Character Analysis
Boon is a large and rough man with "the mind of a child" who runs errands for Major de Spain in his hunting camp. He's one-quarter Chickasaw, but is considered by the others to be "white." We see Boon in action in "The Old People" and "The Bear." He goes out to Major de Spain's camp every year and hunts with the rest of the men. Boon's extremely devoted to Major de Spain.
In "The Bear," Boon takes over the care of Lion the dog. He sleeps with the dog, and as you can imagine, his cabin really stinks. When Lion jumps Old Ben, the bear, and gets mangled, Boon jumps on the legendary bear's back and kills it. Lion dies, and at more or less the same time, Sam Fathers also dies. Boon seems to kind of lose his mind after the death of Lion and Sam. He wasn't the most mentally balanced person on the planet to begin with.