In “The Bear” by William Faulkner, there are several different personalities and attitudes that come into play at various times in the story. The story is told from the perspective of Isaac McCaslin, the boy of the story and one of the main characters as well, and many critics feel that this was “probably a projection of Faulkner’s own youthful self”(Monarch Notes 5). Isaac was of the aristocratic class of people who were a part of the South, and who also played a significant part of the stories that Faulkner wrote.

Another class of people that were a consistent part of Faulkner’s short stories were the poor-whites such as the Snopes family in “Barn Burning. ” Abner Snopes is a man who seems to blame everyone but himself for his problems. Being a Civil War veteren from the Confederate point of view, he was bitter about the War and the way that the Southerners were treated, though it appears that he brought his particular condition upon himself.

During the War, the only loyalty was to himself and he remained that way Another class of people that are a significant part of Faulkner short stories are the non-whites which include the Negro, the Indian, and any mixture of the different races found in the South. Abner Snopes gave no regard or respect to the “nigger”(155), who was the de Spain servant and door man, when the Snopeses came to announce their arrival for the sharecropper job, but muttered “get out of my way, nigger. ” Sam Waters gained more kindness and respect than that, though he was still a mixed blood in a wealthy, white world.