Which to Choose: Mark Twain’s Children’s Short Story, ‘The Five Boons of Life’

Which to Choose: Mark Twain’s Children’s Short Story, ‘The Five Boons of Life’
Fame can cause envy and detraction. "Fame," 1889, by Luc-Olivier Merson. Public Domain
Kate Vidimos
Updated:

Throughout our lives, we desire many different gifts but rarely desire death. We come to fear our end and so seek what we think are better gifts, rather than face what is the end of all mortals.

Yet, in his short story, “The Five Boons of Life,” Mark Twain focuses on how we should see death, not as the end of our blessings but as a blessing in and of itself. Twain shows that, too often, we choose the wrong gifts for the wrong reasons, avoiding death all the while.

A Fairy Visits

A good fairy visits a youngster, and she carries a basket full of boons, or desirable gifts: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, and Death. She tells the youth: “Take one, leave the others. And be wary, choose wisely; ... for only one of them is valuable.”
Kate Vidimos
Kate Vidimos
Author
Kate Vidimos is a 2020 graduate from the liberal arts college at the University of Dallas, where she received her bachelor’s degree in English. She plans on pursuing all forms of storytelling (specifically film) and is currently working on finishing and illustrating a children’s book.
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