Deer To My Heart

One of the interesting things about looking at J.R.R. Tolkien, Walt Disney, and William Faulkner concurrently is discovering unexpected commonalities.  Often there are things in common between two of the three (for example both Disney and Faulkner suffered from the lingering effects of horse riding accidents and neither of them graduated from college).  But to find a common thread among the three is more rare and more exciting to discover.

Take for example deer.  All three use the symbol of a mature buck in a similar way.

Tolkien introduces a jet-black buck in The Hobbit when Bilbo and the dwarves are losing hope in the dark forest.  As they are crossing the river, the animal crashes into their sight and then bounds across the river.  The party is very hungry, so Thorin quickly draws his bow and shoots.  It is unclear whether he hits the deer before it disappears, but they are unable to follow it.  Tolkien knew well that the presence of a black deer was an ancient symbol for entry into the fairy world.  The dwarves are just about to encounter the wood-elves.  The presence of the stag marks the border between the ordinary world and the magical wild.

Disney's stag is of course Bambi's father.  Known as the Great Prince of the Forest, he stands majestically as a symbol of the unbridled power of the wilderness.  Ultimately, it is only man's entry into the forest that causes him to run in fear.  The presence of Bambi's father is a reminder that the story exists in a world that is not controlled by men even thought they occasionally enter it bringing destruction.

In Go Down Moses, the majestic buck conjured by Faulkner is a mystic representation of life in the ancient forest.  Young Isaac McCasslin is introduced to the animal by Sam Fathers, the half-indian, half-black man who teaches him to respect the wilderness.  Sam takes Ike to a spot in the woods where they see the regal animal that he refers to as Grandfather as if he is an embodiment of the ancient Native American spirit of the land.

It is an unexpected congruence.  Within the works of all three men, the mature stag stands as the spirit of the wild:  their life and by extension the uncivilized world they represent  is in precarious balance because of the intrusion of humanity.  Ultimately each man saw the buck as a symbol of the fragility of the natural world and their concern for its survival.