The Bear

Literary romanticism embodies themes such as the cultivation of emotion and sensation for their own sake, the tendency toward free thought, and the revolt against political authority and social convention among others. However, two other components of romanticism are the belief that man is innately good in his natural state and a reverence for nature. It is these two components that we most clearly see in the character of Isaac McCaslin and the action and setting of Faulkner's The Bear. The theme underlying this story centering around Ike, a young and inexperienced hunter, is the nobility of character that can be gleaned from an existence in nature, i.e. the wilderness.

The bear, Old Ben, represents unvarnished, free, and wild nature. The story details Ike's initiation as a hunter but more importantly it is the story of his learn

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Category: Literature - T