William Faulkner makes extensive use of setting and themes in the story "The Bear". The most important idea of Faulkner's are the relationship of man to nature, the brutal racial conflict at the heart of southern life, and the nature of inheritance, which specifically deals with the property and characteristics, particularly as passed down from father to son. The idea of nature relates the impact on the pathway of individual life and on the public, cultural society at that period of time.
Faulkner's most intense, focused, and symbolic exploration of the relationship of man and nature are the characteristics of stories in which every action is connected to nature; it is hard to control Mother Nature. He also makes use of the animals to represent the values held by the main characters and to reflect the state of mind of the characters. Old Ben, the legendary bear, is the symbol of the power and inscrutability of nature. "He is nearly immortal, nearly invulnerable, capable of overpowering virtually anything, and capable of wreaking havoc on human settlements and establishments"(P.212). The men, who put their mind to work on the single purpose of hunting him, are in a way representative of man's drive to control nature. Old Ben represents the nobility of the "Old South" and is described as "fierce and ruthless not just to stay alive but ruthless with the fierce pride of liberty and freedom, jealous and proud enough of liberty and freedom to see it threatened not with fear nor even alarm but almost with joy"(P. 447). The bear is a virtually mythic force, and only over the course of year are the men able to bring him down. Faulkner uses the wood in which the main action of the story takes place, the animals in those woods, and the historical setting of his novel represent the values held by main characters. The hunting of the bear takes place in the woods in Mississippi owned by Major de Spain.
