Comparison of "Spotted Horses" &"The Bear" "S

"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 surroundin

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umorous short story, it says much about the relationships between men and women of that time. Boon is colorfully described in "The Bear" as someone who never changes his clothes. He smells so bad that the other hunters do not let the hunting dogs sleep in the same room as Boon because it might spoil their sense of smell for the hunt. His immature antics range from trying to borrow a dollar from the youngster to carousing in the tavern. In contrast, the boy is so serious that he does not even drink a lemonade in the tavern. The themes explored in the two works seem to differ. "Spotted Horses" employs the theme of a contest, pitting amateurs against professionals, exploring extreme evidence of greed and exploitation. This story yields, through the irrational antics of the participants, insights into morality, responsibility, human frailty, and justice. This seems to be one of Faulkner's aims, to convey information about the bigger picture of humanity, something about the human condition, the struggles of the individual person as he makes his way in the world. The theme of "The Bear" appears to be the hunt, man against the wilderness, and the rite of passage of a boy into manhood through learning to hunt and learning who
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Approximate Word count = 1656
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)