'Something or other lay in wait for him, amid the twists and turns of the months and the years, like a crouching beast in the jungle.' Fearful that his life is to be determined by some unknown cataclysmic event, John Marcher spends his days waiting for this momentous occurrence as if it is a crouching 'beast in the jungle'. The Beast in the Jungle is a poignant novella that asks us to consider