The Missed Choice

The Beast in the Jungle

This flow tracks the choices Marcher avoids, especially the choice to make a life with May, until the cost becomes unmistakable.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Life Deferred A Life Deferred from "The Beast in the Jungle". A Life Deferred Waiting Rather Than Choosing John Marcher lives with the conviction that a defining event will arrive.

A Life Deferred from "The Beast in the Jungle". A Life Deferred Waiting Rather Than Choosing John Marcher lives with the conviction that a defining event will arrive.

A Life Deferred Waiting Rather Than Choosing John Marcher lives with the conviction that a defining event will arrive. Because he expects fate to decide his life, he makes few choices that might give it an ordinary direction. His public routines continue, but they do not dislodge his inner detachment. Waiting becomes an excuse for postponing emotional commitment. A Narrowing Future Marcher imagines himself as exceptional because of what may happen. The imagined future keeps him from noticing what is already available in the present.

The Invitation to Share The Invitation to Share from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Invitation to Share A Secret Entrusted May reminds Marcher that he told her about his lifelong expectation.

The Invitation to Share from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Invitation to Share A Secret Entrusted May reminds Marcher that he told her about his lifelong expectation.

The Invitation to Share A Secret Entrusted May reminds Marcher that he told her about his lifelong expectation. He welcomes her understanding and asks her to remain beside him as he waits. The request gives May a role in his life, but it is a role defined around his private mystery. Marcher receives her attention without asking what she wants for herself. A Chance for Intimacy Their pact could become the beginning of a more mutual bond. Instead, Marcher treats companionship as support for a future event rather than as a present choice.

Marriage Ruled Out Marriage Ruled Out from "The Beast in the Jungle". Marriage Ruled Out The Rule of the Hunt Marcher thinks that a man awaiting a dangerous fate should not ask a woman to accompany him on the hunt.

Marriage Ruled Out from "The Beast in the Jungle". Marriage Ruled Out The Rule of the Hunt Marcher thinks that a man awaiting a dangerous fate should not ask a woman to accompany him on the hunt.

Marriage Ruled Out The Rule of the Hunt Marcher thinks that a man awaiting a dangerous fate should not ask a woman to accompany him on the hunt. He makes the Beast an argument against marrying May. The rule appears considerate, but it protects him from the vulnerability of a shared life. He tells himself that he is sparing her while preserving his own isolation. A Self-Serving Principle May’s loyalty makes the arrangement comfortable for him. The more she watches, the less he has to confront the emotional cost of refusing her.

The Unread Declaration The Unread Declaration from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Unread Declaration A Moment of Possibility May rises and stands before Marcher as if she has something important to offer.

The Unread Declaration from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Unread Declaration A Moment of Possibility May rises and stands before Marcher as if she has something important to offer.

The Unread Declaration A Moment of Possibility May rises and stands before Marcher as if she has something important to offer. Her frailty and tenderness give the moment a weight he senses but cannot interpret. She appears to be offering him the truth of her love and a chance to escape his solitude. Marcher remains fixed on whether his predicted catastrophe will hurt him. The Choice Unmade May’s strength fails before he responds to what she has made available. Marcher leaves without recognizing the choice he has just lost.

The Irreversible Cost The Irreversible Cost from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Irreversible Cost Love Recognized Too Late After May’s death, a stranger’s grief teaches Marcher what it means to have loved someone for herself.

The Irreversible Cost from "The Beast in the Jungle". The Irreversible Cost Love Recognized Too Late After May’s death, a stranger’s grief teaches Marcher what it means to have loved someone for herself.

The Irreversible Cost Love Recognized Too Late After May’s death, a stranger’s grief teaches Marcher what it means to have loved someone for herself. He sees that May had offered a living bond he failed to accept. His old waiting had not protected him from fate. It had been the means by which he let his chance at love pass. A Life Judged Marcher recognizes his destiny as a life in which nothing happened because he did not participate in life. The insight arrives too late to repair the loss.

Before the reunion at Weatherend

October afternoon at Weatherend

Early years of their London companionship

A spring afternoon near the end of May’s life

At the ending in the cemetery