Small Question about “The Old People”—Anjelo Reyes

What does the boy learn during the event of killing the buck, and what does he think about another buck being called “grandfather”? What does he learn about humanity in relation to nature, and how might this education affect one’s view of racism?

In the story we learn that the boy’s cousin is Mcaslin Edmonds, which, from the first story, allows us to know that this boy is Isaac Mcaslin—Isaac Mcaslin, who, “in all his life had owned but one object more than he could wear and carry in his pockets and his hands at one time, and this was the narrow iron cot and the stained lean mattress which he used camping in the woods for deer and bear or for fishing or simply because he loved the woods; who owned no property and never desired to since the earth was no man’s but all men’s, as light and air and water were” (Faulkner 5).

Does this description of uncle Ike fit well with what he has learned in this childhood event?

// I wanted to ask this question because I went to the woods the other week with a friend. I asked myself, what is our relationship to nature, and does that relationship in any way affect our relationships with others? 









Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshMay 2, 2021 at 9:50 PM

    Is what Isaac experiences a relationship to something "unowned"? -- something not psychically entangled in the confusions of ownership? -- hence, something whose state of simplicity he envies. It might be different for us today, because when we go into designated Wilderness Areas we go into "protected" land, where the idea of "protected" is set against ownership.

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  2. Krishnan VenkateshMay 12, 2021 at 9:13 AM

    You've got me wondering about the "grandfather figure" as a human archetype. We think a lot about mother-figures and father-figures, but are there a grandfather and grandmother archetype? This book is very focused on the grandfather -- whereas Brothers K is all about fathers.

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