This paper highlights the affinity of Faulkner towards the wilderness exemplarily for his story “The Bear” and regard its function and meaning from different perspectives. It tries to find a category to put the story into and illustrates the fact that there are several functions the wilderness has and represents in the story. Those functions include the two main topics, the educational function and the aim for calling the reader’s attention to the destruction of this once untouched nature area. The following work will focus on this two main functions and tries to present them in an understandable way by giving references to in-text-quotations, historical background, and references to other examples out of Faulkner’s works.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Naturalistic Perspective
3. Faulkner’s Background and Environmental Context
4. Symbols and Mythical Qualities
5. The Symbolic System: Bear and Hunters
6. Educational Function of the Wilderness
7. Bildungsroman Structure
8. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
This paper examines William Faulkner’s short story "The Bear" to analyze the multifaceted functions of the wilderness, exploring how it serves as a symbol for environmental destruction and as an educational space for the protagonist's moral development.
- The wilderness as a symbol for nature and its inevitable destruction.
- Faulkner’s use of naturalistic and mythical elements to critique Southern society.
- The role of the wilderness in the psychological and moral education of Ike McCaslin.
- The intersection of historical guilt and the rape of the land in the American South.
- The application of the Bildungsroman genre to the protagonist’s coming-of-age journey.
Excerpt from the Book
Faulkner’s Wilderness in The Bear
William Faulkner is one of the great American novelists of the 20th century. His works, mostly written in the state of Mississippi, made him to a very important writer of the so-called Southern literature of the United States. He is named together with the great Southern writers of that time, just like Mark Twain, Flannery O‘Connor, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty or Harper Lee. In his stories Faulkner often includes wilderness as space in which human beings act, react and experience. His wilderness, in most of the stories it occurs, is presented through accurate descriptions of woods, deep, wild and overgrown woods of the Mississippi area. In “The Bear”, the centerpiece of his highly regarded 1942 short story collection “Go Down, Moses”, which is often considered by critics as a complete novel and not just as a short story collection, four of the five chapters the story contains, play in this wilderness as well.
This paper highlights the affinity of Faulkner towards the wilderness exemplarily for his story “The Bear” and regard its function and meaning from different perspectives. It tries to find a category to put the story into and illustrates the fact that there are several functions the wilderness has and represents in the story. Those functions include the two main topics, the educational function and the aim for calling the reader’s attention to the destruction of this once untouched nature area. The following work will focus on this two main functions and tries to present them in an understandable way by giving references to in-text-quotations, historical background, and references to other examples out of Faulkner’s works.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents William Faulkner as a central figure of Southern literature and introduces the primary focus on "The Bear" and its portrayal of the wilderness.
2. Naturalistic Perspective: Analyzes the story through the lens of naturalism, focusing on the struggle between man and the primitive forces of nature.
3. Faulkner’s Background and Environmental Context: Examines how Faulkner’s personal history and the historical environmental exploitation of the Mississippi Delta inform the narrative.
4. Symbols and Mythical Qualities: Explores the symbolic layers of the story, including the bear as a personification of the wilderness and the role of myth in Southern literature.
5. The Symbolic System: Bear and Hunters: Details the binary opposition between the mythic, phantom-like bear and the rapacious, guilty hunters.
6. Educational Function of the Wilderness: Discusses how the wilderness acts as a teacher for Ike McCaslin, instilling moral and spiritual values.
7. Bildungsroman Structure: Categorizes the narrative as a Bildungsroman, tracing Ike’s psychological and moral growth into manhood.
8. Conclusion: Summarizes the thematic synthesis of the story as a complex mixture of genres that critiques human destruction while celebrating moral enlightenment.
Keywords
William Faulkner, The Bear, Wilderness, Southern Literature, Naturalism, Symbolism, Myth, Environmental Destruction, Bildungsroman, Ike McCaslin, Moral Development, Sam Fathers, Rapacity, Nature, Mississippi Delta
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this academic paper?
The paper focuses on the symbolic and educational functions of the wilderness in William Faulkner’s story "The Bear" and how it reflects broader themes of environmental destruction in the American South.
What are the primary thematic areas explored in the analysis?
The analysis covers the naturalistic elements of the hunt, the symbolic representation of the bear, the historical exploitation of the land, and the moral coming-of-age journey of the protagonist, Ike McCaslin.
What is the central research objective?
The objective is to categorize "The Bear" within literary frameworks while illustrating how the wilderness serves both as a victim of human greed and as an instructor for human moral growth.
Which scientific or literary methods are applied?
The author uses a literary analysis approach, drawing on genre definitions like naturalism and the Bildungsroman, and supports arguments through historical context and critical literary citations.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main sections move from a naturalistic interpretation to a deep analysis of symbolism, historical background, and the educational role of the wilderness in shaping the protagonist's values.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include William Faulkner, The Bear, Wilderness, Symbolism, Myth, Environmental Destruction, Bildungsroman, and Moral Development.
How does the author interpret the death of the bear?
The bear's death is interpreted as a symbolic marker for the irreversible destruction of the wilderness by rapacious human forces and the end of an old, untamed way of life.
Why is the character of Sam Fathers considered contradictory?
Sam Fathers is contradictory because he represents a deep, spiritual connection to nature, yet he facilitates the hunt and helps the men destroy the very creature that embodies the wild he loves.
What role does the "Bildungsroman" genre play in the analysis?
The author uses the concept of the Bildungsroman to explain Ike McCaslin's psychological development from a pure boy into a man who learns moral values, courage, and a respect for nature through his experiences in the woods.
- Quote paper
- Timo Dersch (Author), 2011, Faulkner's Wilderness in "The Bear", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/180140
