The Bear William Faulkner - Gorman Beauchamp (essay date 1972)
Gorman Beauchamp (essay date 1972)
SOURCE: "The Rite of Initiation in Faulkner's The Bear," in The Arizona Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4, 1972, pp. 319-25.
[In the following essay, Beauchamp details the archetypal pattern of Isaac McCaslin's rite of passage to manhood in "The Bear."]
"Everywhere one meets with mysteries of initiation," writes Mircea Eliade, "and everywhere, even in the most archaic societies, they include the symbolism of a death and a new birth."1 Among primitive peoples, the initiation of the young boy into the secrets and beliefs of the tribe is an event of major importance, perhaps the most important event of his life, for the initiation has both social and religious meaning of great significance and is thus one of the most pervasive archetypes the world over. The pattern of initiation is invariable: the boy (1) is taken from his mother by a new spirit father, who will act as his guide and mediator; (2)...
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