Ecocritical Interpretation Of The Wilderness In The Bear

William Faulkner, the winner of Nobel Prize for literature, is one of the most important and world-renowned modern novelists in America. His works not only concern about people’s inner world, but also pay attention to the outside world and the relationship between mankind and the natural world. The Bear is a great literary classic among those works, in which Faulkner explores and interprets the relationship between man and nature, showing his love towards the southern society before the American Civil War and his anxiety about the invasion of industrial civilization through the description of hunting life and the representation of wilderness images.Based on the concept of the wilderness in ecocriticism, this thesis attempts to explore the ecological embodiments, ecological implications and ecological revelations of the wilderness through the analysis of the wilderness description, wilderness images and narrative plot in The Bear. It intends to illustrate Faulkner’s deep feelings towards the wilderness and his earnest concern about the relationship between mankind and nature.Besides introduction and conclusion, this thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter1concentrates on the ecological embodiments of the wilderness in The Bear. In addition to the wilderness in the novel, there are still some people and things associated with the wilderness. Faulkner made a series of description of them such as destruction of big forest, resistance of Old Ben, savagery and struggle of Lion, and tragic ending of Sam Fathers and Boon Hogganbeck, all of which are the specific ecological embodiments of the wilderness in The Bear. Chapter2mainly explores the ecological implications of the wilderness. Wilderness itself is abundant in connotation, and its implications are particularly broader in The Bear, which are mainly related to three points such as a large forest without axes and saws, school to learn moral traditions for Ike, and symbol for human desire to conquer nature. Chapter3focuses on the ecological revelations of the wilderness in The Bear. The vast and dense forest in the novel leaves a deep impression on readers. However, with the development of industrial civilization, large areas of deforestation appear. Human beings have gradually destroyed the wilderness and restless people begin to look for spiritual freedom and tranquility. Human beings start to realize that, only when they live in harmony with the wilderness, protect the wilderness and return to the wilderness, can the harmony between man and nature be established.From the above analysis, this thesis aims to demonstrate the ecological embodiments of the wilderness in The Bear, and its ecological implications of the wilderness as well as the ecological revelations of the wilderness for human beings. The Bear not only narrates a hunting story under a vivid background of the wilderness, but also shows that if human beings continue to destroy the wilderness and the environment, then they will be punished severely. Therefore, this novel reveals the necessity for human beings to protect the wilderness and the environment, and to possess the eco-consciousness to be in harmony with nature, respect nature, and treat nature in a friendly way.