Abstract:  Noticeably, William Faulkner has reworked many of his earlier published short stories, developing them into longer and more complex pieces, a phenomenon that deserves critical attention. Based on a short story of the same title, the novelette The Bear extensively revises and expands the original and thus achieves much greater thematic significance and depth of meanings. A comparison of the two versions not only sheds light on Faulkner’s creation motives but also reveals how his thoughts change and develop as is evident in the numerous textual differences. In the novelette, Faulkner sees wilderness and civilization in terms of binary opposition, defining one as morally good and the other as negative, and based on this binary pair, he explores possible remedies for racial and ecological crisis in the American South. The novelette fully expresses the author’s profound humanistic concerns and deep reflections on ecological ethics.
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Key words:  Faulkner, The Bear, textual comparison, composition, ecological ethics