Lucky Jim | Quotes

With this thought, Dixon establishes his contempt for Welch and his pretentions.

Dixon cannot smoke as much as he wants for financial reasons. It is one of the many ways in which he feels oppressed and frustrated.

Dixon hears this sound when Margaret—or sometimes another woman—is laughing to fake happiness or normalcy. He detests it as he detests any type of pretension or phoniness.

Dixon is talking to Beesley about their chosen professions, which they both despise. He feels they have doomed themselves to lives of misery and dissatisfaction.

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 wealthy; nor is it surprising Dixon would oppose him since Dixon (a) is far from wealthy and (b) despises everything Bertrand stands for.

This description appears in the middle of a multipage tour de force about Dixon's drunkenness. It's hardly rare for him to be in this condition, but this particular episode is worse than usual.

Another excerpt from the best description of a hangover in the history of English literature: It's clear Amis knows whereof he speaks; like Dixon, his protagonist, the author was a heavy drinker and no doubt suffered many a hangover.

Dixon experiences intense anxiety when he picks up the phone 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.

Dixon thinks women's "messes" are caused by their foolish desire for relationships and marriage. Men, on the other hand, focus on "real and simple needs"—that is, sex. This idea neatly sums up Amis's vision of the Battle of the Sexes, circa 1953.

Carol Goldsmith tells Dixon he must be in love with Christine Callaghan based on Carol's criteria: "You want to go to bed 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 than love.

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 ensemble appears several times. What is "quasi-velvet"? It is Amis's invention, brilliantly summing up the mystery of female presentation and middle-class hypocrisy. Christine Callaghan would never wear "quasi" anything.

Dixon is reflecting on the difference between Margaret and Christine. The former is less attractive, which is a matter of luck. This idea reflects the British class system: people never escape the situation they were born into; they are either "lucky" or not.

Dixon has decided Christine's "normal" character is, to some extent, a result of her good looks. This belief may be Dixon's key philosophy: prettier people are happier than less pretty people. People are stuck in their assigned roles forever. However, Dixon himself is about to transcend his own assigned role, thanks to luck.

As Dixon realizes he may be able to date the lovely and simpatico Christine (a "nice thing") rather than neurotic Margaret (a "nasty one"), he considers how luck has saved him from a terrible fate with the wrong woman.

Finally, Dixon is laughing in the Welches' faces rather than behind their backs. In Lucky Jim laughter is the only way out of depression and frustration. However, until now Dixon has been too worried about his job to laugh openly at Professor Welch and company. Now he is going to London with Christine. He is free.