Respose To Flaukner’s The Bear Essay, Research Paper

The Bear by William Faulkner. Excluding part four, “The Bear” seems to be a very straight forward and enjoyable story of a southern boy’s initiation into manhood, and echos the tall-tale form of storytelling used by the Old Southwest humorists by giving Ben and Lion human attributes and making them larger than life. It is set in a time of transition and reflects the South’s changing environment, not only of its landscape but of its beliefs and customs.It deals, first and foremost, with the birth and shaping of a man. When Ike seeks to track Ben, he is told by Sam that he must shed his gun, which he does along with his compass and watch. To be in the woods without gun, compass or watch is to be naked, symbolic of a child coming into the world. Ike learns humility by having the worst hunting stand. He also learns that he must accept fear as part of man’s emotional make up, but that as a man, he must not be afraid but must face his fears: “Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid” (200-1). We also see in the death of Lion that man must accept the grief that comes with living. Ultimately though, it shows that the fate of all God’s creatures is death; a thing like our fears that we must face. Part five shows the wilderness given way to progress, a thing that many Southerns accepted with regret as seen by Major de Spain’s refusal to return to the camp. Ike who goes into the woods remembers his relationship with Sam Fathers the man who taught him the spirit of the now disappearing wilderness. Ike, who is no longer a child, is saying goodbye to what he had known in his youth. He is now a man , a simple man like his mentor Sam and like the Nazarene he is a simple carpenter leading a simple life.

The connection of the Nazarene is the only real link to part four which seems out of place in the story. Although it shows profound changes in the attitude to the Negro, it does not seem to fit into the story of the bear. It is filled with reference to people who have no bearing (no pun intended) on the story itself, or its themes. Granted that it is very hard to follow, I fail to find any connection between it and the other parts, or put another way, while it needs the other parts to be understood, part four is not needed to understand or advance the other parts. Left completely out, I feel the other four parts would stand alone as a complete story.Theme which pour forth from part four are that man has no right to own land: that land should be thought of as a natural resourse created by God for the use of all mankind, and that owning another human being is not right either. Ike feels that while God has put a curse on the land, He has not forsaken the South. He has caused them to lose the war in order to save them. The exchange between Ike and his cousin about the negros is filled with praise for their ability to withstand the cruelties of slavery and survive.I tried to put in a longer paper but it wouldn’t take it.by fladancer