending. the only one who appreciates his predicament with the burned
sheets; she is elegant and charming, especially compared to
With his usual aplomb, Dixon suggests a complicated scheme
sloppy, overemotional Margaret—his willingness to defend her
in which he will call the Welches and pretend to be ... someone
also increases, though he doesn't tell her he's trying to defend
... so he can discover Bertrand's plans. He both wants to
her. As far as she knows Bertrand is her boyfriend, and Dixon
impress Christine and to aggravate Mrs. Welch, whom he sees
is behaving like a bizarre schoolboy.
as his special nemesis. Dixon tells Christine he will attend the
ball himself.

His student Michie appears, still asking about the syllabus for Chapter 10
next term's course. Some "pretty girls" may or may not take the
class, depending on the subject. Dixon offers to cut the
syllabus down to appeal to the girls; his real aim is to sour Summary
Michie on the course by slashing "everything that might
conceivably interest" him. It's the Summer Ball, and Margaret tells Dixon the mix-up and
switching of partners infuriated everyone. Carol
Now Dixon takes up Christine's cause: he calls the Welches.
Goldsmith—whom only Dixon knows is Bertrand's lover—gets
When Mrs. Welch answers she immediately recognizes his
upset when Bertrand says Christine is coming to the ball as his
voice and demands to know what he did with her bedsheets.
date and Carol would be escorted by Christine's uncle, Julius
Panicked, Dixon pretends to be a reporter from the Evening
Gore-Urquhart.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 18

Dixon is not a good dancer; he has to concentrate to keep up. dance partners. It's high slapstick in the tradition of comedy
Margaret "look[s] as if she was enjoying herself," while "his duo the Marx Brothers and humorist P.G. Wodehouse.
socks seemed to have been sprayed with fine adhesive sand."
He is desperate for a drink, and he worries that Christine is
ignoring him. Christine looks beautiful, with a simple dress Chapter 11
highlighting her "natural coloring"; meanwhile Margaret wears a
"decidedly ill-judged ... royal-blue taffeta."

After noticing his friend Beesley is dateless, Dixon realizes

Summary
someone is worse off than him. What's important is "the
On the dance floor with Christine, Dixon feels "like a special
possession of the signs of sexual privilege," not the "quality nor
agent, a picaroon, a Chicago war-lord, a hidalgo, an oil baron, a
the enjoyment of them." In other words, it doesn't matter if
mohock." In other words, he feels like a million bucks, the man.
you're having sex or like the sex you're having; what matters is
looking like you could have sex if you wanted to.
Chatting and dancing, Dixon and Christine realize Carol
Goldsmith is upset at Bertrand. Christine is upset at Bertrand,
The party joins with Carol and Gore-Urquhart. Dixon had
too. Dixon, meanwhile, simply wants Christine to have a nice
expected "Uncle Julius" to be more prepossessing; it's a relief
time with him. Christine says Professor Welch knows Dixon
to see he is unintimidating and focused on avoiding the college
escaped from the arty party weekend under false
president.
circumstances. The oboe-playing wet-blanket Johns knew Bill
Everyone seems to be getting along. Margaret and Gore- Atkinson called in Dixon's excuse. They head back to the table
Urquhart chat, and the latter acquires pint glasses of beer from where Carol, the worse for drink, pulls Dixon back onto the
Maconochie, who is serving as bar man. Then Margaret tells dance floor.
Dixon, "I'm getting much too fond of you." He sees this as
evidence of her "frustration and loneliness" and worries his
sympathy will only deepen their entanglement. Therefore, he Analysis
dances with Christine.
No one at the ball is telling the truth. The style is reminiscent of
P.G. Wodehouse—mix-ups and romantic triangles everywhere,
Analysis all displayed through a particularly proper British event. It also
contains more than a touch of British writer Oscar Wilde
In Amis's universe, there are two kinds of people: those in on (1854–1900). Everyone has a secret agenda but remains polite
the joke and those hopelessly out of it. Julius Gore-Urquhart at all costs. The merry mix-up is, again, classic slapstick. It's
seems as if he'll be in; Christine does as well. Margaret is both also complicated. Amis is masterful at keeping many threads of
in on the joke and out of it because of her attachment to story going simultaneously, even in this set piece of a long
convention and her worrying desire for happiness. The party.
Welches are way out. Bill Atkinson is all in. Dixon and his fellow
Crowd scenes are notoriously difficult to write. It is challenging
"in jokers" are adolescent in many ways, and that may be the
enough to get one character out of a room, let alone have
most reasonable response to the horrors of World War II and
several of them dancing, switching partners, and discussing
postwar propriety.
their relationships with each other, to each other, out of
Lucky Jim predicts the 1960s flood of British humor and "mod" earshot of the rest of the characters. This scene feels
madness, including the Beatles, Monty Python, and miniskirts. theatrical because there is so much motion, and Amis writes it
Reading this chapter is reminiscent of watching the 1965 with such command.
Beatles film Help, in which the Fab Four attempt to solve an
international mystery, James Bond–style, while also running
from their crazed fans. In this chapter, Margaret is a sort of
crazed fan, and Dixon must escape her by constantly switching

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 19

absurd propriety feel directly indebted to these great

Chapter 12 cinematic moments.

Summary Chapter 13
Now Dixon is dancing with Carol Goldsmith. She complains
about Bertrand Welch and his womanizing ways. She's furious
Bertrand seems to have thrown her over for Christine; she and
Summary
her husband don't have sex any longer. Carol thinks Dixon
Waiting for the fateful taxi, Dixon worries Christine won't meet
should throw over Margaret and go for Christine. She tells
him, and his plan—for seduction? romance? a nice
Dixon he's in love with Christine and says this is his moment for
chat?—might come to naught. Whatever he's doing, he realizes
learning the truth of life. "Your age ... [is] when you first realize
it's leading him away from the life he's been pursing up to now,
that sex is important to other people besides yourself," she
and "this thought justified his excitement and filled him with
tells him.
reassurance and hope." Whether Christine arrives or not, he is

Together they return to the party. Dixon is a bit shaken; Carol's still making a change.

frank talk affected him. Drinking with Beesley helps him return
When his cab does not arrive, he steals one belonging to
to his usual duty: taking care of Margaret. However, when he
Professor Barclay. Just as he's wracked with an inappropriate
sees her happily in conversation with Gore-Urquhart, he goes
amount of guilt for what seems to be a minor crime, Christine
off script. Abandoning all good sense and loyalty, he calls a cab
appears. In a heroic—by Dixon standards—effort, he convinces
to take Christine and him back to the Welches' house.
the taxi driver to go all the way to the Welch house, several
miles out of town, and orders the driver to acquire petrol along
the way.
Analysis
Dixon dances with one woman at the beginning of Chapter 10,
another at the start of Chapter 11, and yet a third at the outset
Analysis
of Chapter 12, making for an interesting structural setup.
Dixon's standard of brave male behavior may be slim here.
Somehow Dixon, the least passionate and serious person in
Stealing a taxi and convincing the driver to go to the
the room, is the confidante of several attractive and intelligent
destination and wait, while also paying him the appropriate
women. How does he do it? How does any fictional male with
amount of money, might not seem as bold as Sir Lancelot
more character flaws than positive attributes do it? Amis is
going out to battle a dragon. However, for a lower-middle-class
writing a fantasy here, but it's still fun. The setup also allows
Northern academic such as Dixon, impressing a girl as pretty
him to maintain the close third-person point of view while
and seductive as Christine equates to fighting a dragon of
"getting inside" these women's heads.
propriety, whatever his proper future as a rule-abiding citizen

The Marx Brothers were among of the most popular actors of might offer. He has made a decision, finally.

Amis's childhood and adolescence in the 1930s. Their set

Take note: Dixon has added cab stealing to his list of crimes.
pieces in the films Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera are
No crime escapes the watchful eyes of the Welches.
iconic examples of comic choreography. The Brothers seem to
be everywhere at once, dancing with women, slipping in and
out of rooms and theater boxes, managing to bamboozle and
confound each other as well as the other characters. Their
Chapter 14
"straight men" are often women, especially the actress
Margaret Dumont, who infamously played a naive, "proper"
woman to Groucho's leering, delirious oddballs. Both Lucky
Jim's Margaret's easily offended innocence and Mrs. Welch's

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 20

Christine's youth might be a red flag for a contemporary

Summary reader. However, in the context of 1950s England, it was not
inappropriate for an older man to pursue someone her age. In
Bemused, Christine admires Dixon's bold new ways. In turn, he
fact (and here is the cultural romanticism that has been
is impressed she "ditched" Bertrand at the dance for him. They
responsible for so many unequal relationships between young
have a relatively emotional chat in the taxi with Christine
women and older men), Dixon finds her youth promising. She is
confessing she will be 20 in a few weeks. Dixon is nonplussed,
unsullied by expectations, unlike Margaret or Carol Goldsmith.
even impressed by her youth. Continuing, Christine explains
since she came to work in London, men ask her out constantly.
Bertrand seems the best of the lot. Maybe she'll marry him; it
seems to be what he wants. However, she doesn't feel he has
Chapter 15
much left for her after his "art." Dixon thinks Bertrand's art is
the least of his problems. He admits he doesn't like Bertrand
and he does like her. Therefore, he thinks they make a bad Summary
match. "Even if that were true, it needn't prevent me from
marrying him," she says. He responds, "Yes, I know women are Christine and Dixon stand in front of the Welches' house. It is
all dead keen on marrying men they don't much like." She says dark, and no one is home. They decide to break in through the
she doesn't know what love is. French doors. A shin injury and hilarity ensue. They kiss. Dixon
says, "Well, that was very nice," with "a sort of wooden
Dixon responds with "the longest speech" he'd made for "what vivacity." Biscuits and coffee are laid out for after the ball, and
seemed to him years." He explains his ideas about love: they share a cup. For Dixon, "This intimacy somehow
deciding whether one is "in love" is the least of it; it's the symbolize[s] and crown[s] the whole evening."
"working-out" that's important. Rather than feeling ashamed at
this flood of emotion, Dixon is pleased with himself for However, the spell is soon broken. After Dixon tells Christine,
speaking. Christine falls asleep snuggled on his shoulder, but "I'm very fond of you," she draws back from him. For one thing,
soon enough they have reached the Welch house. They go in there is the matter of her relationship with Bertrand. She
together. doesn't really like him, but she's involved with him. Plus, Dixon
has Margaret to think of. Both he and Christine are stuck in
relationships based on propriety. In the most British version of
Analysis throwing caution to the wind, they decide to meet for tea the
coming Tuesday. Dixon leaves Christine, departing in the
These small moments of emotional honesty feel like a relief waiting taxi.
after all of the comic mishaps and business of the previous
chapters. The ball takes place over several chapters, and the
taxi ride is completed in one. Amis's attention to pacing is Analysis
notable: the tempo of the music and dancing at the ball lend an
antic urgency to that writing. Now, in the taxi, Dixon and It would be easy to dismiss Dixon and Christine's
Christine speak in longer paragraphs and with real honesty. problem—their involvement with other people—as being either
Amis takes his time to reveal why the characters might actually about gender or middle-class politesse, but it's really about
begin to care for each other. It is much needed, especially as both. Christine may want to be sexually freer than she is, but
Margaret still seems somewhat sympathetic and pitiable. she knows she cannot risk her reputation. Dixon worries about
his job. If he offends the Welch family, he will not be asked
Christine and Dixon do not have sex in this chapter, but in back as an instructor and will lose his little income and future.
many ways they become even more intimate. They talk about Both are afraid to be honest about their feelings until they are
love, about expectations they hold for their lives and their alone together in a dark house. Their decision to take their
futures. Whether they agree, they are talking to each other as relationship into the light of day (tea) is bold for both of them.
people rather than characters. For Dixon, this is more than
unusual; it's unheard of. Here's the extent of how taboo sexual intimacy was for these
characters: The birth-control pill was not available, or legal, in

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 21

England until 1961, almost a decade after the events of Lucky

Jim. While other forms of pregnancy prevention existed, they
Analysis
were not easy to acquire, especially for unmarried women.
Dixon has pulled off the ultimate passive man trick: he has
Abortion was illegal. Therefore, sexual intercourse was an
convinced a woman to break up with him without having to say
inherently risky proposition, especially for the female partner in
anything at all. Truly a comic fantasy. However, the reader
a heterosexual relationship. Is Dixon willing to marry Margaret
knows this relationship cannot end so easily. Dixon and
if she accepts his pass at the musical weekend at the Welch
Margaret work together and travel in the same social circles.
home? Would he marry Christine? If Mrs. Welch responds with
Who else is going to date—if such a word is appropriate for
such outrage to the burning of her bedclothes, how might she
their odd relationship—either of them?
react to such acts taking place under her own roof? Not well.
Dixon is depressed by Margaret's "episode," her general
disposition, and his loyalty to her. As she recovers from her
Chapter 16 hysterics, he pictures her in the hospital after her overdose. A
life with her would be just this. Any challenge to her needs, any
assertion of his, would trigger a fresh onslaught of irrational
Summary tears and screaming.

For a modern reader, it is difficult to separate Margaret's

The chapter begins with a prank letter Dixon is writing to
emotional health from her social status as a woman. She is the
Johns, threatening him (via an alias) with bodily harm if he
only female instructor in the history department. Presumably
continues his relationship with a woman in the college typing
she desires what most women of the time desire: marriage and
pool. The letter is a procrastination tool for Dixon. What he
children. Why does Margaret have to be unattractive and
really needs to do is work on his "Merrie England" lecture—so
dowdy and mentally ill? She's played a very tough hand. It
instead, he daydreams about Christine.
seems so unfair, especially with the appealing Christine as her
Enter Margaret. Dixon greets her with "a heartiness which foil.
originated ... in a guilty conscience." Margaret seems distracted
and then furious. She chastises him for leaving her at the
dance, for thinking she was enjoying herself talking to Julius Chapter 17
Gore-Urquhart, and for so obviously preferring Christine. They
argue, and she becomes more distressed.

Then she has what can only be described as a panic attack,

Summary
shaking and screaming uncontrollably. Luckily, Bill Atkinson is
It is the next morning, and, over his breakfast, Dixon thinks
outside the door. "Hysterics, eh?" he asks. He slaps her face
about how he really must finish his "Merrie England" talk. At
several times and sends Dixon upstairs for whiskey.
this point he has written 11 1/2 minutes of an hour-long lecture.
Margaret gradually returns to herself. Dixon, however, cannot Even with "another minute for water-drinking, coughing, and
look at her in the same way; he pictures her in the hospital page-turning," he is still in a dreadful state. With a flash of
after her overdose. Her "episode" and her general insight, he decides he will spend 20 minutes on medieval
disposition—as well as his feeling of loyalty to her—depress music—never mind his seething hatred of madrigals and
him. recorders.

Perhaps Margaret needed this extreme moment to come to Atkinson and Beesley also come down to the breakfast room.
her senses. After recovering with the aid of much whiskey, she It turns out they are all eagerly awaiting the post and Dixon's
says, "It's strange that it should end like this, isn't it? In such a prank letter to Johns. When Johns enters, sits down to eat, and
very undignified fashion." Dixon agrees. They have "broken up" reads his letter, the other three watch like delighted
whatever their odd relationship may have been. She leaves for schoolboys. They tease him until he finally responds to Dixon,
the Welch house, alone. Dixon mails his prank letter to Johns. "Two can play at that game. You'll see."

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 22

The weather is fine, and Beesley and Dixon stroll up to the nattering on about his wife's "Gallic" nature, the professor
college together. While walking, they discuss grade inflation; explains she is opposed to the "Welfare State." This attitude
because the provincial universities have so many students on hardens Dixon's dislike of her. Worse than seeing Mrs. Welch,
Education Authority grants, there is no good way to fail people however, is the prospect of seeing Margaret, Bertrand, and
who don't deserve to pass. The system is rigged. Dixon longs Christine. Professor Welch keeps chattering—now he's talking
to live and work in London, but it is such a fantasy he tells about his sons and their achievements in London—and Dixon
himself to "shut up" before expressing his desire to his friend. wonders why he couldn't have "parents whose money so far
exceeded their sense as to install their son in London."
In the Common Room, Beesley finds a notice in a journal and
shows it to Dixon: Dr. L.S. Caton has just received an When Welch and Dixon arrive at the Welch home, the
appointment as "Chair of History of Commerce, University of professor suddenly realizes he has a prior engagement with
Tucumán, Argentina." Caton is the editor who accepted Dixon's the family and will not be able to offer Dixon dinner after all.
shipbuilding article, so this is a worrisome development. Having Meanwhile Mrs. Welch, "like an actress dead on her cue," asks
his article published is Dixon's sole academic accomplishment. Dixon what, exactly, he did to her bedsheets. Christine and
If Caton is no longer editor, does this mean Dixon's article will Margaret are talking in a corner and leave together. Mrs. Welch
never see the light of day? Outside the library, Dixon runs into now demands to know why Dixon called the house and
Professor Welch, who "recognize[s] him almost at once." He pretended to be a reporter writing an article about Bertrand.
asks Dixon to take on a rather large research task, and Dixon Bertrand also demands answers. Panicked, Dixon admits to
has to assent as usual. His future lies in the professor's shaky destroying the bedsheets but avoids blame for the phone call.
hands.
It is now Bertrand's turn to interrogate Dixon; he demands to
know why Dixon "induced Christine to skip out of the dance"
Analysis with him. Dixon realizes this is his moment to end the "cold
war" between himself and Welch's eldest son. Now things can
This chapter is mostly business with more details about the get hot. He tells Bertrand he wanted to take Christine home
wretched academic reality of Dixon's life and the university with him. Bertrand says, "I'll break your horrible neck for you
system in general. (Again, this predicament happens today. and get you dismissed from your job as well." Dixon responds
Adjuncts don't know if they'll be rehired from year to year; in kind, and the situation ceases to escalate only when
professors inflate student grades to reduce complaints and Margaret and Christine reenter the room.
boost their own employability. It's a mess.) There is also the
Christine disappears with Bertrand, and Dixon is alone with
matter of Dixon's torment of Johns: "Two can play at that
Margaret. Though they are broken up, he gloomily realizes they
game. You'll see."
will end up together after all. He says they should get back
The discussion of Education Authority grants is a rare political together, explaining, in the least romantic language possible,
moment in Lucky Jim. Beesley and Dixon's opinion of the "We'd have started it again some time; it might just as well be
students who cannot fail seems to foretell Amis's later now."
conservatism. Either the Academy should be open to all, or it
Margaret initially demurs but eventually agrees, and Dixon is
shouldn't. What does Dixon really think? The reader never
impressed by their mutual honesty: "That was something,
knows, and the subject never comes up again.
anyway." He is gutted when Christine reappears, dressed for
the theater and looking especially pretty. The whole party piles
into Welch's car and heads back into town.
Chapter 18
Analysis
Summary
Margaret and Dixon are so bleakly honest with each other.
Having completed Professor Welch's drudge work, Dixon now They acknowledge they don't want to be together, but they will
feels compelled to accompany him home for dinner. While

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 23

be. Margaret seems as happy as she can be; this is her desire, Christine to Bertrand—and they know they'll hardly see each
mostly. Dixon is miserable and satisfied that misery is his fate. other when Christine returns to London. Dixon decides not
mention Carol Goldsmith's admission about her affair with
Knowing there is still a good bit of the book left to go might Bertrand. Christine, "face down," tries to lessen the
give readers hope, though. Perhaps Dixon will stand up for unhappiness they're both feeling, telling Dixon, "I think you're
himself, or maybe Margaret will realize he is a miserable making a bit of a fuss, more than you need," and claiming,
choice; perhaps something good will finally occur. "Nothing's happened between us to speak of, has it?" She
leaves.
At least Dixon drops the act with Bertrand. This decision
indicates he hasn't given up on Christine completely—or at Alone in the tea room, Dixon reflects, "It was luck you needed
least he still has some fight left in him. At this point the novel all along"; that's what would have enabled him to change his
could go in one of two directions. Dixon can settle for his life. No such luck for Dixon. Yet.
"fate," marry Margaret, get his job at the college, and live a sad
life forever. Alternatively, he can rebel, with gusto. The
outcome depends on what Amis wants to tell his readers: life is Analysis
flat and pointless, or eccentricity and luck will eventually win
out. Is the "lucky" in Lucky Jim ironic or true? Things are starting to roll into place, but Dixon doesn't realize
it. Again there are two potential paths for him. His first option:
he can continue to teach at the college, marry Margaret,
Chapter 19 endure endless weekends with the Welches, and probably
drink himself into an early grave. His second option: he can
rebel—but not in the passive-aggressive, making-faces-behind-
Summary his-enemy's-back way he's accustomed to. He needs to do
something. This requires—as Philip Larkin might have put
Back at Mrs. Cutler's house, Dixon stares at the communal it—stepping away from the "sort of bargain" of middle-class
telephone. He knows he has to cancel his tea date with life. Is he willing? Is he brave enough? Is he lucky enough?
Christine, but he doesn't want to, in large part because he's
As a side note, this chapter contains many telephone calls on
terrified of Mrs. Welch answering the phone. Finally, he calls,
the communal line at Dixon's boardinghouse. For Dixon, the
she answers, and he uses a funny English accent. It doesn't
telephone is an instrument of doom. Mrs. Welch might answer
work; she knows it's him and threatens to have her husband
at any time; people call him and don't make sense. It is a pre-
take disciplinary action if he tries to meddle in Bertrand's life,
email, pretext universe. The only communication options are
or hers, again. He hangs up, his date with Christine still intact.
letter, telegram, and awkward public phone calls.
Dixon's phone rings. It is a man named Catchpole. Dixon knows
this man broke Margaret's heart, precipitating her overdose.
Catchpole sounds reasonable for such a monster—as Dixon Chapter 20
understands him to be. "There's some kind of mix-up here,"
Catchpole says. They agree to meet for a drink on Thursday.

Next, Dixon screws his courage to the sticking point and calls
Summary
Caton, the editor of the journal promised to publish his paper.
"Merrie England" is Dixon's fate and fortune. If he succeeds in
All he wants is a date to tell Welch; Caton refuses to answer,
this lecture, he will probably secure his job for the following
gabbling on that "things are very difficult, things are very
year. If not he's done for; he's made too many other missteps.
difficult." Dixon groans and heads upstairs to work on the
As Dixon moves around his room imitating an ape, Bertrand
endless "Merrie England" lecture.
bursts in and accuses Dixon of not staying away from
It is time for tea with Christine! It's a poignant meeting. Both Christine.
are attached to the wrong people—Dixon to Margaret and
Bertrand perches on the arm of Dixon's chair and explains his

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 24

life plan: "It's distinctly on the cards that I might marry Christine cliché of itself. Dixon probably wishes he had the kind of
in a couple of years or so." He seems to think Dixon's funding to become Byronic himself, except such behavior
continued meetings with Christine will only hurt her, and he would be terribly embarrassing.
expects Dixon to follow his orders and "keep off the grass."
Responding with uncharacteristic strength and honesty, Dixon
says Christine's relationship with him is not a distraction for Chapter 21
her; Bertrand is the distraction.

Bertrand responds with ire and arrogance, saying, "I don't allow
people of your sort to stand in my way." Finally, after Dixon
Summary
calls him a "Byronic tail-chaser," they fight. To wit: Dixon puts
Dixon explains his Bertrand-inflicted black eye as a shaving
his glasses in his pocket, Bertrand accidentally lands a punch
accident. It is the pregame reception before the "Merrie
on Dixon's cheekbone, and Dixon responds by hitting him "very
England" lecture. Drinking another sherry, which follows "the
hard indeed on the larger and more convoluted of his ears." A
previous three sherries and the half-dozen measures of Bill
china figurine falls off the mantle, Bertrand does not get off the
Atkinson's whiskey," Dixon "in a sense, but only in a sense"
floor, and Michie—the unctuous student—unexpectedly enters
starts to worry a bit less about his lecture.
the room. As Bertrand leaves, Michie tells Dixon he will be the
only student in Dixon's "special subject" class next term and
Everyone he has ever known seems to be in attendance. Amis
says he's very much looking forward to Dixon's "Merrie
lists the entire novel's cast of characters, from the Goldsmiths
England" lecture that night. Dixon decides to head up to
to the local composer. Julius Gore-Urquhart is there as well as
Atkinson's room for some whiskey.
a guest of the Welch family; Bertrand is still hoping to become
his secretary. Gore-Urquhart and Dixon talk about how the
latter man doesn't enjoy teaching history, and this lecture was
Analysis Professor Welch's idea. "I'm the boredom-detector," he informs
the older man. "If only I could get hold of a millionaire ... he
Though Dixon has "given up his interest" in Christine, he still
could send me on ahead into dinners and cocktail-parties ...
wants to antagonize Bertrand. What follows is a humorous
and then by looking at me he'd be able to read off the
fight scene, with each man accidentally landing a single punch
boredom-coefficient of any gathering." "I recognize a fellow
and scrabbling on a carpet. Who will ultimately win the heart of
sufferer," Gore-Urquhart responds.
the delightful Christine?
Next Dixon sees Christine and Bertrand. She is friendly; he is
This fight is a British social caste revolution in miniature, pitting
hostile. Luckily, Carol Goldsmith leads Bertrand away, and
the lower-middle-class Dixon against the upper-middle-class
Christine and Dixon talk. He tells her he fought over (or for)
Bertrand. Both men are too removed from the world of
her, and he won. She is impressed but tries to hide it. When
physical labor to actually fight effectively, but Bertrand is
Bertrand reappears, he tells Dixon to start looking for another
literally softer, with less skin in the game, than Dixon. Dixon
job. At this worst possible moment, Margaret appears to
wants to rise; his anger and power have motivation. When
accuse Dixon of enjoying Christine's company. Just as the
Bertrand repeatedly tells him to "keep off the grass" that is
lecture is about to begin, Gore-Urquhart reappears, with a flask
Christine, it becomes practically a freedom fight.
"neat Scotch whisky." Dixon drinks.

Let us pause, as well, on the insult "Byronic tail-chaser." Lord

As Dixon walks to the lectern, he sees the hall is packed.
Byron (1788–1824) was a Romantic poet famous for his verse,
Students are in the balcony seats, and dignitaries and faculty
his larger-than-life persona—he wore capes and walked on the
and all of his nightmares are seated on the floor.
moors—and his circle of bohemian, opium-imbibing friends. In
other words, he was the progenitor of the "brooding artist"
stereotype. Dixon's insult, therefore, carries a special weight:
both he and Bertrand are sufficiently intelligent and aware to
know that Bertrand's "louche lover" persona is unoriginal and a

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 25

he is speaking as if he is the college principal. As Dixon

Analysis attempts not to laugh at the memory, he sees Christine and
Carol Goldsmith leaving the hall together. Dixon loses his place
The time for "Merrie England" has finally arrived. Dixon is very
in the lecture. Welch asks him, "What is the matter with you?"
drunk. What could possibly go wrong? One of Amis's great
writerly gifts is his ability to get all of his characters into a room He feels hot, then hotter. His hand shakes. Perhaps if he just
together, each with their own set of grievances and tics, and begins talking again this will go better. But no. Now he is
then let them interact. Once Dixon begins to lecture, the "contriving to sound like an unusually fanatical Nazi trooper in
reader will need to see the reaction of every single character in charge of a book-burning" but reading "excerpts from a
the room. For a writer, this is beyond a hat trick; it is the pamphlet written by a pacifist, Jewish, literate Communist." He
equivalent of a battle scene in a big budget action movie. The switches to an "unnamable foreign accent." The gallery is going
moving parts are complicated. crazy. Atkinson fakes his faint, Welch shouts Dixon's name, and
Dixon delivers his coup de grace. Stepping out in front of the
The lecture itself has a function in Lucky Jim. If Dixon
podium, he says, "The point about Merrie England is that it was
succeeds in delivering this talk, then he may not have a choice
about the most un-Merrie period in our history." Then he
in terms of staying at the college, continuing with Margaret,
passes out.
and settling into a Welch-like existence. However, if he fails at
the lecture, then his world may just open up—or the ground will
swallow him. One or the other.
Analysis
Dixon's character, though based on that of Philip Larkin, seems
to have quite a bit of Amis in him. In an article for the New York Amis's comic timing and precision are masterful. But the

Times, the writer Charles McGrath explains, "From childhood chapter is not pure comedy; it also drives the plot forward.

on, Kingsley also suffered from claustrophobia and panic Dixon has ruined his chance of further employment, Gore-

attacks. He never learned to drive and was afraid to fly or even Urquhart emerges as an interesting character, and Christine

to be alone at night." This notion might explain his brilliance at and Carol have a meeting of the minds.

writing about Dixon's social anxiety and his intense need to

The "Merrie England" lecture directly influenced many British
drink himself nearly unconscious before being able to step in
comedies, particularly the TV show Fawlty Towers, with John
front of such a large group of people.
Cleese as the incomparable Basil Fawlty. Dixon's anxiety-
based imitations also seem to have inspired nearly every too-
embarrassing-to-watch verbal slapstick routine in the decades
Chapter 22 since Lucky Jim's publication.

Summary Chapter 23
The "Merrie England" lecture is almost too insane to
summarize. It's like a comic nightmare. Dixon reaches the
stage, barely upright due to nerves and the insane amount of
Summary
drink in his body. The students in the balcony stamp their feet
Beesley and Dixon discuss how and why the "Merrie England"
and laugh before he even begins speaking—his black eye tips
lecture went so terribly wrong. They agree: it was the drink. As
them off this will be something special.
they walk together to the college, Dixon anticipates the many

Before he knows what he is doing, Dixon begins his lecture in a reasons Welch will not renew his contract: the speech,

perfect and involuntary imitation of Professor Welch's braying Bertrand, Margaret. Sure enough, Welch has left a note in his

voice. He sees Bill Atkinson, who has promised to fake a faint if mailbox, explaining "he would be unable to recommend Dixon's

things get too crazy during the lecture and Dixon needs to retention on the Staff."

escape. He hopes it won't come to that, though now he realizes

Wondering what to do with himself, Dixon plans to write to the

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Chapter Summaries 26

headmaster of his former school; he can teach history there. In New York Times Book Review in 1957, Amis referred to satire
the meantime, he peruses a journal on the table. It is from an as "fiction that attacks vice and folly as manifested in the
Italian historical society, but he recognizes the name of the individual," and said "the social climb and the economic rat-
author, L.S. Caton, and the content is his article. Yes, the editor race" are ripe for such takedowns. This is a wake-up call, as
of the journal he thought would publish his work plagiarized it. Amis practically begs serious readers to take humorous fiction
as literature. Lucky Jim means something more than its hero
He doesn't really care anymore. Instead, he decides to torture would want to admit. In a false and facile world,
Johns, the irritating oboist who, Dixon realizes, told the laughter—whether via drunken pratfall or recorder-inspired
Welches about his various wrongdoings, including that he'd pranking—is a life force, a necessity.
been seeing Christine. In retaliation, he burns insurance
policies he finds on Johns's desk.

Perhaps he'll still be able to see Christine. His hometown is Chapter 24

near hers; maybe they can see each other once a week or so,
at least during vacation.
Summary
As Dixon leaves the college for what will be the last time, he
remembers he's supposed to have lunch with Margaret's ex- It is finally time for lunch with Catchpole, who turns out to be a
boyfriend Catchpole. He heads back to his rooming house. nice-looking, innocuous young man. Immediately, he tells Dixon
Mrs. Cutler says a gentleman is calling him on the telephone, he wants to give him "the true facts of this business." Then he
and he asks her to take a message. The caller turns out to be asks a few general questions about Margaret, especially her
Julius Gore-Urquhart. state of mental and physical health. Dixon answers, noting he
and Margaret are in a relationship of sorts.
"Got the sack, have you?" he asks Dixon, going on to ask him
his plans. Dixon mentions "going in for schoolteaching." Gore- Catchpole talks bluntly. He and Margaret were never lovers.
Urquhart responds, shockingly, by offering him a job. "Five They were involved, but before they really got to know each
hundred a year. You'll have to start at once, on Monday. It'll other he realized she was "one of these people—they're usually
mean living in London. You accept?" women—who feed on emotional tension." He says he was
"perpetually being accused of hurting her, ignoring her, trying
Yes, it is the job Bertrand was so eager to get, as Gore-
to humiliate her." He asks if Dixon has also had such
Urquhart's personal secretary. It seems Dixon hasn't "got the
experiences with Margaret, and Dixon says he has.
qualifications" but he also hasn't got the "disqualifications ...
and that's much rarer." Dixon is overjoyed as he walks to meet Catchpole explains what happened on the day of Margaret's
Catchpole—until he remembers Bertrand might have lost the overdose. He was supposed to visit her that evening, but he
job but he still has Christine. couldn't face the thought. Dixon recalls he also promised to
visit Margaret that night. As the two men talk, they realize
Margaret bought sleeping pills with both of them. That means
Analysis she had two full bottles and wanted both men to show up after
she'd taken her overdose. "I knew she was neurotic, but not as
The job with Gore-Urquhart is truly a bolt from the blue for neurotic as that," Catchpole says. They both decide Margaret
Dixon. Finally, someone recognizes he is good for something: probably did not really overdose, or she intentionally took less
calling out the insincerity and hypocrisy of others. The 1960s than a fatal dose of pills.
are on their way, and Kingsley Amis, of all people, has
predicted the freedoms massing in the wings. Hypocrisy, Dixon returns to his lodgings in a daze. Atkinson greets him
phoniness, the vision and ethos of "Merrie England" will finally and says his "poopsy"—by whom he means Christine—just
be in the past. Dixon doesn't have to return home, the failed called. Her train to London leaves at 1:50, and Dixon will have
prodigal son. He will go to London, the Promised Land. to meet her at the station if he wants to see her again. The
station is near Welch's house, and Dixon has about half an hour
In an essay called "Laughter's to Be Taken Seriously" for the to catch the bus and make it there.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Quotes 27

What follows is pure comic torture: Dixon narrowly catches the rationing. No Brit has eaten real butter or eggs in almost a
bus by running in a "frenzied, lung-igniting sprint." He feels he decade. Nice things, real things, not "quasi velvet" or fake
must see Christine. This is his chance to tell her he doesn't medieval handicrafts, are ... nice.
want to be with Margaret. His obligation to her is now in the
past. He decides, "It was all very bad luck on Margaret," and
probably stemmed from her "anterior bad luck of being Chapter 25
sexually unattractive." Dixon realizes he's lucky Catchpole
showed up when he did.

Meanwhile, the bus seems to crawl along. Old women board as

Summary
slowly as possible, a lorry (truck) blocks its way for some
Suddenly Dixon, the perpetual pessimist, is as light as
minutes, and a tractor appears. Dixon is in a frenzy, thinking he
Voltaire's Candide, the simple fool in the best of all possible
might have to "run downstairs and knife the drivers of both
worlds. Christine is "finished" with Bertrand. Carol Goldsmith
vehicles; what next? What next?" The railway station is now
told Christine about their affair, which means Christine can
visible; he has three minutes. Finally running off the bus, Dixon
break with Bertrand in good conscience. She is thrilled to hear
demands a ticket, only to be told by the station master that the
Dixon will be living in London. As he and Christine head off to
next train is at 8:17, six hours from now. He must have got the
lunch, he thinks, "What a pity it was that all his faces were
time wrong. As Dixon stands in the shade, bemoaning his lost
designed to express rage or loathing." In a final moment of
chance with Christine, he sees a car wheeze up. It stops with a
reckoning, they run into the entire Welch clan—including the
"spine-tingling snort of cogs," and a "tallish blonde girl" with
heretofore-unseen younger son Michel—exiting a teashop.
suitcases gets out. The Welch vehicle! Christine!
Mrs. Welch looks at Dixon with a face of "imminent vomiting."
Dixon cannot stop laughing. Christine pulls his arm, and they

Analysis walk away.

Poor Margaret. She has the worst fate of all the wrongdoers in
Dixon's pantheon. Welch has his job and his family; he's happy
Analysis
playing his recorders and acting a fool. Michie's trousers are
The finale proves extremely satisfying. Dixon gets everything
elegant, and he will surely achieve academic success. Johns
he's wanted—for now, at least. Who knows if he'll be able to
will fade into the woodwork whence he came. Margaret,
hang onto it? Will he and Christine have a romance? Will they
however, is not only "unattractive" but also "neurotic," a faker
marry? Will he like the poshest neighborhood, Knightsbridge,
of suicide attempts, sexually unavailable, a bad dresser, and a
or settle for artier Chelsea? Will he be able to keep his drinking
hysteric. Her fate, Amis implies, will be spinsterhood and a long
under control and hold on to his new job? The reader will never
decline. From a contemporary perspective, it is difficult not to
know, but that's okay. It's enough that "Lucky" Jim Dixon
wonder why Margaret is the way she is. What happened to her
laughs openly at the Welches and walks off into town with
along the way? It also seems deeply unfair to compare her to
Christine.
Christine, who is younger, has more money, and has an easy
job at a London bookshop. Margaret has to teach at the
college. She's ambitious and intelligent, and she has the
spectacles to prove it. g Quotes
In contrast, the scene of Dixon running for the bus and then
waiting for it to finally reach the train station is yet another "No other professor in Great
brilliant comic set piece. Amis's writing is fresh, and Dixon is
sympathetic in his sweaty eagerness and despair. The phrase Britain, he thought, set such store
"there was no end to the ways in which nice things are nicer by being called Professor."
than nasty ones" is almost enough to be a life philosophy,
especially in postwar England. They've just had years of

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Quotes 28

— Narrator, Chapter 1 Dixon is responding to Bertrand Welch's hypocritical opinion

about how the rich should not be "soaked" for their money. It's
not surprising Bertrand would feel this way given that he is
With this thought, Dixon establishes his contempt for Welch
wealthy; nor is it surprising Dixon would oppose him since
and his pretentions.
Dixon (a) is far from wealthy and (b) despises everything
Bertrand stands for.

"Although he wasn't allowed to

smoke another cigarette until five "His face was heavy, as if little
o'clock, Dixon lit one now." bags of sand had been painlessly
sewn into ... it."
— Narrator, Chapter 1

— Narrator, Chapter 5
Dixon cannot smoke as much as he wants for financial
reasons. It is one of the many ways in which he feels
This description appears in the middle of a multipage tour de
oppressed and frustrated.
force about Dixon's drunkenness. It's hardly rare for him to be
in this condition, but this particular episode is worse than usual.

"The tinkle of tiny silver bells."

"His mouth had been used as a
— Narrator, Chapter 2
latrine by some small creature of
Dixon hears this sound when Margaret—or sometimes another the night."
woman—is laughing to fake happiness or normalcy. He detests
it as he detests any type of pretension or phoniness. — Narrator, Chapter 6

Another excerpt from the best description of a hangover in the

"Haven't you noticed how we all history of English literature: It's clear Amis knows whereof he
specialize in what we hate most?" speaks; like Dixon, his protagonist, the author was a heavy
drinker and no doubt suffered many a hangover.

— James Dixon, Chapter 3

"The apparent deliquescence of

Dixon is talking to Beesley about their chosen professions,
which they both despise. He feels they have doomed the bowel that recognition brought
themselves to lives of misery and dissatisfaction.
on was only momentary."

— Narrator, Chapter 9
"If one man's got ten buns and
another's got two ... then ... take it Dixon experiences intense anxiety when he picks up the phone
from the man with ten buns." and hears Christine calling from London. He generally dislikes
the phone and is particularly unnerved to talk to Christine since
he has a crush on her but thinks she is out of his league.
— James Dixon, Chapter 4

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Quotes 29

Dixon is reflecting on the difference between Margaret and

"What messes these women got
Christine. The former is less attractive, which is a matter of
themselves into over nothing." luck. This idea reflects the British class system: people never
escape the situation they were born into; they are either "lucky"
— Narrator, Chapter 11 or not.

Dixon thinks women's "messes" are caused by their foolish

desire for relationships and marriage. Men, on the other hand,
"To write things down as luck
focus on "real and simple needs"—that is, sex. This idea neatly wasn't the same as writing them
sums up Amis's vision of the Battle of the Sexes, circa 1953.
off as nonexistent."

"Your attitude measures up to the — Narrator, Chapter 24

two requirements of love."

Dixon has decided Christine's "normal" character is, to some
extent, a result of her good looks. This belief may be Dixon's
— Carol Goldsmith, Chapter 12
key philosophy: prettier people are happier than less pretty
people. People are stuck in their assigned roles forever.
Carol Goldsmith tells Dixon he must be in love with Christine However, Dixon himself is about to transcend his own assigned
Callaghan based on Carol's criteria: "You want to go to bed role, thanks to luck.
with her and can't, and you don't know her very well." This
cynical idea of love seems shocking in the 1950s milieu. A
contemporary reader might define this as being in "lust" rather "There was no end to the ways in
than love.
which nice things are nicer than
nasty ones."
"She was wearing the green
Paisley frock and the quasi-velvet — Narrator, Chapter 24

shoes."
As Dixon realizes he may be able to date the lovely and
simpatico Christine (a "nice thing") rather than neurotic
— Narrator, Chapter 16
Margaret (a "nasty one"), he considers how luck has saved him
from a terrible fate with the wrong woman.
Dixon repeatedly worries over Margaret Peel's clothing, which
tends toward the tacky, false, and unflattering and represents
the worst of her fanciful self-representation. This particular "Dixon drew in breath to denounce
ensemble appears several times. What is "quasi-velvet"? It is
Amis's invention, brilliantly summing up the mystery of female
[the Welches], then blew it all out
presentation and middle-class hypocrisy. Christine Callaghan again in a howl of laughter."
would never wear "quasi" anything.

— Narrator, Chapter 25

"It was luck you needed all along."

Finally, Dixon is laughing in the Welches' faces rather than
behind their backs. In Lucky Jim laughter is the only way out of
— Narrator, Chapter 19

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Symbols 30

depression and frustration. However, until now Dixon has been

too worried about his job to laugh openly at Professor Welch "Merrie England"
and company. Now he is going to London with Christine. He is
free.
"Merrie England" is the topic of Dixon's year-end lecture.
Supposedly "Merrie England" represents the romance of
Britain's past and history. However, to Dixon and his fellow
l Symbols realists, Alfred Beesley and Julius Gore-Urquhart, it was the
worst of times, when plague and filth were rendered even more
unbearable by the multitudes of citizens singing madrigals,

Alcohol playing recorders, and doing handicrafts. Representing all

Dixon hates about the college and Professor Welch, Merrie
England comes to symbolize hypocrisy, boredom, and false
conventions.
Alcohol and intoxication are both symbol and subject of much
of Lucky Jim. Amis's lavish descriptions of Dixon's drunkenness The question of fantasy versus reality is one of Amis's ongoing
and its aftereffects are more deliciously rendered than the preoccupations throughout Lucky Jim. Merrie England is a
protagonist's human love interests. Drunkenness—how to fantasy. In reality it never existed. Medieval England was, like
achieve it, maintain it, and recover from it—is Dixon's chief Dixon's current situation, a place of indentured servitude to an
preoccupation. For Dixon, alcohol signifies the opposite of idea. In that case the bond was excused by Christianity and
restraint. It is an escape, a release, a literal and figurative loyalty to the monarchy. In the world of the novel, Dixon's
abandonment of his responsibilities and obligations. loyalty is maintained by the promise of a "real" job (a
heavenlike fantasy), as well as his willingness to submit to the
The major scenes in which alcohol play a key role include hierarchy of the academic system.
Dixon's drunkenness at the Welches' house party. He sneaks
off to the pub, returns to their house, and proceeds to make an
unsuccessful sexual overture to Margaret. Then, during a
blackout, he burns his sheets, blanket, the rug by his bed, and London
even the bedside table. Waking up with the worst hangover in
history, he cannot imagine how he destroyed so much. His
drunkenness in this case allows him to exercise his true
Dixon thinks of London as the Promised Land. Though it's only
resentment of the prevailing sexual and behavioral mores—as
a train ride away, the city seems unattainable to him. People
well as his dislike of the Welch family. Alcohol is a weapon for
with money, with family money, with better looks, better
him here, but it also comes to symbolize his freedom. The more
fabrics, better bodies, better lives—these people are "London"
he drinks the less responsible he is for his own commitments
to him. London also represents sex. Christine Callaghan lives
and societal constraints.
there, along with various women Bertrand Welch presumably
beds without any sense of guilt or responsibility.
The next major occasion of Dixon's inebriation is when he
gives his "Merrie England" speech. By the time he reaches the
Cities often represent freedom or debauchery. InLucky
lectern he is almost literally legless. Unable to control his
JimLondon is almost more the former than the latter. Dixon
speech or diction, he imitates Welch and then the president of
sometimes recalls one afternoon he spent in London, on leave
the college. In this way he effectively tenders his own
during the war. He didn't do anything exotic—ate in a café, felt
resignation. Here alcohol again symbolizes truth, honesty, and
deliciously anonymous. He longs for all of London's freedoms,
a means of escape.
and one of those is being a small cog in a big machine.

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Themes 31

belief. Their overt sentimentality leads Dixon to drink. Their

m Themes standard cruelty and intolerance only confirms Dixon's idea:
sentimentality for the past masks a deep displeasure in the
world as it is.

Class Hypocrisy
Relations between the Sexes
The hypocrisy of social class is Lucky Jim's major theme. Amis
was obsessed with the ridiculousness of social propriety,
especially in 1950s England. The British class tradition dictated
Lucky Jim is a novel about sex containing no sex. Everyone
behavior almost from birth: a shopkeeper's son kept a shop
talks about "sexual intercourse" or "sexual attraction," but they
and married a shopkeeper's daughter. Amis began by
rarely progress past a chaste kiss. When Dixon attempts to
transcending his own lower-middle-class origins. From there
bed Margaret, she is infuriated and kicks him out of her room.
he could see the ridiculous notions holding people trapped in
Supposedly her previous boyfriend, Catchpole, pulled a "love
their own specified worlds.
'em and leave 'em" on her, triggering her suicide attempt.
However, Catchpole later tells Dixon he and Margaret never
As James Dixon struggles with his own destiny, he repeatedly
slept together.
realizes his lack of family money affects his ability to move out
of his boring and boorish occupation at the college. He finds
The only character who seems to be having sex is Bertrand
the Welches' obsession with "art" and "music" hypocritical.
Welch, in his love affair with Carol Goldsmith. However, he
Their ideas of such things are squarely provincial; they like only
treats Carol as a mere sex object—infuriating her in the
what they can understand: madrigals, realistic painting, and
process—while claiming he will marry the pure Christine.
tradition.
England in the 1950s was—like the United States—gripped by
Dixon responds to his own frustrations by making hideous
the idea of sexual purity, although this idea made little sense
faces behind the backs of those he hates, playing ridiculous
following the brutality and freedoms of World War II. During the
pranks, and becoming wildly and inappropriately drunk at
war women finally were allowed to pursue careers outside
social gatherings. When he finally breaks free of the college, he
hearth and home. Naturally they also enjoyed a measure of
dreams of a London where he can stretch and figure out his
sexual freedom. Men in the armed services also had affairs and
own desires: for sex, love, and engagement with the world.
sexual entanglements. Still, homosexuality remained illegal in
England during this period, and premarital sex was not for
"nice" people.

The Sentimentality of Tradition Amis is frank in his portrayal of Dixon's sexual desires as well
as Margaret and Christine's need to maintain their chastity.
Amis, a man of his time, does not give readers any hint of
"Merrie England" is the title of Dixon's lecture—a lecture that Margaret's or Christine's own sexual desires and preferences,
leads to his doom at the college. Dixon ends his presentation nor does he link Margaret's supposed neurosis and hysteria to
by declaring the Middle Ages the most "un-Merrie period" in the pressure of maintaining her "virtue."
British history. He asks himself whether people have ever been
as "nasty, as self-indulgent, as dull, as miserable, as cocksure,
as bad at art" or as downright "wrong" as in that period. Why
sentimentalize the moment when England was decimated in e Suggested Reading
the Black Death while everyone frisked around playing
recorders? Yet Dixon feels constantly bombarded by the Amis, Martin. Experience. Vintage, 2001.
misconception that there once was an England of simple
pleasures and rustic charm. The Welches embody this absurd "Amis and Larkin: Hate in a Cold Climate." New Statesman, 3

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Lucky Jim Study Guide Themes 32

Oct. 2012.

Hitchens, Christopher. "The Man of Feeling." The Atlantic,

Atlantic Media Company, 1 May 2002.

Larkin, Philip, and Archie Burnett. The Complete Poems. Farrar,

2013.

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