JIM Dixon; An Isolated Character in Search of a True Identity

Lucky Jim, an English Campus Novel written by Kingsley Amis, can present a working sphere where there are harsh competitive relationships among the academics. In the novel, the academics cruel rivalry can be seen as influential in their moral corruption. In this academic circle, Jim Dixon, an inexperienced history lecturer, presents a free willed, relaxed character as quite contrary to the academic principles of the Post War England. In this essay, unlike disregarding of such individuality by the contemporary academics, it is stressed that Dixon can overcome the difficulties in his new working place thanks to his distinguishing characteristics, and his sincerity facilitates him in the quest for happiness. This article intends to question the weakness of academics perceptions of the real-life concepts such as joy, love, friendship. However, unlike the other characters, Jim Dixon makes the reader think that peoples own perception of life and their self-determination can only lead to bare happiness in their life. Even though the experiences and self-development of Jim Dixon are presented in a modernist approach this essay primarily aims at showing the postmodernist and poststructuralist features in the way that Dixon could possess during the whole novel.