Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Beast in the Jungle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate and Failure
Understanding and Connection
Love and Loss
Courage vs. Cowardice
Summary
Analysis
John Marcher arrives at a grand estate for lunch. He’s there with a group of friends, one he easily blends into. After eating lunch, the group disperses around the estate (called Weatherend), in order to view the antiques on display. Marcher watches his friends admire their surroundings and imagines that some of them hope to acquire the estate’s objects or the estate itself, since their behavior is similar to the behavior of potential buyers before a sale. But unlike his friends, Marcher is overwhelmed by so much history and art. He separates from the group, not to gawk at objects but just to get away.
This passage establishes John Marcher as an isolated character. Even when he’s with his friends, he’s part of the crowd rather than an active member of the group, and he seems to immediately want to get away from everyone. In fact, he apparently dislikes his friends’ motivations for visiting Weatherend and considers himself different from them. But Marcher presumably came to Weatherend to socialize, so his desire to escape is confusing, and his motivations are paradoxical: Marcher wants to isolate himself from others, but at the same time, he chooses to blend in with those around him. This tension will recur throughout the novella as Marcher’s reasons for isolating himself become clearer.
Themes
Literary Devices
Marcher’s separation from his friends leads him to encounter May Bartram. While the group ate lunch earlier in the day, May’s presence had begun to bother Marcher in a pleasant way, because he vaguely recognized her from somewhere and saw her presence as a “continuation” of something that must have begun earlier. Marcher could tell that May recognized him, too, but she wouldn’t give any sign of recognition unless he approached her first. Marcher now thinks that their first meeting, whenever it happened, must have been unimportant, but it made an impression on him. He assumes that May is a dependent in the estate, possibly a poor relative of the owner. It might be that she works as a guide for her keep.
Once again, Marcher’s motivations are contradictory. On the one hand, he believes he’s different from those around him and avoids socializing with the people he considers his friends. On the other, he’s excited by the idea that he met May at some point in the past, which suggests that he does crave connection from others. Marcher seems to be a keen observer of human nature, and he immediately guesses May’s social position and her feelings toward him. This suggests that Marcher’s isolation isn’t the result of an inability to pick up on social cues—in fact, his ability to read people’s responses to him seems cultivated, perhaps a skill he has honed as part of his insistence on feeling separate from others. This passage also establishes that Marcher is in a higher social class than May, since he’s a guest at Weatherend and she’s only a dependent of the estate.
Themes
Literary Devices
Now, May approaches Marcher. She’s a good-looking woman, but Marcher’s two guesses about her were correct, as she is a dependent in the house and she does remember him. The two of them come face-to-face in an empty room, almost as though they planned to meet there. It’s a lucky encounter, since there are few empty rooms in the house. As May approaches Marcher, he can tell that she’s willing to act like he’s any other guest and guide him around as her job requires. But the moment she speaks, Marcher recognizes her. He tells her that he remembers meeting her in Rome years ago, and she’s surprised that he remembers.
May and Marcher’s encounter here seems to have been fated to happen, since unlikely circumstances made it possible, including Marcher’s presence at Weatherend and the absence of his friends in this particular room. This is the novella’s first hint that fate plays a role in Marcher’s life—and in meeting May. This passage also suggests that whatever May’s interaction with Marcher was years ago, it was more significant than Marcher initially assumed—otherwise, May would casually bring up the fact that they’ve met before. Her grave attitude toward Marcher and her willingness to act like she doesn’t remember him suggests that they shared some unique experience.
Themes
Literary Devices
To Marcher’s amusement, May tells him that he got the details of their meeting wrong: they met in Naples almost 10 years ago, she was with different relatives than he remembered, he was with a different set of friends, and the thunderstorm he claims to recall happened in a different location. Marcher is delighted by her corrections, even though they’re at his expense. But once she’s finished, he’s disappointed that they don’t have much left to say to each other. They shared their whole history in moments, and the past (which happened when May was 20 and Marcher was 25) doesn’t provide much fodder for conversation.
Again, May and Marcher’s first meeting in Naples must have been significant, since May remembers even small details about it. The fact that Marcher doesn’t remember these details seems out-of-character, because even though Marcher doesn’t seem to care much about other people, he does observe people and situations carefully. The fact that Marcher doesn’t remember any of the circumstances of his trip, including who he was with, suggests that most parts of his life aren’t worth remembering in his estimation—and yet he does remember May. The novella seems to suggest that whatever this Naples encounter was, it was out of the ordinary for Marcher. Marcher’s contradictory desires recur here, because he seems to want to connect with May on a deeper level than just small talk, even though he’s shown little interest in connecting with anyone.
Themes
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Marcher wishes that their history had been more exciting—he could have rescued May from a boat accident or robbery or maybe helped her through illness. Their current encounter is a boring one, but they drag it out, verbally questioning why they haven’t encountered each other since. Neither one of them wants to admit that their reunion is a “failure” in terms of excitement, and Marcher is saddened—he can’t pretend this situation is more interesting than it is, and he can’t pretend May is an old friend, since they barely know each other. That said, he wishes she were an old friend, since he mostly has new ones, like the ones currently at Weatherend. If he were a new friend of May’s, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed her.
Marcher’s suggestion that he wouldn’t recognize May as a new friend might be a reference to her lower social status, but it’s more likely that all of Marcher’s friends are indistinct to him, since he isolates himself from them. The fact that Marcher wants an old friend suggests that he wants to connect with someone on a deeper level than he has connected with his current friends. Strangely, he doesn’t seem to think this deeper connection is something he and May can work toward together; he needs to have a past connection with May in order to feel connected to her now. This suggests that Marcher doesn’t feel that he has the ability to connect with someone in the present, which is a strange sense of powerlessness for someone in his social position. Indeed, Marcher doesn’t seem to feel that he has control over his circumstances at all, an idea that will recur throughout the novella. Finally, Marcher’s belief that his encounter with May would be a “failure” if it’s not exciting suggests that he thinks his life has to be thrilling to be successful.
Themes
Literary Devices
Marcher wants to pretend that he and May have a romantic, exciting past, and he’s about to invent a fake memory to share with her. But May speaks first, and Marcher can tell she’s been holding back saying something that would change the nature of their encounter and make it exciting. She says that during a boat ride in Sorrento, Marcher told her something that she thinks of often; she wonders if he remembers what it was. Marcher doesn’t, and he can tell that she’s not referring to a romantic encounter or proposal. He says that he remembers Sorrento, but not what he said.
Again, Marcher doesn’t want to connect with people in the present, so he’s willing to pretend that he and May have a shared history in order to feel connected to her. Marcher isn’t willing to put work into building a relationship with someone, but he’s desperate to feel close to May, which begs the question of why he’s isolated himself from his friends—clearly, this isolation is unsatisfying. This passage confirms that the encounter between Marcher and May was out of the ordinary. Moreover, it wasn’t out of the ordinary in a normal way—for instance, a romantic encounter would be out of the ordinary but within normal social bounds, while this seems to be on another level. Marcher’s immediate dismissal of a romantic past with May hints that their relationship will be a platonic one, which becomes significant later on.
Themes
May says that she doesn’t think that Marcher does remember Sorrento, and she wavers on enlightening him—if Marcher changed over the course of 10 years and has forgotten the person he was, that might be for the best. But Marcher says that if May hasn’t forgotten who Marcher was, he shouldn’t get to, either. He wants to know what he said rather than live in ignorance. Besides, maybe he’s still the “ass” he used to be. But May argues that if Marcher were the same person, he’d remember their encounter. Still, she doesn’t think he was an “ass.” She then tells him that the thing he told her was about himself, and when he just stares, she asks whether “it” has ever happened.
This passage suggests that Marcher is someone who would rather know painful truths than live in comfortable ignorance. He will maintain this trait throughout the novella, and at the moment, it seems like a kind of bravery: Marcher is willing to hear negative things about his past self, even though he might not like what he hears. Marcher also seems like someone who’s willing to share May’s burden here—he claims to want to know the truth about their encounter primarily because she’s had to know it all along. However, this doesn’t quite ring true, and it seems more likely that Marcher is just trying to convince May to share her story so they can have an exciting encounter. Throughout the novella, Marcher will continue to claim that he’s selfless while acting selfishly, demonstrating his own lack of self-awareness. In contrast, May seems genuinely selfless here, as she clearly wants to spare Marcher from any painful reminders of his past.
Themes
Picking up on what May is referring to, Marcher is shocked that he told her about it. She says that what he told her is the reason she never forgot him, and she again asks if the thing he talked about has ever happened. After getting over his shock, he finds that he’s happy—she’s the only person who knows his secret, and she’s apparently known for years, although he forgot that he told her. He tells her she’s the only person who knows, and she reassures him that she’s never repeated his secret and never will. She’s so genuine that he’s not worried she’ll make fun of him. She’s clearly sympathetic, and he’s never felt sympathy from anyone.
Marcher is getting exactly what he wants in this passage: May apparently already knows his greatest secret, which means he doesn’t have to share anything with her in order for her to understand him on a deep level. Again, Marcher clearly wants to be understood by others but, for whatever reason, feels like he can’t be. Because Marcher has only ever told May his secret, it’s strange that he doesn’t remember their Naples encounter. Readers begin to get the sense that Marcher is not only isolated but also emotionally repressed, as he avoids any genuine encounters with others (hence why no one has sympathized with him before). It’s possible that he repressed his encounter with May because he regretted sharing his secret at the time. The fact that he doesn’t seem to regret it now suggests, perhaps, that he’s lonelier than he once was—again hinting that his self-imposed isolation isn’t what he really wants.
Themes
May asks if Marcher still feels the way he felt 10 years ago. He can’t get over the fact that she knows—he’s felt alone for years, but apparently he wasn’t alone. In fact, she’s been alone, since she kept his secret and took him seriously. Meanwhile, he repaid her by forgetting their meeting. He asks exactly what he said in Sorrento, and she says he told her that from an early age, he’d felt destined for some great, maybe terrible fate. Even back then, she felt that she understood what he meant, a thought that makes him happy.
Marcher claims to have always felt alone, but the only person who knows his secret understood it immediately (even though it’s quite an odd thing to say). It’s possible that May is just unique, but it’s also possible that others are equally capable of understanding Marcher—he’s just never put them to the test by sharing his secret. This passage confirms that fate plays a role in Marcher’s life, or at least that he believes that it does. Marcher’s secret sounds a little nonsensical, but because May takes it so seriously, readers are asked to as well. Finally, this passage establishes that Marcher and May are on unequal footing in their newly-established relationship: already, she’s done something for him (kept his secret) and he’s done nothing for her.
Themes
Literary Devices
May assumes that Marcher’s reaction means that his fate hasn’t happened yet, and he confirms that it hasn’t. He tells her that it’s not going to be a great achievement, and it won’t necessarily be bad, either. However, it will alter his life and change him fundamentally. May wonders whether the event he describes might be falling in love—that’s her immediate instinct, though she didn’t bring it up in Sorrento. But while Marcher has had the same thought, he dismisses the possibility, because he’s been in love and it wasn’t life-changing. May says that, in that case, he wasn’t really in love, but Marcher believes that he was. His affair was “pleasant” and sometimes “miserable,” but not strange and unusual, as he believes his fate will be.
This passage introduces Marcher and May’s ideas about what love is, which play important roles in the novella. Their ideas about love are diametrically opposed: Marcher thinks that love isn’t significant or unusual enough to be his fate, while May thinks that love is dramatic and life-altering, as Marcher believes that his fate will be. While Marcher claims to have been in love before, it’s not clear whether May’s definition of love comes from experience or whether she’s just guessing at what love would feel like for her. The novella will continue to explore what love actually is, since Marcher and May don’t come to a consensus here, and it's not clear which one of them is correct (or whether either of them are).
Themes
May wonders if Marcher wants a unique fate that no one else has had, but Marcher argues that it doesn’t matter what he wants; he’s haunted by the “apprehension” of his fate no matter what. It’s not necessarily going to be violent, and in fact, it will appear natural to him. It’ll seem strange to outsiders like May, though, since she now knows his secret.
May’s observation that Marcher seems to want a unique fate explains why he’s isolated himself from everyone else: clearly, Marcher thinks that he’s different from other people and that they would find his fate “strange.” Marcher’s isolation is therefore at least partly a product of his egotism—he can’t connect with others because he thinks he’s better than or at least different from them (something the novella hinted at earlier as Marcher observed his friends’ admiration of the antiques). This passage also confirms that Marcher doesn’t think he has any control over his circumstances. All he can do is anticipate his fate, and his desires don’t factor into what it’ll be.
Themes
Literary Devices
Marcher invites May to “watch” for his fate alongside him, and she asks twice if he’s afraid. He doesn’t answer and instead asks if she thinks he’s insane, but she says that she understands him and believes him. She asks for a third time if he’s afraid, and he wonders if he claimed to be afraid in Naples. She says that he didn’t, and he responds that in that case, he doesn’t know if he’s afraid yet. She can observe him and tell him if he’s afraid while she waits with him. The two of them start to leave the room, and May agrees to watch for Marcher’s fate with him.
The fact that Marcher doesn’t know whether or not he’s afraid of his fate suggests that his definition of courage might be different from other people’s. Clearly, to Marcher, courage is not about confronting his fears, because he doesn’t even know whether or not he’s afraid. At the same time, the fact that he doesn’t know his own feelings about his fate is further proof that Marcher has repressed his emotions. This passage also establishes a tension between Marcher’s egotism and his desire to be understood by May. Marcher thinks his fate is unique, but he wants May to wait for that fate with him, which would make his fate partly hers as well.
Themes
