Comparison of "Spotted Horses" and "The Bear
"Spotted Horses" and "The Bear," two short stories by William Faulkner, reveal similarities and differences which broadly encompass his richness in style. This discussion relates a comparison and contrast of the two works in terms of style, plot, theme, characterization, and other characteristics of the two pieces.
The first easily apparent difference is that of length. "Spotted Horses" is a short story. "The Bear" is rather long to be categorized as a short story but rather short to be called a novel . Perhaps it is a novella or a novelette. The styles are also rather different, although each is fully representative of Faulkner's powerful use of the descriptive word. "Spotted Horses" is a funny story about horse trading, told in an understated manner, mostly through conversation and terse descriptions of the people and their interactions. "The Bear" is quite different from "Spotted Horses," being more of an allegory of the initiation of a boy into manhood through the experiences of conquering the wilderness and learning about his own heritage. It is told mainly from the point of view of Ike, the young boy, but there is little conversation. Mostly narration and an interesting device of a log of events convey the maturation of the boy of rural Mississippi.
Both pieces use folk humor and characters drawn from the rural south. Mrs. Littlejohn rather sarcastically sums up her feminine view of the men's antics surrounding the auction of wild horses. When Mr. Tull is brought into her house, injured and unconscious, she remarks, "I'll declare, you men . . . Go outside. See if you can't find something else to play with that will kill some more of you" (Faulkner, 1966, p. 44). The whole pretense of the horse sale and the eagerness of the community to attend, even though it was unplanned and spur-of-the-moment, shows the utter boredom of small town and rural living. The stere...