Discussion+Questions

1.If you had the oppertunity, would you join th narrator, Sam fathers, and the others on their yearlytrip into Big Bottom? Why or why not?

2.After reading this selection, would you like to read a longer version of the story? Why or why not?

3.What had the boy already inherited before participating in his first hunt?

4.What does the boy realize for the first time when he sees the bear's paw print?

5.(a)Why does the boy finally leave his gun behind when he is tracking the bear?(b)What other objects does he relinquish?(c)When does he first see the bear?

6.(a)What does the boy do when the fyce charges the bear?(b)What comment does Sam Fathers make after the bear has gone?

7.How does the boy's father help him to comprehend his inability to shoot the bear?

8.The narrator comments that the wilderness is being constantly and punily gnawed at by men with axes and plows who feared it because it was wilderness. How are the men who travel to the Big Bottom twice a year different from the men with axes?

9.Why does the bear fear a coward more than a brave person?

10.(a)How does the boy's relationship to the wilderness change when he abandons his gun and other lifeless mechanicals?(b)How does this set him apart from the men with axes?

11.What does the narrator mean by his comment that when the bear and the boy looked at each other they were synchronized to the instant by something more than blood that moved the flesh and bones which bore them?

12.What understanding does the boy reach at the end of the story?

13.(a)Why do you think that people often fear the wilderness?(b)What does this suggest about human nature?