The Bear as a Bildungsroman

The Bear is definitely a bildungsroman. In the beginning of the novel, Ike knew nothing about the wilderness or about life. Only when he started going on the hunting trips did he enter the wilderness and started to slowly learn about nature. In his journey to find Old Ben, he found nature as well as himself. Aside from his patience and perseverance, it was also the realization that to truly be one with nature, Ike had to leave anything that would connect him with the outside world behind. The love and appreciation that he had developed for the wilderness shaped him into a new person. Ike used the knowledge and perspectives that he had gained in the wilderness to dictate the major decisions in his life. In his reasoning that no one truly owns or has a right to the land that he had inherited, he rejects it and the sins that are associated with it. Ike attempts to assuage the sins of his grandfather by giving the inheritance to members of the other half of his family. Even though Ike had a comfortable life planned out for him, he renounces it and becomes a carpenter in the end.