Faulkner’s novella “The Bear” from his collection of works, Go Down Moses, is a symbolic exploration of the relationship between man and nature in the eyes of a young boy. The heart of the issue, the warped idea of the ownership of land, is revealed thought the clash of man and nature in a wild chase that ends only in blood and death. The prey is nature itself, represented by a bear, while the hunters are men, full of greed and destructive possessiveness, pursuing that which they do not understand.
Ike’s idea of the bear, presented in section 1 of the novella, expresses the idea of symbolism in relation to the bear and to the hunters and what the battle between the two represents. The bear itself, Old Ben, is a symbol for nature in what he spiritually embodies. He is described by Ike as being “too big,” a monster that “loomed and towered” (193) over the young boy, the bear was something to fear. Men “tried to ride it down” (193) and shoot bullets into it’s hide, but the bear lived on, never hurt or phased by the “little puny humans. (194) It continued to pillage the farms near the woods, stealing crops and mutilating animals, earning for himself the name of Old Ben and an infamy “like a living man. ” (192) As soon as Old Ben took on an identity, he became more than just a bear, but rather a symbol for nature as a whole. Ike refers to Old Ben as big, which is parallel to the name he has bestowed upon the woods, the “big woods. ” (192) The transition from beast to spiritual entity, while retaining fear, represent how man views nature as terrifying and violent, something he must conquer.
The Essay on Views Of Mans Nature
Mans nature can be looked at in many different ways. Observing a few of the several views helps one to appreciate all of the positive and negative characteristics man has brought forth. The majority of the views are negative, or pessimistic, and they are attracted to the thought of whether man has any hope, whereas the positive views focus on the outstanding needs and abilities of man. Christmas ...
The hunters’ adamant desire to destroy Old Ben shows their truly destructive nature, as the men refuse to acknowledge that they are the ones invading nature and slowly destroying it for their own benefit. Old Ben is a victim of greed, yet he shows no fear, he refuses to hide, and thus expresses nature’s passion for freedom and its indomitable will that refuses to be conquered, at least not without a fight. It is Ike’s admiration of these traits in the passage that lead him to the realization that ownership of the land is evil and wrong, the spirit of nature cannot be so easily tamed.
Upon his first encounter with the woods, Ike is lost in wonder, it has been his dream for as long as he could remember to join the men on the hunt and explore the beauty of the big woods. What sets Ike apart from the other men, however, is his wonder of the wilderness, not just of its size, but of what mysteries it contains. When he arrives he feels the need “to earn for himself from the wilderness the name and state of hunter provided he in his term were humble and enduring enough. (192) Ike doesn’t desire the approval of any of the other hunter, his cousin, or even his wise mentor Sam Fathers. Instead he knows that the right to claim the name of hunter lies in earning the approval “from the wilderness” and to do so he must be “humble and enduring. ” (192) Those words do not seem to fit with the violent acts of the other hunters; to them the ability to shoot and kill is all that really matters, hence the disrespect for Boon and the position of Walter Ewell as a senior hunter.
By using gentle words Faulkner states that there is more to “hunting” than killing, what Ike desires and seeks to prove himself worthy of is belonging to nature, to feel its beauty and strength running through him. Without this sense of approval and belonging from the woods, Ike feels he is unworthy to take the life of an animal and to use what he has gained from death to improve his own life. It is Ike’s unique view of nature and the bear that result in his seemingly insane decision about giving up the plantation.
When Old Ben dies, he is killed by Boon, whose rash and violent actions symbolize human destructiveness and desire to possess. Boon wanted to possess and tame Lion, but Lion was a beast and died in the fight with the Bear, whom Boon killed. This death is what shocked Ike into realizing how wrong it is for a human to try and possess an animal, a beast, or anything that belonged to the wilderness, including the land itself.
The Term Paper on There is no Such Thing as the Essential Nature of Man
What is a human identity, why do we have an urge to separate ourselves from animals and seek individualism as a species? Is there such a thing as an essential nature of man? In order to determine this, we must first define what an essential nature is. The dictionary defines nature as: 1. The material world and its phenomena. 2. The forces and processes that produce and control all the phenomena of ...
Boon was not worthy of taking the life of Old Ben, he had not earned the right from the old woods, and this loss is felt heavily by Ike, he begins to carry the spirit of Old Ben and the wilderness with him, using its power and strength to right the wrongs man has done to the land. This is the reasoning behind Ike’s refusal to take over the plantation, he knows man cannot “own” land, it is a wild and free thing that has its own spirit, and it is the violent breaking of this spirit by ploughs and axes that led to the downfall of the South.
Men there wouldn’t stop at just land, their greed and desire to possess extended to humans and the abomination of slavery, which led to bloodshed, pain, and loss in the Civil War. Ike knew he had to right these wrongs in order to earn his right to live in nature, in this world, so he renounced the red-stained land and returned dues to the wronged other half of his family in attempt to heal the land and the people he wronged. Although Ike knows he can never truly undo the damages done, the spirit of Old Ben running inside him pushed him to do the best he could.
Man’s twisted belief that anything can be owned, land or person, is destroying nature, slowly killing it until it can fight no more, just as the hunters perused Old Ben. Ike knows this, he knows man is killing his means of life and even himself, and to pay his resects to nature he tries the right the wrongs of his family, but even as Ike stands up for nature, he knows he is fighting a losing battle. The natural world will die at the cruel and greedy hands of humanity.
