By Agustín López
Introduction
Wolkstein (1974) argues that in many cultures, storytelling has remained as a powerful vehicle for the transmission of values, beliefs, and ideas. In this particular case, this essay will focus on young adults, considered here as “the age group who no longer consider themselves children but are not yet considered adults by the adult world” (Eaglen 1983), and the relation between their thoughts and the ones that appear, implicitly or not, in the stories they usually read. The reasons for this exploration are based on the conception that the implicit values that most stories contain are highly important in the reader’s construction of reality. As Konopka (1973) argues:
“Young adults become conscious of the inconsistencies in society as they perceive the clash between the values exhibited by institutions and the general intent of the ideological system. Value confrontations are inevitable”
One example of these inconsistencies is the idea presented in “The Fisherman and the Bear”. This is a short story which presents a fisherman and his relationship with a bear, which helps him get food (some fishes). The succession of events is simple and plain as well as the vocabulary used. At first glance, the message the story conveys is simple and honest, but on closer inspection what “The Fisherman and the Bear” really seems to portray is a semi-romantic point of view of the relationship between the human being and nature which is based on the discrimination of animals on the basis of their utility. This is the reason why the relationship between the fisherman, the bear and the fish is a relation of power and subordination. Is within the boundaries of this observation that this paper will explore the ways in which the story “The Fisherman and the Bear” represents a confusing relationship between the human being and nature by taking into account the message it conveys and the ideological concepts of romanticism, power and discrimination.
These concepts are of extremely importance in the construction of critical literacy of the young adults, (Wartofsky, 1983; Howe, 1992) because, as it has been proved by a number of specialists on the literary field, such as McCallum (1999), and Charles Sarland (1999), the idea of an apolitical story, that is to say a story without relationships of power between the characters and between the writer and the reader, is practically inconceivable. Being aware of the concepts of romanticism, power and discrimination will enable the reader to construe the hidden messages. These messages are necessary to be examined by the teacher or educator before working with the story itself. In order to have a clear map, this work will focus first on the conceptions of the individual and nature of the Romantic Movement, and then on the analysis of this features in the story, concluding with various suggestions about the usage of the story in an educational context.
Romanticism in Young Adult Stories
It is useful, in the first instance, to acknowledge that the appreciation and respect towards nature bring forth during the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Humanist and Romantic movements dominated the literary spectrum. Young Adult literature witnessed the conversion from a rational thinking to the power of imagination and the interior feelings of the human being.
By analyzing “The fisherman and the bear” it can be seen how these features still continue to be part of a social value inherent to the intended citizen of the society of the 21st century. In the story, the bear is shown as an intelligent animal when it uses its paw full of molasses to get the fish. Together with this, the unselfish action of the bear at the moment it shares its amount of fish helps the old man to realize that animals have feelings that he should respect. That is why he decides not to be a bear hunter anymore. The essence of the whole story is that the social exchange between the two is the reason for the fisherman’s self evaluation. In his essay, “Romanticism & Ecology, the Loves of Plants and Animals: Romantic Science and the Pleasures of Nature”, Ashton Nichols takes the voice of Onno Oerlemans and explains:
“(…) Oerlemans criticizes anthropocentric forms of criticism that produce only anthropocentric readings of Romantic writers. He argues, instead, that Romantic representations of animals make us "recognize the wider boundaries of life." Such an argument is not just politically correct eco-criticism. On the contrary, it suggests that the Romantic writers can help us toward a sense of lives beyond our own lives, a sense of other beings and other forms of life that we did not culturally construct and that do not merely reflect our personal points of view”
Ashton Nichols’ point is the use of animals in Romantic stories can help the reader to be aware of the inconsistencies of the human nature, and this is part of what “The Fisherman and the bear” transmit at first glance. The problem, however, lays in the fact that even when the story shows a valuable reaction related to the manipulation of animals carry out by hunters, the lack of equality on the value imparted on the two different animals; the bear and the fish, seems to make the story contradicting and useless in terms of self evaluation of the reader.
Discrimination based on utility
The representation of the bear and the fish in the story is a case of parallel opposition. This concept means that one animal is opposite to the other. On the one hand, the “intelligent” and “sensitive” bear helps the old man and, on the other hand, the “insensitive” fish serve as aliment. And it is the anthropomorphist form in which the bear is presented enough evidence to show this opposition. The bear is sociable, considerate and selfless. It even uses corporal language in the moment it waves its paw at the old man to salute him, performing a feature proper of a human convention. Together with this, the bear seems to represent a utopian person; with remarkable values on social relationships that motivate a change in the way the fisherman used to think and act. Contrarily, the fish is shown simply as food, with no feelings. It is never expressed that the old man would stop fishing, or that he would stop eating animals. The truth is that the utility the old man finds from each animal is the basis for their discrimination.
“The Fisherman and the Bear” in an educational context
Considering the high degree of this exploration of relationships between individuals and nature infused in young adult literature after the propagation of Romantic ideas, it is not surprising the consequent encounter of the reader with the ideas of love to animals, sociability, and self awareness. As John Stephens has observed, “Writing for children is usually purposeful” (Stephens 1992:3).Even though “The fisherman and the bear” portrays a confusing message of a selective love to nature, the story can help educators to teach and/or revise the ideological concepts of animal rights, discrimination and power in the school context. Thus, the power relationship between the fisherman, the bear and the fishes can help the young reader to the construction of their own critical literacy.
Ultimately, what is at stake here is that this exploration of concepts of Romanticism, power and discrimination in the story “The Fisherman and the Bear” can help teachers and educators to be aware of the implicit ideology of Young Adult literature in order to take advantage of the contradictions and to work on them. Although politics may seem trivial, they are in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over education and the development of critical thinking. Power relationships are always present in the school context and they should be discussed in order to transform and improve the actual social conditions.
- “Romanticism & Ecology, the Loves of Plants and Animals: Romantic Science and the Pleasures of Nature”, Ashton Nichols http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/ecology/nichols/nichols.html
