From the Womb to the Woods

A young boy ventures into the woods for the first time embracing traditions he was only able to view from an outsider’s perspective. Now, at only 10 years of age he is ready to participate in hunting traditions that will push him into manhood. The woods, where the hunting traditions take place, is a spiritual development breeding ground where the youth embraces maturity. There are some who enter the woods that do not respect nature and use unjust means to get what they want.

In Faulkner’s The Bear, the woods is a metaphor for the world in which a newborn baby enters. It is the loss of innocence a child experiences as they grow apart from their parents. The destined path of a college student is a journey we must walk in order to break away and utilize the gifts God blessed us with and find our place in the world. Perhaps some things in the woods were not meant to be hunted and killed, but sought after to further mature and educate the young boy. The bear out-smarted the hunters every year until they abandoned their usual methods of hunting and physically killed the bear with a knife. Taking the easy way out may not always be the best solution so being mindful of the bears in our lives is vital to our maturity. These are the lessons Faulkner teaches us while we venture the woods to find clarity.