The Bear: Part II

The question which we were left with was what is myth? Dr. Larson told us that this whole story was surrounded by the idea of myth. Yet, when myth comes to mind, I immediately think of Greek and Roman stories. Then I think about mythical creatures like the Lock Ness Monster or dragons and the sort. Yet in reality our conceptions about what a myth is couldn't be any further away from its true meaning. A myth is actually a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be in their present form. Hence when reading over Faulkner's story we indeed do come across mythical beings in it. First off we have the Bear. How more mythical can we get than that? The bear is the legend of the being who roams the forest and cannot be killed. At the same time there is so much more surrounding the existance of the bear. This meaning impacts the lives of these men who travel for the sole purpose of seeing him. This reminds me of a pilgramage people traditionally do in the name of religion. These types of pilgramages are used to guide people and their spiritual experiences, much like these men that go hunting. To them, nature, the bear and hunting is in their spirit.