Comparative Commentary
For most of the people, bears are cute and look somehow friendly. Even though we know, that those animals can be very dangerous, the bears are often underestimated. Not only because we cannot find them in our near environment, and therefore don’t know which impact they have, but also because we grow up watching series like Winnie the Poo (1977) or Brother Bear (2003), where bears have the hero and victim roles. Both these texts are based on the relation between the bear and man. The first is a newspaper article, concerned with the bear’s extinction. The second text is an extract from a nineteenth-century novel, elevating the status of the bear and forgiving its misdemeanors.
The theme of the first text is the survival of the bear. It explains how urgent it is to do something against its possible extinction. The article states the causes of depletion and includes various statistics supporting their arguments. Besides the text is concerned about the bears all over the world and mentions a range of species, including the brown bear and the panda. The second text is more about the invincibility of the bear and its mythic dimensions. It has to do with a conflict which arises when trying to analyze the bear and putting it into the “right” category. The text notes that there can be a mutual respect between a man and a bear but moreover it notes a representation of the mighty bear: both, realistic view, mentioning the accidents and attacks which happen because of them, but also a romantic side, where the bear is said to be “unstoppable.” The whole extract is emotional rather than statistical and is about one particular bear. The author makes some close ups, looking at the bears appearance, habits and its personality, which proves once more, that the text is based on personal experience. The author also tries to compare the bear to a human, which makes the reader understand the bear’s situation and lets the bear appear as a victim rather than a perpetrator.