The Bear (vol. II)

The wilderness has always been a region which has captivated the imagination. Personally, the “wilderness” is the places on the planet which are free from the taint of human society. Hence, one man alone in a forest is still the wilderness because he cannot have society with himself. Philosophers throughout the centuries have been fascinated with the wilderness, particularly post-Enlightenment thought. Thomas Hobbes believed man’s greatest achievement was leaving the wild, a place of endless fighting, to enter into society. Conversely, Jean Jacques Rousseau believed it was society which corrupted man and that the goodness of man was found in nature. As such, moderns have a love hate relationship with the wilderness. We seem drawn to it, as if the trees themselves have some secret about our humanity to tell to us while at the same time we are enslaved by a desire to dominate it. The Bear demonstrates the tension as Isaac is instilled with the virtues of the forest but at the same time part of a group hoping to conquer the wilderness. Though Old Ben is killed and although man continues to conquer the wilderness, the victory comes at a cost. For many members of the hunting group, they do not understand what has been lost but simply reflect in nostalgic sorrow. I think the cost of the destruction of the wilderness is that we lose the sacred group upon which humans from the dawn of the species have been instilled with that restless, nervous energy; that dominant force to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

The Bear (vol. I)

American historian Frederick Jackson Turner in his work, The Frontier in American History, argues that the early frontier of the United States was shaped the very fabric of the American soul. Turner claimed that the frontier formed a character marked by, “that practical inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things... that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism.” In essence, Turner argued that the colonists had not mastered the wilderness, the wilderness first mastered the settlers. Similarly, William Faulkner’s The Bear explores the way in which the wilderness shapes the character of Isaac McCaslin. In many ways, Faulkner’s observations parallel Turner’s as displayed in McCaslin’s observation, “It was of the…hunters, with the will and hardiness to endure and the humility and skill to survive…within the wilderness in the ancient and unremitting contest” (186). The wilderness of The Bear is a sacred place in which men are instilled with the most important virtues of pride, humility, and courage. The theme is similar to other portrayals of nature seen in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and A Room With a View where nature is a place that draws out the raw essence of man. Faulkner’s wilderness acts in much the same way but goes a step further by molding the soul of man into one with a “restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism” which reflects the American spirit.

Their Eyes Were Watching God (vol. III)

Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is certainly a bildungsroman. However, the growth of Janie is not as obvious and not in similar ways as characters in the works previously read. While Harry had his moment of accepting his own fate and Huck has his decision to go to Hell rather than allow Jim to return to slavery, Janie’s growth seems to slip in past the reader’s radar. The development of Janie’s character springs from her well of love which she desires to share with a man in a beautiful marriage. However, her first marriages only succeed in tarnishing her vision and forcing Janie to retreat into herself. But Janie’s marriage to Tea Cake allows Janie to open up and to express all the love she had buried for so love. The true growth in the novel is Janie’s understanding of how to love and be love and how that looks. Janie survives countless storms which sweep through her life and by the end of the novel has discovered the power of love.

Their Eyes Were Watching God (vol. II)

The title for Hurston’s work is found during the scene in which Janie and Tea Cake are deciding what to do before the hurricane hits. Hurston writes, “their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (160). The hurricane seems to be a physical manifestation of the internal storms which have swept through Janie’s life. Her marriages to Logan and to Joe both presented forces which radically shaped her life. While the characters in the novel do not appear to be especially spiritual, they do exist against the backdrop of forces beyond their control. Hurston’s characters wrestle with attempting to better their conditions against the hands played by the forces of this world. Nanny must work her entire life to present an opportunity for Janie to succeed. Janie views her marriage to Tea Cake as God finally opening up the door for her into enter into love (150). The black woman of Hurston’s novel is subject to every imaginable force, both made by man (socio-economic status) and by God (fate), and must strive to forge her way through them. Their eyes watch God to see if He will present a new obstacle or to open a new door. Janie’s story presents a reality in which we are all watching God and making the best of what He decides.

Their Eyes Were Watching God (vol. I)

In Hurston’s novel, the main character Janie weds three different men at three points in her life. These marriages offer different dynamics and expose Janie to new perspectives through which she ultimately discovers the meaning of love. Janie’s earliest thoughts on marriage were that “husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21). Her first marriage is arranged by her grandmother to a well-off man named Logan Killicks. While financially secure, Janie and Logan were not in love with one another. Their marriage was something which would better be described as co-inhabitance. In search of love, Janie runs off with the ambitious Joe Starks. While Logan treated Janie as less than equal, Joe promises to place Janie on a pedestal. But even though the marriage begins well, Janie soon realizes she has traded on extreme for another. She becomes untouchable to the outside world, a jewel reserved only for Joe to cherish. The type of love Janie experiences in her first to relationships is an unconfident love which seeks to control her lest she run off with someone else. However in her third marriage to Tea Cake, Janie finds the love she had been searching for. Tea Cake treats Janie as an equal and returns Janie’s love equally. Perhaps this is Hurston’s greatest teaching of love: Love does not bind, it does not envy, love seeks the lowest places and raises them to equal footing.

A Room With a View (vol. III)

I think that Forster’s A Room With A View qualifies as a bildungsroman but the transformation of Lucy is so seemingly natural the work stands in contrast to the other works we have read. Lucy faces no undefeated wizards who seek to kill her nor does she face the challenges of the mighty Mississippi. Rather, Lucy’s challenges take place in a literary world not too distant from our own. Lucy’s character is not one with hidden power to save the world, but a hidden power to save her soul. Lucy exists in a world of convention and social structure designed to make life pleasant and easy. Whether at home or abroad, Lucy’s world works to ensure that no discomfort befalls her. However, much like Huckleberry Finn, Lucy discovers that the world of convention does not contain the truths of the soul or the key to true happiness. Indeed, an entire world of love and passion has been condemned by her society. Lucy’s greatest growth and victory is to leave the common world of the safe to venture into the dangerous world of passion.

A Room with a View (vol. II)

Everything I ever learned about marriage I learned by watching my parents. Once, talking with my father, he instructed, “when you get married you have to lose the me and you mentality. There is no my wants, my dreams, my goals…only ours.” Perhaps all the poets and writers of our time have sought to find answer to simply put. Throughout the work, at the heart of Lucy resides a desire to find a husband which she can stand beside (not behind). Forster writes, "[Lucy] desired, not a wider dwelling-room, but equality beside the man she loved” (108). The modern world has thrown out old romantic visions of marriage as a union between two people consumed by a living force we call love. But perhaps for all its mocking, we moderns still desire to love deeply and to be loved deeply. The social constraints placed upon Lucy which attempt to deter her from true love are not unlike the rational, mental barriers placed upon people today. Yet no matter how hard the Miss Bartletts and Mr. Vyses try, man cannot seem to lord over love. What George calls fate, Forster displays as the destiny of man: to be driven to find love, the source of the only true happiness in life.

A Room with a View (vol. I)

The master poet William Shakespeare once penned, “Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart courage to make love known?” Humans may be the highest member of the evolutionary chain with the reasoning capacity to decipher the mysteries of the universe and yet these beings are moved beyond logic by emotions which seem beyond their control. No explanation by neuroscientists, biologists, sociologists, and psychologists has been able to explain the phenomenon of love in a satisfactory manner. Yet the passion which our society of today heralds in anthems such as, “all you need is love” has not always been in vogue. Philosophers and poets throughout the centuries have wrestled with the emotion and society has changed its views on love like the rolling of the tide. At various points in history, philosophers urged mankind to govern himself with pure reason and not to be ruled by his emotions. Yet, there is something which seems odd to humanity about this proposition so attempts to stifle human expression have always ultimately failed. But perhaps these attempts are not without merit, emotions of jealousy and “love” have led to many wars. But as Forster observes, “a shamefaced world of precautions and barriers which may avert evil, but which do not seem to bring good, if we may judge from those who have used them both” (76). His work begs the question of what path truly is most noble: the safe following of convention or “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” by following passion?

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (vol. III)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is certainly a bildungsroman. The litmus test for the growth of Huck is presented to the reader via the appearance of Tom Sawyer at the beginning and the end of the work. In the beginning of the work, Tom and Huck are seen running around their small town causing mischief as the boys follow the childish fantasies of Tom. Huck’s interaction with Jim is limited to a scene in which Tom wants to play a prank on the sleeping man but Huck argues it would be a bad idea and could possibly get them into trouble. Huck begins his journey with a slight suspicion but unending loyalty to Tom’s plans and little concern for Jim. However, Huck’s perspectives change over the course of his travels down the river with Jim. By the time Huck reaches Aunt Sally’s house, Huck sees Jim as a valuable friend who Huck is willing to be condemned to Hell to rescue out of slavery. The reappearance of Tom at the end of the work serves as a book end to the novel. The episode which occurs is in many ways the same adventures which were had at the beginning of the novel but now these final chapters seem out of place. Huck no longer sees as much value in Tom’s schemes and is intently concerned with Jim’s well being. Huck’s interaction with Tom Sawyer at the beginning and the end of the novel clearly demonstrates that by the end of his raft journey Huck has matured into a young adult who has rejected conventional morality to save a friend.