Faulkner's "The Bear": Themes and motives.

I've just finished The Bear for the first only time thus far, and I got to admit that it wasn't an easy piece of reading short-story wise.

Of course, to get the gist of the story, I will have to read one or few more times.

Going by the constraint of my only reading of the piece, I would like to opine that this is a story of man versus the wild, of fear and bravery, of dream and reality.

I do know that I am likely to be wrong, and thus, I would like to read some thoughts from those who have exhausted the short story. ( multiple instances of reading)

I thank you all.

The primary theme of "The Bear" is Ike's moral awakening. On one level, Ike shares the Native American view that the land belongs to no one but instead exists for communal use, imparted to him by Sam. The manner in which his own culture uses the land he thus perceives as despoiling and destructive. Ike also sincerely believes that the land itself is cursed by the legacy of slavery, this feeling is intensified when he learns that his grandfather impregnated one of his slaves and then sexually abused their daughter, driving the mother to suicide. For Ike, the only way to escape this curse—and the guilt that haunts his heritage—is to relinquish the land bequeathed to him by his grandfather. For Ike, this is a moral choice to abdicate a legacy of corruption.

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Originally Posted by kinesj

The primary theme of "The Bear" is Ike's moral awakening. On one level, Ike shares the Native American view that the land belongs to no one but instead exists for communal use, imparted to him by Sam. The manner in which his own culture uses the land he thus perceives as despoiling and destructive. Ike also sincerely believes that the land itself is cursed by the legacy of slavery, this feeling is intensified when he learns that his grandfather impregnated one of his slaves and then sexually abused their daughter, driving the mother to suicide. For Ike, the only way to escape this curse—and the guilt that haunts his heritage—is to relinquish the land bequeathed to him by his grandfather. For Ike, this is a moral choice to abdicate a legacy of corruption.

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Well, I've only read "The Bear" itself thus far. I, therefore, didn't know the name Ike until you mentioned it above.

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Originally Posted by Raven Falcon.

Well, I've only read "The Bear" itself thus far. I, therefore, didn't know the name Ike until you mentioned it above.

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Ok that was my bad, "The Bear" appears in its fullest form as a chapter in the novel Go Down, Moses and in the process of explaining themes of the "The Bear" I extrapolated information from the rest of the novel.

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Originally Posted by kinesj

Ok that was my bad, "The Bear" appears in its fullest form as a chapter in the novel Go Down, Moses and in the process of explaining themes of the "The Bear" I extrapolated information from the rest of the novel.

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I see that.

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Originally Posted by Raven Falcon.

I see that.

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I've almost always read "The Bear" within the context of Go Down, Moses
so it's almost instinctive for me to think in terms of the larger story. Are there any questions you have about "The Bear" specifically that I might be able to help with?

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Originally Posted by kinesj

I've almost always read "The Bear" within the context of Go Down, Moses
so it's almost instinctive for me to think in terms of the larger story. Are there any questions you have about "The Bear" specifically that I might be able to help with?

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Well, it seems to me that the boy's decision to not kill the bear even though he has the chance to do so is symbolic. The question is, what does it symbolize?

Again, though the swamp-wood area described in The Bear is based on the southern US, the events in the piece are universal.

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Originally Posted by Raven Falcon.

Well, it seems to me that the boy's decision to not kill the bear even though he has the chance to do so is symbolic. The question is, what does it symbolize?

Again, though the swamp-wood area described in The Bear is based on the southern US, the events in the piece are universal.

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The Bear, for Ike, represents both the primal force of nature as well as the unbridled freedom, the indomitable independence, of the human spirit. Hunting, therefore, is analogous to man's attempt to control nature. His decision not to kill the bear is a moral choice rooted in his veneration of nature, as well as his desire to break free from the heritage that haunts him. As he can choose not to kill the bear, so can he choose to deny his heritage. In that sense, the meaning of the story exists on two levels simultaneously, both of these arcs come together, however, as a moral awakening.

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Originally Posted by kinesj

The Bear, for Ike, represents both the primal force of nature as well as the unbridled freedom, the indomitable independence, of the human spirit. Hunting, therefore, is analogous to man's attempt to control nature. His decision not to kill the bear is a moral choice rooted in his veneration of nature, as well as his desire to break free from the heritage that haunts him. As he can choose not to kill the bear, so can he choose to deny his heritage. In that sense, the meaning of the story exists on two levels simultaneously, both of these arcs come together, however, as a moral awakening.

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It humbles me that someone could (I refer to the past here) write such a short piece in which the main subjects and their struggle are symbols. A damn bear as the symbol of nature and a young boy is mankind in its entirety.
The age of the boy is significant too: The young species that is mankind.
The old bear: Nature that has existed since who knows.

The Barn Burning also has this kind of symbols: The canned food and Sarty's reaction to it,the "nomadic" life style of the family, and of course, the act of barn burning itself.

Not dissimilar to The Bear, I've only had an instance of reading of The Barn Burning.
Due to time constraint coupled with many tasks that which I am required to accomplish, I beg for some assistance regarding this: Why does Sarty's father burn barns? Why does Sarty ultimately betray his father and escape from the family(the place)?

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Originally Posted by Raven Falcon.

Why does Sarty's father burn barns? Why does Sarty ultimately betray his father and escape from the family(the place)?

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Consider the fire Abner builds the night the family camps out before arriving at the de Spain place.The narrator describes the fire Abner builds that night, and the fires he always builds when camping, as "neat. . . almost, shrewd". "Shrewd," in this case, probably means that the fire was built to burn as long as possible on as little wood as possible. The narrator reveals the "true reason" for the small fires:

"The element of fire spoke to the mainspring of his father's being. . . as the one weapon for the preservation of integrity. . . and hence to be regarded with respect and used with discretion."

Without fire, Abner would feel completely powerless and out of control. Fire is the one thing in his life he can control.

As for the second question, reflect upon when Sarty's father asks him to get oil to burn down the de Spain barn. At that moment, when Sarty is in the act of getting the oil and becoming his father's accomplice, he imagines running away and never having "to see [Abner's] face again". Ironically, he feels that he "can't".

Given that Sarty does run away at the end of "Barn Burning," what exactly turns can't into a can? Perhaps it's when he realizes that his father and brother know he doesn't want them to burn down the barn, but are going to do it anyway. Once again, his wishes are brushed aside as unimportant. To overcome "the terrible handicap of being young" , Sarty, over a series of intense movements, makes his presence felt in the world. He does what he thinks is right, and what he wants to do, at once exercising his free will and making a moral stand.