‘The Bear’ by William Faulkner is part of a longer story called ‘Go Down Moses.’ This part focuses on a teenage boy called Isaac. Briefly summarized, he and a group of hunters he belongs to, want to kill a huge, almost legendary bear they call ‘Old Ben’. This bear apparently, cannot be seriously harmed by bullets or traps. Sam Fathers, a friend of Isaac who is from African American descend and also one of the hunters, trains an enormous dog he names Lion. The dog is raised in such a way he is not afraid of anything, including Old Ben.
The hunting group tries to hunt down Old Ben for a couple of days. After searching a lot without results, they finally find him. Boon Hogganbeck, another member of the crew, stabs the bear in the heart and kills it. Shortly after Sam dies of a heart attack and the dog Lion dies of injuries inflicted by Old Ben.
In chapter 4, Isaac is confronted with his families past. He inherits his fathers farm but learns how his family used to be regarding African-American slaves. After this discovery, he decides to sell the farm.
In the last part of the story Isaac finds Boon sitting under a tree trying to fix his gun. He has gone made and tells Isaac the squirrels who are sitting in the tree are ‘his.’
"They're mine!" he cries. Page 313
‘The Bear’ by William Faulkner is part of a longer story called ‘Go Down Moses.’ This part focuses on a teenage boy called Isaac. Briefly summarized, he and a group of hunters he belongs to, want to kill a huge, almost legendary bear they call ‘Old Ben’. This bear apparently, cannot be seriously harmed by bullets or traps. Sam Fathers, a friend of Isaac who is from African American descend and also one of the hunters, trains an enormous dog he names Lion. The dog is raised in such a way he is not afraid of anything, including Old Ben.
The hunting group tries to hunt down Old Ben for a couple of days. After searching a lot without results, they finally find him. Boon Hogganbeck, another member of the crew, stabs the bear in the heart and kills it. Shortly after Sam dies of a heart attack and the dog Lion dies of injuries inflicted by Old Ben.
In chapter 4, Isaac is confronted with his families past. He inherits his fathers farm but learns how his family used to be regarding African-American slaves. After this discovery, he decides to sell the farm.
In the last part of the story Isaac finds Boon sitting under a tree trying to fix his gun. He has gone made and tells Isaac the squirrels who are sitting in the tree are ‘his.’
"They're mine!" he cries. Page 313
Reception and Analysis
This part of Go Down Moses has got quite some attention in America as many people were not too fond of the fourth section. According to them it did not fit the storyline because of the sudden change. The rest of the book is considered quite understandable because it is told chronological, but Faulkner uses the so called ‘Stream of Consciousness’ technique.
In this case it means means there is almost no interlunation for a significant part in the book. The fact the fourth part almost seems like a different story within a story confused many readers.
Faulkner’s ‘The Bear’, has lots of different kinds of interpretations, but one that is often discussed, is the one that Old Ben reflects mother nature. In the book there are many references to nature regarding how people deal with it. Old Ben reflects mother nature as they are both untameable, unpredictable and sometimes very violent. The group of hunters can be seen as the ‘industrialisation of society’ which was happening at the time. They find ways to tame nature, by using the dog ‘Lion’ against the bear for example. The part at the end, in which Boon says the squirrels are his to kill, reflects how humans have come to think of nature; something that is theirs to destroy or take advantage of. Interesting is that when they kill the bear, Sam gets an heart attack and dies. It is hard to figure out what this means, but Faulkner leaves the reader with a lot of questions to think about. That is also why the bear is so often point of discussion.
This part of Go Down Moses has got quite some attention in America as many people were not too fond of the fourth section. According to them it did not fit the storyline because of the sudden change. The rest of the book is considered quite understandable because it is told chronological, but Faulkner uses the so called ‘Stream of Consciousness’ technique.
In this case it means means there is almost no interlunation for a significant part in the book. The fact the fourth part almost seems like a different story within a story confused many readers.
Faulkner’s ‘The Bear’, has lots of different kinds of interpretations, but one that is often discussed, is the one that Old Ben reflects mother nature. In the book there are many references to nature regarding how people deal with it. Old Ben reflects mother nature as they are both untameable, unpredictable and sometimes very violent. The group of hunters can be seen as the ‘industrialisation of society’ which was happening at the time. They find ways to tame nature, by using the dog ‘Lion’ against the bear for example. The part at the end, in which Boon says the squirrels are his to kill, reflects how humans have come to think of nature; something that is theirs to destroy or take advantage of. Interesting is that when they kill the bear, Sam gets an heart attack and dies. It is hard to figure out what this means, but Faulkner leaves the reader with a lot of questions to think about. That is also why the bear is so often point of discussion.
