Collins
A fellow seaman whose insult forces Jim to confront a label he has avoided.
Ordinary shipboard companionship that follows conventional heterosexual expectations.
The book
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeCollins works beside Jim during his early life at sea.
He expects masculine camaraderie to include successful dates with women.
His reaction to Jim’s failed encounter gives Jim an unwelcome social category.
How the book draws them
- PracticalHe belongs to the working life Jim briefly enters.
- ConventionalHe assumes the double date should be simple proof of masculinity.
- BluntHe names what Jim is avoiding through an insult.
- CatalyticHis small role helps push Jim away from sea life.
Jim leaves rather than confront Collins or the label.
The character’s importance lies in the question he forces, not in a later resolution.
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