William Faulkner's The Bear

It is moments of decisions that shape your own destiny, not decisions of others. In the story, “The Bear,” Faulkner conveys a theme of how negative aspects of one’s ancestry will not decide future generations’ fate by the use of characterization and symbolism.
To reveal how the wrong doings of ancestors does not determine what one will become, Faulkner uses the characterization of Isaac McCaslin. Ike’s believes “that what he [finds] is how his grandfather impregnated one of his slaves and then, in turn, impregnated the daughter he and that slave produced together,” (Themes and construction) which creates a shameful moment of Ike’s feelings about his family descendants. Reason being because the plantation was built upon slavery, (Themes and
Sam Fathers is “the son of Ikkemotubbe, the Choctaw chief, and a slave-girl.”(Plot summary) Therefore, “he is the descendent of both chiefs and slaves” (Plot summary) where he represents an aspect of humans and his willingness role he is given in society. (Anna) However, Sam and his mother were sold into slavery by Ikkemotubbe, but later on he became an expert in hunting and a father figure to Ike. (Kinney) This shows that even though he was sold into slavery by his father, he was not bound by that, he decided to do better. Sam symbolizing how nature wanted to be treated, and “[Ike] entered his novitiate to the true wilderness with Sam beside him as he had begun his apprenticeship in miniature to manhood [with] Sam beside him.” (Faulkner 189) He gave Ike knowledge that true nature is without material tools like “the gun,” (Faulkner 200) for he “will have to choose” (Faulkner 200) revealing the strength and challenge of life. So alone Ike made the decision to “[leave] the gun”. (Faulkner 200) Sam taught him to have mercy on wilderness whereas he cannot help to “be scared but don’t be afraid.” (Faulkner 200-201) After all, “aint nothing in the woods going to hurt [him],” (Faulkner 201) wise words from Sam. He is symbolic to being the bridge of two worlds being that he his Native American and African American, this conveys why Faulkner considers him to be noble. (Anna) At the beginning of the story the author is talking about “Two Beast” (Faulkner 185) including “Boon Hogganbeck, in whom some of the same blood ran which ran in Sam Fathers, even though Boon’s was a plebeian strain of it and only Sam and Old Ben and the mongrel Lion were taintless and incorruptible” (Faulkner 185) symbolizing how the blood of Sam is the same of the wilderness. For “Sam was the chief; the prince” (Faulkner 215) and “Boon the plebeian, was