"The Bear" by William Faulkner.

 

“The Bear,” a review by Begoña Rodríguez Varela

“Into the wind” By Marion Rose (Pic chosen by Begoña Rodríguez Varela). Click here for source

“Only the heart knows , only the heart sees”

True. It is through Ike´s eyes that we get absorbed in the story of The Bear, of his own self and the South. This is a physical, spiritual and intellectual journey. But….Is the heart always infallible?

Initially, after some trial - and - error experiences, Ike, alone, meets old Ben, without any modern devices. It is only then, when He turns around and looks at Ike in the eyes, mirror-reflection like, there it is…..the Bear, his alma mater, a creature in Nature.

Then, the frantic chasing of old Ben, amidst suspense, takes place and the narrative runs attuned with the chase, keeping the pace. It all ends up with the epic combat between Lion, savage-childlike Boon and the Bear. Death ensues.

Lion and Sam are buried under the Gum tree, a holy tree, whereas the immortal Bear is somewhere in the Woods, where nothing ever dies, but transforms into a myriad of forms, shapes, scents and colours; a swerve that goes from the local to the universal and back. Superb.

Immediately, thereafter , in a vivid powerful conversation with “clever” Cass (without verba dicendi), Ike concludes that he cannot own the land after learning about his past. In a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, we are told about the rape of the land, slavery, miscegenation and…about how his uncles tried to redeem the sins by giving the land in manumission. Not enough for him.

Finally, we are flooded with Ike´s emotions and memories through sheer interior monologue technique. In an unstoppable stream of thoughts and unending sentences, we know about his opinions on God, the Civil War and the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, the Emancipation of slaves, the North and the South and landowners as well as carpetbaggers,the Ku Klux Klan ….in short, perpetuated sins.

So, Ike has no choice but to repudiate the land. He can´t shoulder the burden and ”Several generations will pass before the right thing is done”. He chooses freedom. He “will laugh.”

Ironically, his Idealism, his high values take him to evasion and self-immolation….But after all, endurance and resilience is what he learnt there, in the timeless Wilderness, from old Ben, the Bear.