Henry James and Sarah Jewett

¶ … Country of the Pointed Firs," by Sarah Orne Jewett, and "The Beast in the Jungle" by Henry James. Specifically, it will answer the question: Where do the characters of these pieces "travel," (not just the big journeys but the smaller ones -- for example, not just to Dunnet Landing in the "Country," but, within that, to Green Island and the North Pole and the Bowden Family Reunion) and what do they learn - and not learn - there? These two novels clearly illustrate how journeys can affect characters, and how different journeys can play such an important part in a novel, and in the character's well being. Both characters learn from their journeys, but the ultimate message may be: "it's not the journey, but how you get there that matters." Marcher's journey is a lesson in tragedy, while the Narrator's journey is a lesson in learning and peace.

Journeys in Two Novels

Both these novels take the main characters on journeys that transform their lives, but the journeys are quite different in each novel. In "The Country of the Pointed Firs," the Narrator journeys to different places on the Maine coast, such as Green Island, and she learns more about herself as she comes to know the costal natives. "There, you never get over bein' a child long's you have a mother to go to" (Jewett 55). The journeys the Narrator takes always bring her more knowledge about herself, too. "The air was very sweet; one could not help wishing to be a citizen of such a complete and tiny continent and home of fisherfolk" (Jewett 59).

The Narrator not only learns about the strong family bonds that bind the people of the Maine coast, she learns to appreciate their slow-paced way of life, and the way they live off the land. They do not have many possessions, but they are fiercely proud and happy with what they have, and this is an important lesson for anyone to learn.

In "The Beast in the Jungle," most of Marcher's journeys are inside his own mind, and he also learns from them, but they are not nearly as pleasurable as the Narrator's. In fact, Marcher is continually "unsettled" and uncomfortable because of the journeys his mind takes. "If they were as unsettled as he was -- he who had never been settled for an hour in his life -- they would know what it meant" (James). Marcher's journeys in his mind override his daily experiences, and color his entire life.

If Marcher learns anything from his journeys, it is that he has wasted his life while waiting for something awful to happen. "Something or other lay in wait for him, amid the twists and the turns of the months and the years, like a crouching Beast in the Jungle" (James). Of course, something awful will eventually happen anyway, however, Marcher is so caught up in waiting for his fate; he creates a false life full of fear and apprehension, when he could have been living a much happier life.