From Boy to Man in Flight, by John Steinbeck and The Bear by William Faulkner :: Faulkner Bear Essays

From Boy to Man in Flight, by John Steinbeck and The transmit by William Faulkner Flight, by John Steinbeck and The Bear by William Faulkner were both stories that dealt with the tour from boyhood to macrocosmhood. They were equivalent in homoy ways, a particularly interesting way was that in both stories, the journey to turn a man was assisted by others, solely ultimately it fell on the lone boy becoming a man on his own. The two boys in the story became men, but in two very different ways. In Flight Pepe is hale to make the transition to manhood as a result of his putting to death a man. He has to face up to the consequences of his actions, and he becomes a man by facing up to his actions. In The Bear, Faulkner portrays the journey to manhood as a less traumatic experience. The boy in the story hears just about the legend of the great Bear, and is consumed by a boyhood longing to become a man by killing the Bear. His journies through the woods and his proficiency as a woods men are metaphors Faulkner presents as an allegorical representation of a persons journey through life, experiencing and mastering the different skills within the journey. When the boy has at last become wise enough to confront the Bear, he realizes that what the Bear stands for is farthest more important than his killing of the Bear ever could be. He realizes that anyone could antiaircraft gun the Bear and kill it, but in the restraint of the boyhood excite for nimbus and respect he finds that he has preserved these virtues in himself and the Bear as well. Steinbeck and Faulkner both portray the defining menstruation of manhood as the point at which a boy must decide between restraining the urge to grasp the respect associated with manhood or grasping for that respect at any cost. Pepe grabbed for the respect when his manhood was challenged, he killed a man, and had to admit he was wrong before he could become a man. The boy from The Bear on the other hand chose not to grab for the respect and anchor ring of manhood when he decided not to shoot the bear, and became a man as a result of that decision.