Patrick McEvoy-Halston

English429A

Dr. M. Nowlin

24 March 2003
/bYt'
Marcher'sMerger: Avoiding Catastrophein Henry James's"The Beastin the Jungle"
'
Henry lames'q4'"TheBeastin the Jungle4 tells the story of JohnMarchermoving from a

stateof empoweredandindependent"oneness"to a powerlessdependencyuponMay Bartram. It

is the story of Marcherreuniting with a mother-figure,andof hirn consequentlylosing his hard

in hopesof evadinga greaterdisaster.NeitherMarcher's fear that he is doing

won independence,

little with his life, nor his sensethat somethingcatastrophicwill oneday happento him, are

unique;they are,instead,the inevitableandall too commonlyshmedexperiencesof thosewhose

mothersinterprettheir children's emergingindividuation asan abandonmentof them.

The narratorl of the story would obviouslydisagreewith my encapsulationof the story's

.- ,fl'u1 of Marchershouldbetrustedoverthat
plot. However,just ashetellsusthatBartram'sassessment
t'*

of Marcher'shimself becauseshewas "betterplacedfor a sight of the matter" (81), we too should

d1- *"^^l'*
i'he
be preparedto judge thaC [falls] t. . .l short" (82) in his understandingof Marcher. Despiteour

naffator's knowing tone, given that what is really so rare;{as to almost be unique is the ability to

acknowledgethe hostility with which so many of our mothers reactto our individuation, our
(-
narratormay be ill-preparebafo admit "'the real truth"' (80) about Marcher's predicament:-

t
Th" relationshipbetweenthe narratorand his
l,^M'
"r"{or,Henry
James,greatly interestsme. However, thopg!-I suspect
(however unfashionable) ltr{*{grys_qun U"-funA in, that "the author's soul" (Scribner iv) is to be found in his narrator
trry
and his narrativecreation-lMaicher,Henry Jameswill be given little mention and attentionin this essay: the extensive
biographicalevidencethat is generallydeemednecessaryto make this connectioncannot be made to fit into this short
essay. (ThgGhI have noticed that Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick bases"her theory [on James'smotives] on internal
evidencefo- the tale ["The Beast in the Jungle"] rather than on biographicalprojection" (Heyns I20), and that her
analysishasbeen taken very seriously.)
'
If th, narrator is best thought of as being both "inside and outsideMarcher's consciousness"(lzzo 235; emphasisin
original), perhapsthis ability to shift out of phasewith Marcher's mind allows the the narrator to minimizethe effects
of sharingMarcher's thoughts and feelings. It is perhapsbecause,with Bartram's death,Marcher is free of an
incestuously close relationship with a mother-figure that the "author/narrator and hero [. . .] are reunited at last"
(Sedgwick 200). (Note: Boys do not have sexualdesiresfor their mothers. They, instead,desiretheir protectionand
care. Children are, however,unfortunatelyused"as [. . .] erotic [. . .] object[s] to overcome [their immature mothers']
depressionand despair" (deMause,"Childhood and Cultural Evolution" 683).
 Marcher's
suspicion untrue,doesnotalsohowever O#:
thathemaybeunique,however

all to [himselfl"(73): he
wanantourridicule. Bartramis right thatMarcher"want[s]something

wants what we all want, that beingrdn identity of our own, separatefrom that of our mothers. This

separateidentity for Marcher, as for most of us as well, is difficult to achievefor a variety of

reasons.One of the most important is that sinceour earliestchildhood experiencesform the basic

underlying structureupon which all subsequentexperiencesare overlaid, and since our mothers

it is very difficult for us not to forever imagine our

figure so prominently in theseexperiences,3

mothersas the "secondpart of ourselves"(Koenigsberg3). An attemptto createa unified self, an

adult self, is made that much more difficult becauseour mothersfrequently purposefully inhibit

(literally scareus away from, primarily with threatsof abandonment)our attemptsto individuate

from them. Therefore,it is not surprisingthat individuation often dependson using whatever

autonomywe possessto associateourselveswith objects,peopleand behaviour that seeme"Jhl

oppositefronfind to oppos""(ou.senseof our mothersand our childhood home(s).

\--n- U t--*)

Marcher,inffi relatesto Weatherend what

and(at first) to Bartram,l,veildemonstrates

an adult would aim for so as to help distanceand distinguishhim/lTerselffrom his/heronceclosely

fusedidentity with his/hermotherandher surroundingenvironment(i.e., home). Thoughpart of

/ta-
- " '*^
; ft;
the reasonWeatherendservesasa symbolfor Marcher'schildhoodhomeis becauseof the J-/-,t ?
/rt^tt/

drama--thereturn to a symbiotic relationshipwith a mother-figure--thatoccurs therein,

Weatherendis describedso that it is reminiscentof how an adult would likely rememberhis/her

childhoodhome. Weatherend,with its "old wainscots,old tapestr[ies],old gold, old colour[s]"

(64) seemsto linger on from someprimeval, oncefamiliar beginning. However, becauseMarcher

'new' friends" (67), his current "home" seemsboth a

tells us that his own place is "surroundedby et/*;
,f+*
polar oppositeand oppositely "charged" from Weatherend.Narrowly and repeatedlyidentified as oL{|.-*-}

3
"1s1inr" [g]rowing up [. . .] is built on basic maternalcare" (deMause,"War as Riotous Rape and Purification" 9),
 3

"old," Weatherend,despiteits awesomeaffecting history everyWhereapparent,seemscontained,

restricted,while Marcher seemsto be free to associatewith the new world.

Indeed,Marcher has becomesomeoneso accustomedto his new friends that old ones,as

with old things, are now distinctive and give reasonsto "stay t. . .] behind for" (64). Because

Bartram is so clearly identified with Weatherendthat sheseems"a part of the establishment"(63),

becauseshe is "anciently" (66) met, she strikesMarcher more as an old than a new friend (67).

Shetherebyseemsmore distinctive to him that sheotherwisemight, but is also that much harderto

becomereacquaintedwith.

Marcher's ntorrcrnenf;{*ismobility-also distinguisheshim from both Weatherendand from

Bartram.Thoughitisnotfuupforsale,Weatherendfeelsas..weighty,,,aseternal,

as much a natural geographiccentreas a child imagineshis/trerhome. And Bartram, who is not at

Weatherend"on a brief visit" (63), is in fact so familiar with "the datesof the building, the stylesof

the furniture, the authorshipof the pictures" (63) that the ghoststhought to haunt the greatrooms

might envy her intimate familiarity with the place. As rooted as Weatherendis, as constrainedas

Barrramis, Marcher is as strongly associatedwith mobility anOp lack of identifiable root{. He is

equally uncomfortablewith "those who knew too much [as] t. . .1by [those] [. . .] who knew

nothing" (62). While Marcher will concludethat he hasn't done anything with his life, he strikes

us (at first) as a venturesomewodd traveler,long familiar with "far distan[t]" and exotic "foreign

land[s]" (66). The consistenterrorshe makesin placing his original meeting with Bartram make

him seemso much and for so long the world traveler,in fact, that the placeshe has visited have

becomeas indistinctive as have his new friends.

Marcher's mobility servesnot only to differentiatehim from Weatherendand Bartram,but

to keep him from being, in a sense,"food" (90) for the modern appetite. Certainly, sulroundedby

"differentiation is from the mother, not from the father" (Mahler 631).
 4

moderns,he can madeto momentarilyfeel "lost in the crowd" (61),0but, given that he never seems

compelledto act or to be like them, he can avoid being too often overwhelmedby them. Marcher

ffieirneeds. He
doesnot seemto dependfor his survivalon satisfyingand/oraccommodating
. J- 4t tL-'
oncewas,it
andBartram.As "great"asWeatherend
||47).{ an nin thisrespectfrombbtdWeatherend
,xu'+
t!- vulnerableto the"dogsniffing"crowdsandtheirdreams"of
is nowup for saleandis disgracefully

acquisition" (62). Bartram pays for the protectionWeatherendoffers her by being forced to serve

others,an existenceshe leadsonly "as a consequenceof things suffered" (63). Weatherend's

"intrinsic features,"its "numerous [and great] rooms" (61) and Bartram's intimate knowledgeof

Though the "modern" late-nineteenthand twentieth-centuryworld is often intentionally

perceivedof as having a brutal, masculineruthlessnessand potencyso as to distinguishitself from

a feminine, genteelpast,t it is clear that in this story modernsoverwhelm the world of their

fore-mothers(representedby Weatherend,with its tastefuldecor[6U) rnoreby their indistinctive, -/-

-/
impulsive,but enormouslypowerful consumptiveappetitethanby their controlled,cold, and

productiveefficiency. However,while he benefits,by way of freedom,from the cutting of the .,t+l

ny-
umbilical chordbetweengenerationsthat the modemappetite/biteseemsto haveeffected, ur/j,-,

Marcherclearly do€snot want to identify himself too closely with a voraciousAmericanmass.

'Toreign
Instead,he more unhesitatinglyassociateshimself with the placeshe hasvisited in

land[s]" (66), suchasRome. In orderto combatthe influenceof the long gestationalperiod

o
In hi, article "Some Psychodynamicsof Large Groups," Tom Main argueswe tend to disassociatewhile within
crowds, and accessmental states(alters)that we establishedin our early childhood (64).
t
Thi, argumentis elaboratedupon in an unpublishedessayof mine, titled, "Draining the Amazon's Swamp:
'Our Society at Cranford'."
Civilizing Our Past in Elizabeth Gaskell's
 5

alongsideour mothers,we often associateourselves,and even cling to, hyper-masculineentities.6

Marcher's linking of his meetingwith Bartram to Rome may be conceptualizedas a genuine

attemptto place their encounter(asMarcher and the narratorevidently think of it), but it is exactly

the sort of place many men would llkeJdtneir mothersto associatethem with. And Bartram gets

the point: Rome, she knows, connotes"the Palaceof the Caesars"(65): Marcher is rejecting the

strongmaternalpresenceofhisearlychildhood(Koenigsberg8)by

"turn[ing] for noblenessof associationto" (1l9),-placeswhere patriarch-fathersrather than

matriarch-mothersonce ruled.

Though Marcher would clearly prefer to be associatedwith Caesarsthan with amorphous

masses,he doesnot want to be grand himself (72). But associatinghimself with patriarchsmay

help him cultivate the integrated,private self he identifies as "character" (78). Living
.ll.-
"unselfishly," that is, listening patientlyTto thoseno less affectedby being "unsettled""afhe is

(78), not only allows him to distinguishhimself from the "greedy world" (78)8but to demonstrate

private integrity. He becomespure, "free from forces [i.e., greed,neediness]which would damage

thisl t. . .1organic integrity" (8). And this unified, integratedself is somethingso valuablethat he

is rightly concernedabout"letting it lapse"(78).

But Marcher will in fact let his individuatedstatuslapseand becomedependentonce again

6
Th" extent to which we need do so can be negligible if we are lucky to have had well-loved, and therefore
well-ad.iusted,rpothers. The more needyour mothers,the more smotheringand poisoning, i.e., feminizing, their
proximitf f"][-put,the "larger," the more absolutethe authority of the patriarchalfigure we will fashion to help ward
off the lingeriirg effects of their influence.
t
Unlik" Bartram at Weatherend, Marcher chooses-(.rrtrgn
+ [r4
ttfr-
helping unsettled megftather tfirarie forced to attend to
others;when Bartram choosesto attendto Marcher, shetoo is empoweredby the experience. This way of
understandingBartram, that is, as perpetuallyempoweredin her relationshipwith Marcher, is largely sharedby
Michiel Heyns. For someonewho believesBartram is behavingmasochisticallyby remaining silent, seeGert
Buelensand his "In Possessionof a Secret,"page 19. Buelensarguesthat sheis "surrender[ing]the invasiveclaims of
[her] [. . .] own ego [. . .], acquiescingto the role of readerof [Marcher's] narrativeand submitls] to the authorial
power enjoyed by [him] [. . .]" (18). Buelens,however, believesthat Bartram becomessadisticlater in the narrative.
E
Buelensarguesthat Marcher establishesa unique "ego" by distinguishinghimself from "the objective world" (20). I
think he is right about this, but consideringI hold that differentiation is always from the mother, this would meanthat
certain aspectsof the objective world are infused with maternalassociations.
 6

upon a mother-figure. The reasonhe doesthis is not specifiedby the narrator as such,but likely

has to do with him having to reckon with a strongerfear than that of losing his adult identity:

one.e Though somepsychologists

namely,a fear of being punishedfor creatingand possessing

who universalizechildhood experiencesarguethat individuation from our mothersmeansa "loss

of paradise,"and that we are burdenedas adults with "regressivelongings" for an "infantile

paradise"(Koenigsberg26), othersarguethat it is fear, not pleasure,which has us re-createour

infantile attachmentto a mother-figure. As Lloyd deMauseexplains,"[w]hat Freud was puzzled

'the repetition compulsion,' puzzledbecauseit violated the pleasure
by when he coined the term

principle, is actually a self-protectivedevice,protectiveagainstbeing helplessagainstthe

overwhelming anxiety of unexpectedtrauma" (deMause,"PsychogenicTheory of History" 9).

We are drawn to restageour "merge[r] with the omnipotentmother," to&ave "desire! to hterally

t. . .l crawl back into the womb," as a meansof escaping"fears of growth, individuation and self

assertionthat carry threateningfeelings of disintegration"(deMause"Psychogenic" 10), of

it : *- 'f'-1 yrl*
annihilating punishment.
"""'7")a,.*@ -
ff ,]al',0,J.* *e*l ?
Thesefears ari6ebecauseit is a fallacy that "abusedgirls [who suffer through patriarchal

denigrationsand limitations] magically becomemature,loving caretakers"(deMause"The

Evolution of Childrearing" 3TI). Instead,"immature mothersexpect theirchildren to give them

the love they missedas a child [and] t. . .1thereforeexperiencethe child's independenceas

rejection" (deMause"War as Riotous Rape and Purification" 9). Anger, threatsof rejection,of

abandonment,that are so affecting that they "*6yhavoc across[our] t. . .l psychic landscape

leaving pain and terror in their wake" (deMause,"Psychogenic" 10),greetour attemptsat

J

individuation, and ensurethat many of us learn to fear throughoutour lives the "parts of

9
According to Millicent Bell, the story's "obvious moral [is] that egotism such as Marcher's deservespunishment"
(262).
 I

or lossof [our] [. . .] mother[s]"(deMause,

thedisapproval
[ourselves][. . .] thatthreatens

"Psychogenic"l0). But asindividuationis to someextentinevitable,whenwe "[begin]to grow,

to breakfree of old emotionalpattemsandstartto feel their freedom,"we "trigger memoriesof

all freedom,all challenges

"Pscyhogenic"10). Since"all progress,
matemalrejection"(deMause,

threatento reproducethis intolerableearly matemalrcjection," "nearly everyone[. . .] constantly

'?sychogenic"
carry around""an all-pervasivegrowthpanic" "during their daily lives" (deMause,
o1/,
10).

Marcher,then,is not alonein thinking he hasdonenothingwith his life. Not only do fears

of punishmentcurtail much growth in the adult lives of children of immaturemothen, such

theyhavebeenliving modestly(i.e.,thattheyhaven't
childrenwitl try andconvincethemselves d.tu-.

to .uti.fffi
beenusingtheir independence otn needs)in hopesof avoidingtriggenln, -"-o.r",
'tolourless,"r I
of maternalabandonment.loHowever,despiteattemptingto characterizehis life as
A,--',
'in
andtli.ive it is clear
sucha way to think himself"unselfish"(78),te-netbeli+ing-ferfrin€etS, .t

6ufufi O""ndifferentiatinghimselffrokarlieridentity asan "ass,"asa maternalpla yrhl^g,4:;f

andhasbeenfulfilling his own needsasmuch as@ th??if otn"rs.

And it is thereforenot only not surprisingbut to be expectedthat he hasfor so long lived "day by

d9l' feainC thatsomethingwhich "could possibly[. . .] annihilate[. . .] [him]" could "suddenly

./
breakoutin [his] [. . .llife" Q2). Justaspredictableis his decisionto endthe agonyof waiting by
u/
reuniting to a mother-figur"."

to
So-. psychologistsbelieve that suchself-starvationexplainsadolescentanorexia. See,for example,Marisa Dillon
Weston's article, "Anorexia as a Symbol of an Empty Matrix of Dominated by the Dragon Mother."
tt
Not" how when we are told that Marcher "had been visited by one of his occasionalwarnings againstegotism," we
are subsequentlyinformed that he "sat down to the frugal but always careful little supperthat awaited his pleasure"
(e0).
12
Th"tendency of individuated people to chooseto remergewith an omnipotent mother-figure in hopesof ending
fears of maternal abandonmentmay explain why, for example,Dick Diver, from F. Scott Fizgerald's Tender is the
Night, allows himself to be "swallowed up like a gigolo [maternalengulfment]" just after becoming "thoroughly his
own man" (20I).
 8

Weatherendis the site for Marcher's reunion. He feels and is affectedby its "poetry and

history," but, as he encountersit as an empoweredindividual, he is able to find a way to exist "in a

properrelation[toit],,(62).However,sabotagedbyt,i,o*ffiorre-mergence,hecannotfor

long maintain his composurewhen talking to Bartram. Though he first boaststhat "[h]er face and

her voice [were] t. . .l all at his servicenow" (64), he soon"falter[s] [and] t. . .l fearshe shouldonly

give himself away" (69), and eventuallydoesin fact "completefly] surrender"(72) himself to her.
./ -/

W
H*y,fthougfr we are drawn to reunite with a mother-figure, we are also at some level

awarethat this involves a dissolutionof our egos,a return to a helplessdependencyupon her, and

we simultaneouslystruggleagainstlosing our hard won independenceand identities

("Psychogenic" 10). The mother-figureBartram, therefore,strategicallyworks at wearing down

the associationsthat have helped secureMarcher's individuation so that shecan claim him all to

herself. She is right that it is "dreadful to bring a personback at anytime to what he was ten years
un'-"*14:
before" (68),whenthis involves bonding to his memoriesof his pasta threatof maternalvengeance
JT;
rather than patriarchalsupport. SinceMarcher's independencewas supportedby first developing

temporal and spatial distinctionsbetweenhimself and his childhood home, Bartram fusesherself

into his senseof the intermittent yearsthat have separatedthem (Marcher comesto think that "[h]e

hadn't been" "alone a bit" t7U) and shifts their meetingplace from the patriarchalhome of the

Caesarsto Pompeii, a place subjectto catastrophicdissolution and destruction(and a reminder of

the RomanEmpire's own collapse).I3

4t-
Returning to the mother-figureBartram meani dissolutionof Marcher's independenceand
tvt*":
seH-iffic-t. He becomesdependentupon Bartram's good opinion of him.ra Having brought him
\--^-

t'
It i, worthwhile to note that while Marcher visited Rome, that he, along with Bartram, fled into (an excavationat)
Pompeii. Threatenedby thunderstorms"that had ragedround them with such violence that they were drivetnl t. . .l
into an excavation" (65), Marcher's union with Bartram was born out of the samefearsof a catastrophicvisitation that
motivateshis reunion with her.
to
H"yn, sharesmy sensethat Marcher, from the very moment she"mak[es] his secrether own, condescendshim into
the most abject dependenceupon her" (1I2). He continues: "May's completeabsorptionin Marcher's history is not
 9

to the point wherehe fearsthat he is, and hasalwaysbeen,an "ass" (68), Bartramis in a position

where her assuranceto Marcher that he is in fact "heroic" (88) can have an enlargedeffect upon

him. What he really is is a captive: dependentnow upon Bartram'sgoodwill for his own

self-worth,Bartramwill makeclaim to Marcher's"whole middle life" (86).

As Bartramnow dominatesanddeterminesMarcher'spresentandfuture, it is appropriate

that sheis no longerisolatedandcontainedat ancestralWeatherend.Marcherwill cometo know

hernew homein Londonboth intimatelyandexhaustingly.We feel the weariness,the redundancy

of his life therewhen we aretold he "had tumedoncehe more aboutthe little drawing-roomto

which,yearafteryear,he broughthis inevitabletopic" (86),andwhenwe aretold that

t5
"generationsof his nervousmoodshad beenat work there" 1861. Thesenervousmoodsarenot,

however,the productof his fearsof a catastrophicvisitation. Having retumedto a symbioticstate,

thosefearshavebeensquelched:Marcherhas"lost [his] [. . .]
havingretumedto a mother-figure,
I Et
sense"(88) of dangerand"his originalfear t.ral ha!.I [been]lost" (87). WhatMarcher

is neurosis.Its cause:lengthyconfinement.His newhomeis asconfiningasa cage,

experiences

of her, is not somuch

asa tomb. And Bartramherself,notwithstandingour narrator'sassessment

"his kind wisekeeper"(81) assheis the grim reaperof his adultlife andidentity.

The narratormay think of her assomethingnearly asghastly. Bartramis called a sphinx

(98),16andlater,a "creature"(120). Thenanatorwoulddenythatthesemederogatorylabels,but

the narrator,asif sufferingfrom symptomsof a symbioticreturnhimseli cannotbe trusted. As if

so much an extinction of her own self as an appropriationof his: her stifling self-abnegationrelentlesslytakespity on
the patheticMarcher and takespossessionof the helplesscreatureshehas helpedbring in to being" (113). Heyns also
believesthat Marcher is involved in an "infantalizing relationship" (113).
15
Further into the text (thirteen pageslater), the narratortries to distinguishthe "later time" (99) of Marcher's
relationshipwith Bartram from that of earlier yearsby telling us that it was only recently that Marcher felt nervous.
How the narratorforgot that he had previously conveyedMarcher's extraordinaryfamiliarity with Bartram's home by
making it the site where he experienced"generationsof his nervousmoods" is a question worth asking.
16
Donatellalzzodescribesthe implicationsof Bartram being likened to a sphinx thusly: "it transformsthe immobility
and speechlessness of the reified impotent object into the immobility and speechlessness of authority and power
derived from a knowledge that is not shared" (233).
 bp/
10
h*r"f;rph
.lr- ," | ,/'

he is as desperatelydependentupon Bartram's goodwill as is Marchar,r7yet suffersfrom the same

humiliationsthisdependencycreateS,l8thereisanalmosttooobvioustffisubliminal

critique of Bartram throughouthis narration,sometimeswithin the sameparagraphin which he is

purportedly trying to protect or compliment her.

The best exampleof this disguisedcriticism occurswhen the narrator describesMarcher

consideringwhetherhe should allow "a lady" to "accompany"him "on a tiger-hunt," that is, when

Marcher considerswhetherhe will permit Bartram to sharehis "obsession"(79). His concernwas,

the "definite [sticking] point" was, the "inevitable spring of the creature" (79) and the damageit
I L""'
might causeher. As mentioned,the narratorwill later addressBartram as a creature,but here,a

few sentencesbefore telling us of Marcher's concern,the narratordescribesBartram as the cause

of somethinghaving "sprung into being" yD&y "her first penetratingquestion" (79).tn The Beast,

who springsand punctures,has a remarkableverisimilitude indeedto Bartram, who springsand

penetrates.

Since Bartram, the overpoweringmother-figure,is the Beastitself, Marcher ought to be

more concernedwith the trouble he hasinvited upon himself than the trouble he might invite upon

Bartram. And he likely is. Just after Marcher makesan early attemptto charactenzethe natureof

Bartram's attendanceas her accompanyinghim (79), which will later settle in Marcher's mind as

her "watch[ing] with him" (82), the narratortells us at length about the effects of Bartram

"watching [at] him" (80). Shewatcheshim, we aretold, "in silence"(80), "becausepeoplewatch

t. . .l best t. . .l in silence"(80). Watchingin silenceover her prey suitsa tiger pretty well, too, of

17
Mu..h"r "can't be bold or press" Bartram out of fears that "it might becomea difference,perhapsa disagreement,
betweenthem" (99).
t8
One of thesehumiliations is that "she had [. . .] denied the power in him to learn" (II7).
tn
Th" remarkableproximity of almost identical descriptionsof both the Beast and Bartram occur elsewherein the
text. Another instanceoccurs on pages92-93. On page 93, the narratorrefers to "the thing [the Beast] that waited,"
and on page92, to Bartram having "another of her waits." Note, too, that the Beast is identified as much by its
capacity to wait as by its inevitable spring, and that Bartram is consistentlydescribedas waiting (on page 86, for
example, she finally speaks,"after another wait").
 1l

course,and as if feeling himself stalkedprey, Marcher show signs of nervousness.In responseto

reflecting on "all the looking at his life, judging it, measuringit" over the "consecrationof [. . .]

years" (80), we are told that Marcher almost2osuspectsthat Bartram has specialdesignson him,

that thereis somethingpeculiar in her interestin him: "she almost sethim wondering if shehadn't

even a larger conceptionof singularity for him than he had for himself' (80).

Bartram'seyes,very likely "the very eyesof the Beast" (87), are conspicuouslypresent
a.
throughoutthe story. Indeed,though Bartrar1rand Marcher becomeisolated at the "margins" (83)

of society,possessinga close,exclusiverelationshipthat resemblesin its exclusivitythe bond

betweena mother and her young child, part of their dyad. Their presenceis appropriate
3:^""m
for a story which exploresa regressionto a child-like state,becausewe first come to know our

mother's approval and disapprovalthrough non-verbalsignals--especiallythosecommunicated

through her eyes (deMause"War" 9). And while Marcher is concernedthat "the light in

[Bartram's] [. . .] eyes" (70) mightcommunicatesarcasmandmockery (70,72), they do not, at

first, becauseMarcher is the prodigal "son" who has returnedto serveonce again as her

entertainment.But her eyes,potentially both "cold" and "sweet" (105), becomefor him the "evil

eye[s]"(116),the eyesthat disapprove,and,finally, the "eyesthat didn't know him" (118),the eyes

that will abandonhim as Marcher -prepares

'6''* (once again)to leave her side. )
y'A' /u4-J>- 'L
t Y
The narrator would strongty g-g.'5 that Marcher does not want to be separatedfrom

Bartram,that the escapehe desiresis from his fate (126) ratherthan from his unendingservitudeto

Bartram,but Marcher hasbeengaugingthe extentof his debt to her sincetheir reunion. For having

forgottenher, for associatingwith a new world and becominga man, Marcher divined then that he

"hadendlessgratitudeto make up" (71). After yearsof cagedpacing(which hadworn down the

20
Th" narrator can be relied upon to qualify any speculation or mood that Bartram inspires in Marcher which is
unflattering to her as a speculationor mood that Marcher "almost" had. For example,he tells us that Bartram makes
Marcher "almost angry" (108) and that Marcher is inspired to undertakean "almost aggressiveact" (115).
 t2

areworn by the elbowsof generationsof

carpetsmuch like the "desksin old counting-houses

paroleboard,he laterseems
clerks"[86]), and"almost"like a criminalbeforean assessing

reformedandrepentant,telling her that he is "so tremendouslymindful of all [shehad] [. . .] done

thather 'turiosity isn't being

for [him]" (84). He is likely arguingfor a releasewhenhe suggests

t. . .l repaid"(85). Shesayssheexpectsthatshe"will be [. . .] repaid"(86),but, alas,not yet. It is

impossiblefor Marcherto attenpt-to pay her back Baltram is effective at enlargingthe debt
;s
.J

owedto her. Her close affiliation with him, for example,hasaffectedher rePutation,giving him

anotherenormous"sum" to repaywhile simultaneouslyreducingthe numberof men he might

''' /''/'4 /--'f1 4*"' '
sloughheroff on. More guilty weightis heaped
onto the humpon his [. . .] bacL (79), andhe

remains"the only food for her [the tiger Beast's]mind" (90).

Marcherknowsthat if heconceivedof Bartram'sinterestin him asselfishly, asopposedto

unselfishly,motiv ated,ril{ne would have a way out; for "if shehad been a totally different"
J'
woman and had madea "claim on him" (68), he would conceiveof an eventualseparationfrom her
f".-&^-t-*
asjustified. But though Marcher(6-cognizanto?how pleasurableand empoweringit is to be the

one who listensrather than the one who needsto be listenedto (78), he has trouble accusing

Bartram of having impure motives. And Bartram, when she distinguishesMarcher from those

men who have a"capacity to spendendlesstime with dull wom also distinguishes
"@(84),
herself from the sort of women Marcher could more readily imagine owing little to.

But Marcher had once individuatedfrom his mother,and Bartram seemsto sensehis desire

to leave her, too. We know this principally becausesheinflicts upon him the worst sort of

punishmentimaginable,the punishmentthat (immature)mothersinflict upon their children for

makesit
" W. might note that in Edith Wharton's The Ase of Innocence,it is precisely May's dullness which
(almost) excusablefor Newland to take pleasurein imagining her dead (290). The best that the narrator can manageto
convey the same desire in "The Beast in the Jungle" --born out of the same despair of being tied down, but to a smart
woman--is: "He [Marcher] felt in thesedays what, oddly enough,he had never felt before, the growth of a dread of
losing her by some catastrophe[. . .]" (93).
 13

herrejection.This is the same

individuutfu, a mother'sabandonment,
daringto coneeive-of

punishm."h'*ffi-'archer}6,.unitJ*ithamother-figureinthefirstplace.Itisthesame

threatwhich made him have feelings of catastrophicannihilation, and the threat still cows him:

"made [to] feel strangelyabandoned"by "Bartram communicat[ing] with him as [ifl acrossa

gulf'1, Marcher is afraid to "speakthe wrong word" (99).

At the end of the story we are made well of how much Bartram's rejection, her distance,

concernsand affectsMarcher. We hear that "withdrawal [was] imposedon him" (107), that "she

had deceivedhim" (108), that "she dismissedhim" (109), that"accessto her [. . .] was almost

wholly forbidden him" (II4), that "[n]ot only had her interestfailed him, but he seemedto feel

himself unattended"(115), and that, after startingoff on a currenttogether(76), Marcher was "too

helplesslyat sea" (110). And thoughthereare signs,as when he eventuallybravestelling her,

"you abandonme" (103), that Marcher will brave her punishmentand force his way free of her,
1-'- wrt'1 I
Marcher's escapeis brought aboutby Bartram's fortuitous (and n@-9-"mise.2"1- 4. t:-Je #'4'

After Bartram's death,we are told that Marcher begins a "hunt" for "[t]he lost stuff of

[which had become][. . .] for him as a strayedor stolenchild to an unappeasable

consciousness

father" (IL7). The narrator once againrelays to us, disguised,the real nature of Marcher's hunt.

Marcher hunts, tries to recover,the lost stuff of consciousnesshe had most pnzed: his
rl/l
Bartramandcouldnotrecoverit
ego. He lostit by reunitingwith themother-figure
independent
h4
lurl ""
I
V, .'-( ,) owins to her
her unappeasableaooetite.The
unanneasableappetite.The use
useof a father simile is not,
father asa simile not. however,simplya means
however,simply means
iV )i.^t*t"g
+(
'rF
,P
22
The nanatorandMarchercanthanktheir overseeingpatriarch"deity," Herny James,for terminatingthereign ofthe
'bfter her death"(119), I believethat
maternalBeast. While Heynsbelievesthat Barfam hasin fact becomestronger
Marcher'ssubsequentmobility andfre€domfeelslike a gloriousrelief, asa temporaryescape,aftera lengthynarrative
accountof their suffocatingrelationship.
23 'the desireto returnto
Accordingto The Norton Antholoev of Thmry andCriticism, SigmundFreudbelievedthat
the mother'swomb" could become'the fear ofbeing buried alive" (917). Consideringthat immediatelyafter failing
to passionatelyinvolve himself with Barram, Bartramis describedass€aledoff ("accessto her chamberofpain,
'
rigidly guarded,wasalmostwholly forbiddento him [114]) in her chambersand,of course,then in her grave,we
might wonderif Marcherfearedthat a deeperinvolvementwith Bartramwould somehowsealhim in with her.
 t4

of safely releasingsome of the stressof having for

so long attemptedto satisfy her curiosity, it
)
marks the beginning of the narratorhelping-Marcher
recoverthe "support columns,,that had
earlierhelpedestablishhis individuatedidentity.

After he is comparedto a father (who hunts),he travels

and visits the ,.templesof gods and
the sepulchresof kings," that is, he onceagain,though
this time with pharaohs,associates
himself
9-
with patriarcd"kings.only afterwardsdoeshe revisit
the grave of Bartram. There, we are told, he
was remindedthat he had "once lived" and was "dependent
on [the senseof this] not alone for a
supportbut for an identity" (r2r). But though the niurator
tries to convince us that Marcher,s
return to travelling, to mobility, and to sitesassociated
with powerful patriarchshad little effect
upon him, that he in fact "turned for noblenessof association"
(lzl)towards Bartram,s grave,

w
Marcher likely relearnedabroadwhat it was to have
lived and to possessan identity he might
value' Though its importanceis played down, Marcher
likely journeyed to the Egyptian desertin
+v' hopesthat the echoingsoundsof 'nthepastgloriesof
Pharaohs"(119) might help counterthe

effects of Bartram's sphinx-like silent presence .u fu, ''

/d./

of course,rediscoveringhis independencewill also

mean a return of the terrible
fear--again,a fear he had lost while in Bartram's ,-/'
attendance--ofbeing punishedfor having it. For
Bartram told a mistruth when she speculatedthat Marcher
had lost his fear becausehe had
"[l]iv[ed] with it for so long" (s7). Instead,the
fear,in a sens for as long as was
",ffirhim
willing to abandona claim to his own life. Though
his fear was not .,lostin a desert,,(g7), for
visiting the land of the Pharaohs,and for beginning process
a of individuation once again,he once
again finds himself terrified by the prospectof the
Beast's lunge. So much so, that when he
"perceive[s][' ' '] by a stir of the air" the "huge
and hideous"Beast"rdse,"in order to avoid it. he

once again returnsto the mother-figureBartram, this

time by "fl[inging] himself, facedown on
 15

[her]t. . .l tomb" (L2T.24

The narrator'sdescriptionof the Beast'sleap at the end of the story gives us a glimpseof

the intensity of the terror that would drive Marcher to initially reunite with the mother-figure

Bartram. He fears that he has not lived, but given that truly living for himself is what evokesthe

wrath of the Beast,he should not have masochisticallychastisedhimself after Bartram's death.

Since many, perhapsmost, of us inhibit "the fulfillment of [our] t. . .l emotional needsand wants

[so as to avoid] t. . .1someunspeakablepunishmentor tragedy'iBranden 97), wemight try,

instead,to empathrzewith him ratherthan despisehim. Alas, to the degreethat our motherswere

unloved, wo learn to praiseher (or representationsof her) while condemningourselves(or those

who representthe supposedly"egoistic" child). We are"enjoined to show love for the mother,and

failure to do so carriesa threat,for the child must protect the mother's defensesagainsther

perception,and the perceptionby others,of her lack of motherly feeling or her hostile impulses.

One must love his mother, or perish,or at least suffer guilt" (Rheingold 201). The tendencyof

critics to imagineBartram as "kind, wise, andprotective"(Buelens18)," then,maybe evidence

that they intuit that Bartram is a mother-figure. Their charactenzationof Banram is not well

supportedby textual evidence,and the increasinglymore critical (even hostile) reactionsto

Bartram (especially,seemingly,amongstmale critics) suggeststhat she,though for sometime

protectedby critics, is now being confrontedby critics who are more able to duejustice to the

entirety of the textual material before them. Indeed,thesesamecritics are mounting a charge

to
H"ynr understandthat Marcher, for "failing May's test," is "delivered to the Beast" (118). Heyns even imaginesthe
Beast as Bartram's agent,and that Marcher clings to Bartram's grave in hopesof avoiding punishment: "And
appropriately,since this time the beastis executingMay's knowledge,Marcher flings himself face down upon her
grave" (120). Note: I differ with Heyns in believing that the Beast,being a representationof Bartram herself (the
mother-figure),cannot help but executeher will, and that Marcher is not punished"for his obtusenessduring her
life" (119), but becauseshe sensesin his mounting aggressiona desireto free himself from her control. Buelens
describesMarcher as "increasingly frantic" at the end of the story, "not so much to find out what the Beastis as to find
out what May meant when she intimated she knew something" (24).
25
Thi, quote is of Buelens's descriptionof other critics' characterizationsof Bartram.
 16

againsther.

"Charging" would obviously be a mischaractenzationof the momentum in their essays,

by criticswho seemto feel some

but,in sum,thereis a mountingheapof critica!freotrse rurit$en

of the sameinching compulsion to challengeBartram's (and that of critics caughtunder her

arpruffie
sybll-likeinfluenceputhorit$rrailuru.rrr", endof thestory.Twoof themore

prominent of thesecritics are Michiel Heyns and Gert Buelens. Heyns calls her a sybll ( 118); and

though he, as with most critics who emphasizeBartram'ssadism,ultimately qualifies her

behaviourasjustified ("By my reading,however,an equilibrium is restoredt . . .7" U24)), he is

clearly intent on exposingBartram'sbrutality in his essay. Buelens,as if he is distinguishing

"the most common

himself from an emasculated,cowering crowd of capitulatingcritics, assesses

readings" (I7) of Bartram as "suspiciouslyclose to Marcher's [own] perceptionof her throughout

the story" (18; emphasismine). Buelens,later (in note numbereight),when he writes aboutthe

gratitudeMarcher has to make up to Bartram, characterizesas "[s]trange [that] t. . .l thereis

nowhere any sense[that his] [. . .] act of placing his trust in May could be regardedas a gift from

him to her" (32). Buelensdoesn't say,but seemsto insinuatyhatBartram intentionally avoids

acknowledgingthat Marcherhassuccessfullyprovideda gift to herbecauseshewantshim to be in

-/
a position where he must endlessly(though futilely) try and pleaseher.

Both Heyns and Buelensseemsomewhatirritated in their essays,and I wonder if the

sourceof this irritation is a sensethat previous critics have allowed Bartram to get away with

something,and that no one has yet "risen" and adequatelychallengedher. I have avoided

biographicalexplorationsof Jamesin this essayand I will avoid them with thesecritics, but they

do both react to Bartram with someof the outrageand challengethat an abusedchild would feel

and desire(but is rarely able to express)towardshislher demandingmother.26Perhapsthe interest

'6
Iu somewhatuncomfortablewith the prospectof readingJames'sletters,but if I eventually read them I will not
 t7

"The Beastof the Jungle" has generated,interestthat, accordingto Heyns, goesfar beyond what

"its literary qualities alone [might] t. . .1justify" (I20), will dissipateafter somebrave hero

emergeswith an answerto the riddle of Bartam's power over Marcher (amongstothers). Heyns is

"infuriated" by Marcher's "self-absorption"becauseit makeshim (Marcher) especiallyvulnerable

to becomingBartram's pawn (II2). Perhapshe might be encouragedby this knight's--well armed

as I am with a rich awarenessof the awesomeinfluence our mothershave upon us--fearless

charge.z7If only Marcher *ffto well armed;he would not then have wastedhis life in a

cloistered, infantile attachmentto the mother-figure Bartram.

fi+
ffi-,} nS,Jle /'/t r '*l'Jr
& a*/JJJ c4e4 rt *rf
,b*L*t ,

deem it unethical if others explore the motives that lie behind my writing. These motives, I think, are almost too
obviously evident in this single essayto warrant an extensive biographical search: I love my mother, but she certainly
read my individuation as an abandonmentof her.
27
Aguin,I am well aware that bullies, even bullies so seemingly malevolent that they would "strangle those who
could not guess[their] t. . .l riddles" (Heyns 117), are always the product of massiveneglect and thereforedeserveas
much empathy as they require tender care. My own strong defenseof bullying Bartram will, admittedly, have to wait
for another time. r
*tr2;T,*a"''";u
 Works Cited

Bell, Millicent. Meaning in Henry James. Cambridge: HarvardUP, 1991.

Branden,Nathaniel. Honoring the Self: The Psychologyof Confidenceand Respect. New York:

BantamBooks, 1985.
'The Beastin the
Buelens,Gert. "In Possessionof a Secret: Rhythms of Mastery and Surrenderin

Jungle'." The Henry JamesReview 19.1 (1998): 17-35.

DeMause,Lloyd. "The Evolution of Childrearing." The Journalof Psychohistory28.4 (Spring

2001): 362-451.

"The PsychogenicTheory of History." The Emotional Life of Nations. New York: The

Institute for PsychohistoryPress,2002. 10 March 2003 <http://www.psychohistory.com>.

"War as RighteousRape and Purification." .

Fitzgerald,F. Scott. Tender is the Night. New York: Simon and Schuster,1995.
'The Beastin the Jungle'. Ethical Plot, honical Plot and
Heyns,Michiel. "The Double Narrative of

the Play of Power." Enacting History in Henry James: Narrative, Power and Ethics. Ed.

Gert Buelens. Cambridge: CambridgeUP, 1997. 109-25.

Izzo, Donatella. Portravin : Technolosiesof in the Short

Lincoln: University of NebraskaPress,200I.

James,Henry. "The Beastin the Jungle." The Novels andTales of Henry JamesNew York Edition.

Volume XVII. New York: CharlesScribner'sSons,1909.

Koenigsberg,Richard A. Symbiosisand Separation:Towards a Psychologyof Culture. New York:

The Library of Art and SocialScience,1989.

Leitch,VincentB. et al., eds. TheNonon Anthologyof Theory andCriticism. New York: W. W.

Norton and Compan), 200I.

J) I -.

Psychoanalytic
Matrler,Margaret. "Aggressionin the Senice of Separation-Individuation."
Ouarterly50 (1981):63I-52.

of LargeGroups."TheI-argeGroup: DynamicsandTherapy.
Main, Tom. "SomePsychodynamics

Ed. Lionel Dreeger.London: KarnacBooks,&'86.

Rheingold,JosephC. The Mother.Anxiety.andDeath: The CatastfophicDeathComplex.Boston:

Little, Brown andCompany,1967.

Scribner,Charlesltr. Introduction.Tenderis theNight. By F. ScottFitzgerald.New York: Simon

andSchuster,1995. iv-xv.

Sedgwick,Eve K. Epistemologyof the Closet. Berkeley: Universityof CaliforniaPress,1990.

Weston,MarisaDillon. "Anorexiaasa Symbolof anEmpty Matrix Dominatedby the Dragon

Mother." GroupAnalysis 32 (1999): 71-85.

Wharton,Edith. The Age of Innocence.New York Quality PaperbackBook Club, 1993.