The Fox and the Hounds in "Was"
Remember that weird part (1.2.1) in "Was" where suddenly a bunch of hounds burst into the kitchen and chase a fox? The narrator says, "It was a good race," and then Uncle Buck catches the fox shove...
The Fire in "The Fire and the Hearth" and "Pantaloon in Black"
On the day of his wedding to Molly, Lucas Beauchamp lights a fire in their house's hearth. This fire has kept burning for the forty-five years they have been married. The fire symbolizes the endura...
Money
Yes, we know: in Econ 101, the instructor said, "Money is a symbol. A symbolic medium of exchange." But we're not talking about that here. There's a lot of money exchanging hands in the stories in...
Samuel Beauchamp
We know from Molly's lament, "Roth Edmonds sold my Benjamin," that she believes Samuel was sacrificed because Roth threw him off the plantation and he fell into the hands of a hostile society. Samu...
The Bear
Old Ben might have been shot many times by many hunters, but he's managed to stay alive. His foot might be mangled, but he still evades the encroachment of civilization... er, we mean, the hunters....
The Hunt
We confess: we had the ultimate cheat sheet for this one. During a 1957 lecture to students at the University of Virginia, one student asked Faulkner about the importance of the hunt in "The Bear."...
Isaac
There's a lot of Old Testament language in the novel and Isaac is no exception. Remember Isaac? The young man in the Book of Genesis whose father almost slaughtered him on an altar at God's command...