The Cost of Being Known

The Beast in the Jungle

This flow traces how May’s knowledge comforts Marcher, obscures her own needs, and ultimately leaves him with an intimacy he cannot publicly claim.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Only One Who Knows The Only One Who Knows from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Only One Who Knows A Private Witness Marcher discovers that May alone remembers his confidence about the event he expects.

The Only One Who Knows from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Only One Who Knows A Private Witness Marcher discovers that May alone remembers his confidence about the event he expects.

The Only One Who Knows A Private Witness Marcher discovers that May alone remembers his confidence about the event he expects. He feels that his lifelong isolation has suddenly ended because one person understands the secret. May confirms that she has never betrayed his trust. Their private knowledge gives their connection a closeness unavailable in his other relationships. Comfort With a Cost Marcher welcomes the comfort without understanding the personal commitment behind it. May’s role as the keeper of his secret conceals her own longing.

A Bond Named by Habit A Bond Named by Habit from "The Beast in the Jungle". A Bond Named by Habit An Ordinary Appearance Marcher and May become so familiar that their friendship looks like a routine social attachment.

A Bond Named by Habit from "The Beast in the Jungle". A Bond Named by Habit An Ordinary Appearance Marcher and May become so familiar that their friendship looks like a routine social attachment.

A Bond Named by Habit An Ordinary Appearance Marcher and May become so familiar that their friendship looks like a routine social attachment. Their private references to the real truth remain hidden behind ordinary visits and conversation. The habit protects them from public scrutiny. It also lets Marcher treat an exceptional emotional bond as something that requires no decision. May’s Hidden Self May’s actions express a devotion she cannot state plainly. Marcher recognizes her kindness but fails to see the full life she has placed within the relationship.

The Unclaimed Intimacy The Unclaimed Intimacy from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Unclaimed Intimacy A Private Loss in Public Marcher attends May’s funeral but finds that others have stronger recognized claims to her.

The Unclaimed Intimacy from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Unclaimed Intimacy A Private Loss in Public Marcher attends May’s funeral but finds that others have stronger recognized claims to her.

The Unclaimed Intimacy A Private Loss in Public Marcher attends May’s funeral but finds that others have stronger recognized claims to her. The closeness that shaped his private life does not give him a clear social place. He experiences the mismatch as a bewildering deprivation. Their relationship was indispensable to him, yet it was never established in a form that others could acknowledge. Silence After Death Marcher cannot explain the secret vigil to the surrounding mourners without exposing its strangeness. May’s death leaves him with a bond he cannot publicly name.

A Grave That Knows A Grave That Knows from "The Beast in the Jungle". A Grave That Knows The Search for Response Marcher studies May’s grave and hopes that its inscription or silence might disclose what she understood.

A Grave That Knows from "The Beast in the Jungle". A Grave That Knows The Search for Response Marcher studies May’s grave and hopes that its inscription or silence might disclose what she understood.

A Grave That Knows The Search for Response Marcher studies May’s grave and hopes that its inscription or silence might disclose what she understood. He finds no answer in the stone that bears her name. The grave becomes the place where he can concentrate on the intimacy he has lost. It preserves the evidence of May’s life but not the meaning of her feelings. Memory Without Her Voice Marcher tries to reconstruct the past through his own recollection. The person who knew him best is now unavailable to explain what he could not see.

The Stranger’s Witness The Stranger’s Witness from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Stranger’s Witness Grief Made Visible A stranger’s face reveals the depth of feeling produced by love and loss.

The Stranger’s Witness from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Stranger’s Witness Grief Made Visible A stranger’s face reveals the depth of feeling produced by love and loss.

The Stranger’s Witness Grief Made Visible A stranger’s face reveals the depth of feeling produced by love and loss. Marcher recognizes that his own face bears no comparable grief because he never loved May in that way. The sight gives meaning to an intimacy he had treated as a source of support. May’s secret devotion becomes visible through the pain her absence should have caused. A Truth Without Witnesses Marcher understands at last, but May cannot hear or confirm his recognition. Their connection is now known to him only as an irreversible loss.

At the Weatherend reunion

During the years of London visits

At May’s funeral

During Marcher’s first visit to May’s grave

On an autumn return to the cemetery