The Bear: Wilderness

Faulkner’s, The Bear, is replete with ideas and experiences of “the wilderness,” yet this term, “wilderness,” is more ambiguous than I once thought.  In this novel, Faulkner creates a wilderness setting that is both physical and personal.  One can easily see the physical characteristics of the wilderness described in such things as the ruggedness of the landscape or hunting.  However, Faulkner also inspires a sense of wilderness in the individual, one that it somewhat indefinable.  As I see it, this type of wilderness seems to be different for each individual.  Someone suggested in class today that perhaps wilderness is just as much society and large cities for some people as the rugged woods and vast expanses of nature are for others, and I completely agree with this.  In this sense, of the many definitions that could apply to wilderness, one notion is wilderness as simply what is unknown to an individual, in the larger sense of society, habitat, or culture.  For example, while Ike is said to go into the wilderness and have a sense of freedom, maybe this only suggests the opposite, that the physical wilderness of the woods, nature, etc. are actually his home and where he feels most comfortable at, while his more cultivated home and life are truly his individual wilderness because he does not feel as at rest there.  One example from the novel that really emboldened this idea for me was how Ike had been waiting and anticipating his first hunting trip and journey into nature up until he was 10 years old.  Furthermore, when he was able to go, the whole situation seemed very natural to him.  Faulkner even writes, "It seemed to him that at the age of ten he was witnessing his own birth. It was not even strange to him. He had experienced it all before, and not merely in dreams" (Faulkner 189-190).

The Bear: 1

William Faulkner’s, The Bear, was the first work I have read by this author.  I found his writing style difficult to understand at times, and the subject of hunting somewhat hard to relate to.  However, I did enjoy Faulkner’s displays and descriptions of the awesomeness of nature.  The freedom and innocence portrayed through the wilderness, Old Bear, Sam Fathers, and Ike is so refreshing and pure.  I also enjoyed Faulkner’s inclusion of the Native American race and its tie to the land, which I feel is often overlooked.  Growing up in South Dakota has only proved that the Native Americans still very much feel this tie to their land, and it is incredibly destructive to their lives and pride when they are suppressed by the new people and development of what was once their land.  Although the character’s hard to keep straight and the narration seemed somewhat “stream-of-conscience,” I enjoyed this novel and its’ ties to nature.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, 2.

I guess I could say I am a little overwhelmed with the task of inferring the significance of the title of Zora Neale Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were Watching God.  In the novel, the phrase itself is used in Chapter 18 when Teacake and Janie are waiting out the hurricane in the shanty and Hurston writes, “…They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might aginst His.  They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (Hurston 160).  From this passage, and the book as a whole, it seems that Hurston is showing that nature, whether it’s physical or emotional is not in the hands of the people, but in a higher power such as God.  The book does not actually have large religious undertones, but in situations such as the hurricane, or in Janie’s pursuit of the true feeling and connection of love, there is definitely a source much more powerful and in control than the individual, and this higher source is God.   

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Although I have not yet had the opportunity to begin reading Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, I am truly looking forward to getting started.  Thanks to joyous exclamations by my roommate who had previously read it and some reviews I read about it, this book seems to include a number of themes that I enjoy in my literature.  Basing my assumptions off of reviews and the summary inside the cover, I am eagerly approaching this as a historical and cultural novel with a female protagonist, who lives out underlying themes of love, growth, and community.  While this seems like a very engaging skeletal structure for a book, I hope to go into reading it without too many expectations.  My weekend of reading awaits…

A Room with a View: A Bildungsroman

E.M. Forster’s, A Room with a View, easily qualifies as a bildungsroman.  The self-cultivation, characteristic of such novels, is clearly seen in the character of Lucy Honeychurch.  After today’s discussion, I cannot stop thinking about the incredible differences between the characters of Lucy and Cecil.  Their attitudes and outlooks on life differ so extensively, that by the end of novel one can almost feel the grinding of personalities.  However, Cecil proves very useful as a foil to the psychological, internal, and social growth and development of Lucy.  Cecil is so learned in his ways that he forgets to feel or to think for himself.  It is this static, pompous, mechanistic lifestyle that brilliantly emboldens Lucy’s thoughts, feelings, and passions.  While Lucy is torn between status and passion throughout the book, it is beautiful to see her walls of comfort and familiarity begin to crack and eventually crumble, as she takes baby steps outside of what is deemed and starts to truly experience life.  By the end of the novel, Lucy has learned to listen to her drives, her feelings, her intellect, etc. and is living HER OWN life.  What’s more is that she is HAPPY.  I find this exceptionally enlightening and refreshing.  

Marriage and Society

It is interesting to see the situation that Lucy goes through relating to marriage and society in A Room with a View, because it is not so different from some of the situations ladies today have to go through when they want to get married.  Although it is certainly not to the same extreme as it was in the book, and the classes of society are not as distinctly split; racial, financial, occupational, and familial characteristics/status are still very present today.  For Lucy, she had the choice of following her own heart, and marrying a man that she loves and that loves her, but was considered a bit “below her” in society.  Then there was Cecil, who was the “obvious choice” to her family because of his wealth, status, and education, but Lucy did not love him.  George seems to be the obvious choice today, and one would say to follow your heart.  However, I am still convinced, even through some personal experiences, that friends and families still take status into consideration.

A Room with a View: First Thoughts

E.M. Forster’s novel, A Room with a View, is a welcome change from Twain’s, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Call me a romantic, or maybe just girly, but a story line filled with love and romance would sell me any day, much more than a descriptive adventure tale.  A Room with a View was a refreshing read in that it was quick and easy to follow, yet still hit on some deeper issues.  Through his unconventional characters and well-developed plot, Forster offers an almost humorous critique of England society in the early 19^th century.  While I did not read the background on this book and how the people received it, I would imagine that it was a wake-up call to the people of that time period.  Furthermore, while it may seem cliché today, it was enjoyable to have Lucy choose her own path over the more conventional or “suitable” one.