A Failed Moses, or the Will to Power through Confession: The Significance of the Transcendental Father in “The Bear” and “Barn Burning”

This article aims to present the different aspects of the (grand)father-son relationship in William Faulkner’s “The Bear” and “Barn Burning.” In “The Bear,” although the grandfather, Old Carothers, is revolting because of his sexual exploitations of his slave girls, Ike establishes his own innocent self by contrasting himself to the inhumane grandfather. Because of his great influence over Ike, the grandfather assumes the role of Ike’s God. Sigmund Freud writes in Moses and Monotheism that sacredness contains the contradictory meanings of disgust and grace at once, and the grandfather, the disgusting God-like figure, paradoxically allows Ike to establish his innocent subjectivity. By contrast, Sarty Snopes, who is the son of a poor white father, cannot establish his self, largely because his father does not have transcendental power like Old Carothers.