The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James

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Point of View as a Narrative Device in “The Beast in the Jungle”
In Henry James’ short story, “The Beast in the Jungle”, the third person narrative is used as a literary device and therefore, the narrator does not play a role in the events of the story. Considering the fact that this is a story about a man’s self-absorption, it is interesting that this form of narration was used; typically, in order to completely capture a narrator’s self-interest first-person would be the narrative choice. Instead, James’ choice of the third person narrative is an advantage with respect to the theme of the story: a life that is not fully realized. The process by which the reader comes to understand the character of Marcher in an objective manner parallels the need of the main character to seek self-discovery by looking outside of himself. This paper will analyze James’ use of point of view in the story by applying it to the description of the first meeting between Marcher and May, and examining how this literary device is used to help the reader understand the characters and their strengths and shortcomings from the beginning of the story.
The story begins with a suggestion of a seasonal setting; the party at which Marcher and May meet takes place at a manor called Weatherend, and the two characters are named for months, one of which is cold and dreary and the other is bright and lively. Even though James chose to write in the third person narrative, the person telling the story stays relatively detached from the characters usually, the third person point of view becomes an all-knowing one, but in “The Beast in the Jungle”, there is a distance from the characters that contradicts the typical effect of this narrative device. For example, d...

... middle of paper ...

...characters as well as narrative perspectives that dispense with the comforting security of a single unified voice that delivers one accurate interpretation (Ghani and Akram) This leaves the reader with the ability to fill in the details of the story because of the open-ended nature through which it has been written, using the third person point of view.

Works Cited

Bobe, Diandra. "Re-Defining Meaning in Henry James' "The Beast in the Jungle"." 2003. Bryn
Mawr.edu. Web. 7 December 2013.

Ghani, Mamuna and Radia Akram. “Henry James and the Pursuit of Consciousness: a Psycho
Stylistic Study of the Beast in the Jungle." June 2011. Pakistani Journal of Social
Sciences. Web. 7 December 2013.

James, Henry. “The Beast in the Jungle.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed.
Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print

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