The Five Boons of Life by Mark Twain | Teen Ink

The Five Boons of Life by Mark Twain

January 11, 2009
By Anonymous

Mark Twain’s short story, The Five Boons of Life, is a fable signifying the meaning of life. The tale is a series of interactions between a fairy and a man who grows to learn the lesson the fairy tries to teach him, only to understand the moral before his death. The five boons of life- fame, love, riches, pleasure, and death- are the gifts the fairy offers to the man who is allotted one choice. The story gives light to the point that life should not be squandered away on meaningless frolics, and the importance of wise choices. Twain organizes the story into chapters, each encompassing a new trial for the man who cannot seem to find peace in his heart.

The first chapter tells of the fairy offering the gifts to the man who is now a youth, warning him to choose wisely. “Only one of them is valuable,” she warns. The youth immediately chooses Pleasure, saying there is no need to consider any of the other choices. Time passes and the youth regrets his decision after seeking out happiness and finding himself disappointed. The tale reveals that the pleasure was short lived and did not meet his expectations. The man wishes to go back and choose his gift more wisely.

Lo and behold, the man’s wish is granted, for the fairy appears again in chapter two. She presents the gifts to the man again, warning once more to choose carefully, for only one gift is precious. The man considers long and hard, and decides that Love would be his most wise choice. Yet the man is disappointed once again, for love only leaves him with a dead wife and grief overflowing. The man again wishes to turn back time and change his decision

The fairy appears in chapter three to explain that the fairy offers the man again to choose more wisely. The man picks Fame, and earnestly hopes that this will fill his soul. Again, the man is disappointed to find that fame has only decayed to being envied and hated by others. The man thinks to himself yet another time how he wishes he could turn back.


The relentless fairy appears again in chapter four, pleading with the man to choose out of the last two gifts wisely. Suddenly the man has an epiphany and comes to the conclusion that all along he had been forgetting the one thing that could make him happy: Wealth. The fairy is visibly disappointed and goes away only to come back years later to find the old man sitting gaunt and naked, distraught by his life. Only then does the man want the last gift-Death-to console him from the evils of this world.

In the fifth and final installment of the short story, the fairy appears to the man and explains to him that she has given Death to a child who let her pick for him. The man wallows in his sadness and cries out to her, asking what is left for him. The fairy is harsh but sympathetic in telling the man that the inevitable has been brought on him-a gift the fairy says the man does not deserve-old age

Mark Twain’s short story The Five Boons of Life is an interesting perspective on the importance of life and priorities. Although the ending is not a joyful one, the fable does effectively teach a lesson. The story signifies the importance of wise choices, and the importance of not squandering your life away. Twain reaches readers in a universal resource of a story, and in a compelling tale persuades readers to live their life out to the fullest.


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This article has 12 comments.


sashaym said...
on May. 20 2021 at 12:11 pm
sashaym, Daytona Beach, Florida
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Sashay Mitchell
I agree with the context of this story and how it is portrayed throughout all the chapters. As human beings, we often gravitate towards materialistic things, not fully understanding the depth of the choices we make. For every gift that the man chose there was a painful lesson behind them all. That life should not be solely based on pleasure, fame, love, and wealth, but off of other aspects too. We often prioritize our desires and they result in overcoming and destroying us. The valuable lesson here is to make wise decisions, whether long or short-term ones, not to be greedy, and to learn from terrible mistakes.

CalebW said...
on May. 20 2021 at 5:21 am
CalebW, Daytona, Florida
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Caleb Wilson- I agree with this because every choice we make comes with consequences, and in the story, the man has to live with the decisions that he made. Every time he chose a gift, he learned a valuable lesson behind it, and that's how life is. We live and we learn but it is up to us to try and make wise decisions and learn from our mistakes.

1ybpfVolusia said...
on May. 19 2021 at 2:15 pm
1ybpfVolusia, Daytona Beach, Florida
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Moses Perez- I agree with this because it goes off the truth of this world and the realism that is within us. We may think it's a story about something not everyone wants or not everyone wants to agree to but it is most definitely true. In life, we want to have fame, love, riches, pleasure, but no one wants death. But in the true world of what we live death is a part of it all. The main message that the author wants you to know is that everything should be looked at with a pessimistic view.

on May. 19 2021 at 2:01 pm
angelinamartinez05, Daytona Beach, Florida
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angelina martinez- i agree w this because the authors purpose was to explain to us and show us that people take the choices they get in life for granted. people make the wrong choices even when given a better alternative. we should all take into consideration what choices we have to make the right ine

on May. 19 2021 at 1:19 pm
IsaiahGordon17, Daytona Beach, Florida
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i agree with the authors analysis of the story "The Five Boons of Life". the fairy give the man multiple chances to choose which gift he wanted and time and time again he found himself regretting the decision he made and wanting to pick a new gift in the end when the man has chosen everything but death the fairy appears again to give him his final wish and the only choice is death the one the fairy says is the most valuable

on May. 19 2021 at 10:58 am
cheyennedoyle, Daytona Beach, Florida
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I agree with what this article said about The Five Brooms of Life. I feel as if the the main theme of this story is how deceiving human life can be. Throughout the themes like Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, and Death are also all themes as well. Another theme with this story would be choices. The main message that the author wants you to know is that everything should be looked at with a pessimistic view. Everything in life has good in it as well as bad because nothing can be purely good in life. Those five themes are like human experiences.

Andy07 said...
on May. 19 2021 at 10:50 am
Andy07, Daytona Beach, Florida
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This article has deep messages about how we live our lives. we wanted fame, we get hatred. we wanted wealth, we get poverty. we wanted pleasure, we get disappointment. we wanted to love, we get grief. we wanted death, we ended our life. These "boons" are what we wanted in life. but it doesn't last forever. Our desires have limits. To surpass our miserable desires, we have to look through the "boons", and enjoy what we have. Don't make success with the"boons", make success on making your life worth living. because you will be craving death more than living and no one wants you to die.

jana said...
on May. 18 2021 at 11:53 pm
jana, Daytona Beach, Florida
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chrisjana bruson-I agree with this blogger about the events through the story showing a development between the youth and his decisions. the youth first chooses pleasure without a second thought, but soon after he learns that he was not happy. throughout the story the blogger explains how important life's priorities are and should not be taken lightly and selfishly.

Gabriela79 said...
on May. 18 2021 at 2:31 pm
Gabriela79, Tegucigalpa, Florida
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I totally agree with the short story message, because it reminds us to appreciate the true value of life. In addition to this, if we choose to live with temporary pleasures our lives are not going to be anything else but misery. As well as in order to make smart decisions sometimes we have to ask others for their opinions.

Miya02 said...
on May. 18 2021 at 11:05 am
Miya02, Daytona Beach, Florida
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I agree with it because the story shows that life should not be taken for granted and it's important to make wise choices in life. Furthermore, it shows that the five gifts can turn a person life around and make big changes that can better them. Although it could fail them because they would not know how to accept the reality of what's going on and it could change the way that person sees life now. I feel like most of us see life as pleasure, rich, and fame but we don't take the time to notice that life is way more important than having all things that can easily be taken away from somebody. Also, this story teaches a lesson on the importance of being able to make wise choices and not waste your life away. It is very important to know that things come and go and not everything stays the same.

emelyosorio_ said...
on May. 18 2021 at 9:32 am
emelyosorio_, Daytona, Florida
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I agree with what the anonymous is saying about the short story" The Five Boons of Life". They sum up really good about what the author is trying to prove which is that we shouldn't let our lives pass by or we shouldn't take life for granted. We see life as fame, pleasure, or rich, but we know that those things are material, we know that they come and go.

fuentesaa said...
on May. 17 2021 at 2:56 pm
fuentesaa, Daytona, Florida
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
This blog sums up the main points of the story "The Five Boons of Life" nicely and at the end has the anonymous writers input on the story and I agree that the story portrays a message that you should not take life for granted it is the little things that make life worth live its not fame, or pleasure, love and riches because at the end it is just full of sadness and despair you don’t need these extra things in life even though it is a great feeling to have it turns peoples lives for mostly worse than better because they do not know how to accept reality and how it is changing.