My first encounter with Faulkner in As I Lay Dying was less than pleasant. The Bear was a little more BEARable, but not by much.
I didn't really get much out of this reading besides man's attempt to control nature. Then once nature is conquered, we realize it was not our's to conquer in the first place. Isaac (and Faulkner) follow the Native American ideology about land ownership and respect for nature. Old Ben was majestic and powerful and seemed to have authority over all nature. Isaac had opportunities to kill Old Ben but didn't because he respected him.The hunters even seemed to think they had an understanding with him, as if they could negotiate with a bear! Isaac believed that nature was for the benefit of everyone and should not be owned by any one person, and hunting Old Ben with the intention to kill was an attempt to own and conquer him.
Commented on Lane's
I was thinking about the whole sort of Native American influence on the symbolism of the bear too. I feel like the bear is in a way like the earth in the sense that it always represented power and ferocity. It also was said to have been connected with man, which I think viewing the bear in relation to humanity is kind of interesting.
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