The Meaning of Life: Lessons Drawn from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Henry James’ The Beast in Jungle.

Posted: March 26th, 2020

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The Meaning of Life: Lessons Drawn from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Henry James’ The Beast in Jungle.

In overview, a large quantity of American literature written in the post-Civil War era focused specifically on aspects of realism based on focus on different elements that affected the people at the time. The implications of the conflict that took place between the Confederate state and the Union created an exclusive sense of experience that was sufficiently necessary to capture in literary form. Even though several literary pieces focused on the realist themes of slavery, controversial romance, ethnic displacement, social stratification, and concerns of diversity, most of them were capable of drawing a fictitious yet capturing tale as exemplified in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Henry James’ The Beast in Jungle. Despite written in different years (1884 and 1903 respectively), Twain and James offer a realist perspective based on the characters’ search for the meaning of life.

The main aspect of realism explored in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Beast in Jungle is the meaning and value of human life. Each text in its own way explores the factors that people attach to themselves in order to define their existence. In Twain’s novel, the aspect of personal belief is used as a way to exemplify the value of the characters in retrospect to their lives. One of the characters, Ms. Watson, places utmost significance in religious convictions. For her, it acts as a guide and a definitive aspect of her life. Because of this, she sees it as an imperative element that should be factored in Huckleberry Finn’s life. Consistently, Huck is coerced to read and study about the significant characters in the Bible by Ms. Watson (Twain 100). However, what may seem meaningful to one person may not be particularly meaningful to the other as evidenced by Huck’s distaste for the lectures.

The meaning of life is a factor that is evident even in the modern society. Day by day, people try as much as possible to define their lives. However, the downside to this is that every individual is disparate. The difference between persons and the subsequent things they value contributes significantly to routine conflicts experienced all over the world. Similar to Twain’s book, the dimension of individual conviction also defines people’s lives in the modern era. This elucidates the reasons behind the consistent qualms and disagreements that take place between people of different religious beliefs as well as backgrounds. At times, such disputes expand to violent ones that disrupt routinely as derivatives of religious fanaticism. Nonetheless, such things are nonsensical since a man’s life is shaped by the deeds he or she commits rather than his or her convictions as identified by Huck’s observations of the inconsistencies that derive from religious convictions.

The meaning of human life is also seen in The Beast in the Jungle. Unlike Twain, James assumes a psychopathological realist perspective. Simply, the thoughts of the protagonist are the main source of information throughout the text. The protagonist, John Marcher, expresses an unhealthy obsession with convictions of fate and destiny. In the novel, Marcher believes that his life will be determined by fate in the form of a tragic event that will change his life completely. Because of this, he lives as an egoist who is solely concerned with proving his convictions rather than existing happily with May Bertram (James 45). His obsessions with fate and destiny force him to ignore other aspects of life that can define him positively such as romance and love. However, he chooses to forego this and as such, exists in a life of loneliness and a fear of death.

The musings of Marcher inspire a contrasting perspective of life in relation to the reader’s own convictions. On one hand, Marcher sees fate and destiny as catastrophic. On the other hand, the reader believes that such aspects do not necessarily imply calamity and negative consequences. The reader is inspired to avoid obsessing over such dimensions and instead, dwell in the things and senses that life offers such as love, pain, laughter, and a desire to live rather than die. Additionally, the fact that Marcher comes to regret in the end for not giving in to romance with a fair lady as May Bertram illustrates the extent to which life can assume a distract turn if one is not careful. Indeed, it is imperative to explore the experiences and emotions that life offers. Furthermore, beliefs can act as a positive and definitive aspect of one’s life if applied for the right purpose.

In conclusion, human beings have consistently focused on trying to find out the meaning or value of their lives. Such explorations have led to positive and negative outcomes that occur because of people’s insatiable thirst to discover who they are as well as their purpose. The books, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Beast in Jungle by Mark Twain and Henry James respectively, illustrate this premise to an extent by positioning personal convictions or beliefs as definitive aspects of the human life. For instance, in Twain’s novel, Huck realizes that people judge everything by way of religious beliefs without noticing deeds or accomplishments. Additionally, Marcher, in James’ novel, eventually understands that his personal convictions have only restricted him from enjoying the treasures that life has offered him, specifically the love of May Bertram. Hence, both novels inspire a need to live one’s life passionately in relation to the right beliefs.

Works Cited

James, Henry. The Beast in the Jungle. London: Methuen, 1903. Print.

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. Print.