God Whom Ike McCaslin Describes

In the 4th section of "The Bear" chapter, during his long conversation with his cousin Cass about the history of the world with particular reference to the Old and New South and Ike's own belief that he must relinquish his inheritance from the past, Ike has a lot to say about God - as both the author of the Bible and the providential force behind human events. Ike most frequently refers to this divinity as "He," always capitalizing the H (243, etc). It must be clearly stated that by representing "Him" as an upper class white male, we are trying to capture Ike's idea of "God," not our own or anyone else's. It is awkward to try representing "God" with any icon, but since Ike repeatedly mentions "Him" and the role "He" plays in historical events and what "He" said in "the Book" (243), we felt he had to be included in the novel's cast of Characters - as it seems to us that Ike imagines "Him."