Love and Suffering in Delany’s Driftglass & Bisson’s Bears Discover Fire Essay

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Human suffering and joy can be expressed through narrating stories that have social significance. Various authors develop stories that exhibit the social life of human beings and their environment. Although non-fictional stories are persuasive due to the presentation of factual information, fictional stories are significant in connecting human thinking with that of ‘non-human’ organisms. The use of animals and other strange organisms helps the fictional stories’ readers see the world from a new perspective. Samuel R. Delany’s “Driftglass” and Terry Bisson’s “Bears Discover Fire” are explicit examples of fictional stories with various themes crucial in human life. While “Driftglass” uses human beings to illustrate various themes, “Bears Discover Fire” aesthetically uses bears to illustrate humanity. Human suffering is inevitable, but love relieves people from pain and helps them understand each other better.

Platonic love helps people share their experiences and understand each other’s cultural backgrounds. “Driftglass” is a collection of human stories expressing their relationships and emotional epiphanies. The author tells a story of a telepathic Black girl called Lee who befriends a White ex-con, a janitor called Buddy. Lee and Buddy bond over Bobby Faust’s music from the Ganymede colony. The narration of Lee and Buddy exhibits racism since Buddy refers to Lee using terms like ‘colored’ and the prejudicial term ‘nigga’. Therefore, having a cordial relationship with someone may not change their perspective about cultural differences. However, human pain and suffering are inevitable across all races since Lee and Buddy live dead-end lives and do crappy jobs. The platonic love between Leen and Buddy shows how human suffering is inevitable regardless of race.

Family love is significant for the sick in terms of moral support. Unlike platonic love, families love someone unconditionally, and people count on their families to be there through good and bad times (Heinämaa 433). Terry Bisson expresses the theme of family love in his fictional story “Bears Discover Fire.” The story’s narrator is a middle-aged man, Bobby, who returns from visiting his mother on a Sunday evening (Bisson). Bobby is accompanied by Wallace Jr., who observes that bears have discovered fire. Bobby’s mother escapes the care home to join the bears that discovered the fire (Bisson). Bobby reunites with his mother in the wilderness, but she dies. The story bears personify a family reunion and represent family values. Family love is expressed when Bobby visits his mother in the care home. The love is figuratively compared with other platonic love when the care home only calls Bobby to inform him that his mother is lost but does nothing to find her. Meanwhile, Bobby expresses his genuine love for his mother by going into the wilderness to find her and mourning her death. Unlike platonic love, family love is shown throughout human suffering.

Fictional stories can express the theme of love and human suffering. race does not determine the level of human suffering, as illustrated in the “Driftglass.” Music is significant in relieving people from pain and suffering. However, music’s relief is temporary since humans continue to experience pain upon the end of music. Unlike plutonic love, family love is strong and is expressed regardless of the situation. “Bears Discover Fire” shows the importance of family love during difficult situations. While platonic love is temporary, human love is persistent, and one can count on family members.

Works Cited

Bisson, Terry. “Bears Discover Fire.” Lightspeed Magazine, 2014, Web.

Delany, Samuel R. Driftglass.1967. Galaxy Publishing Corp.

Heinämaa, Sara. “Values of Love: Two Forms of Infinity Characteristic of Human Persons.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, vol. 19, no. 3, 2020, pp. 431–50.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "Love and Suffering in Delany's Driftglass & Bisson's Bears Discover Fire." July 12, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/love-and-suffering-in-delanys-driftglass-bissons-bears-discover-fire/.

1. IvyPanda. "Love and Suffering in Delany's Driftglass & Bisson's Bears Discover Fire." July 12, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/love-and-suffering-in-delanys-driftglass-bissons-bears-discover-fire/.


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