Spoiler alert: Hugh Glass gets shredded by a gigantic bear within the first fifty pages in The Revenant. Given that, you'd believe that this baby is going to depict some nasty suffering. After Glass, apparently about to die from his wounds, is abandoned by the two men who were sworn to protect him, he sets out on a brutal revenge quest that takes him across hundreds of miles and to hell and back. Still, despite this rather metal-sounding plot, The Revenant is all about empathy—the empathy that Glass feels when he sees suffering in others that mirrors his own.
Questions About Suffering
- How does Glass overcome his physical suffering?
- What are some examples of mental suffering in the novel?
- Why does Glass show compassion to the Arikara woman?
- Is it important that Bridger treated Glass while he was wounded? Why or why not?