A Thematic Theme Of 'Guilt In Bear Town'

In the book Bear Town guilt is a recurring thematic topic that drives the story forward. The opening pages of the book reveal a traumatic incident that occurs early on in the story, leaving all characters with the sense of guilt that permits throughout the narrative. As the town grapples with the aftermath of the event, the characters are forced to confront their own responsibility in the role that guilt plays in their lives. Backman's novel Bear Town is based on a small town and once a big secret gets out it changes the lives of everyone. Backman skillfully shows guilt throughout the characters Ana, Peter, and Maya. The three paragraph points are going to be about how these characters and how they deal with the guilt they're going to have

Ana never thought about the backstory to what had happened. Ana was upset because they promised not to leave each other and once Maya left her for a boy Ana's emotions got the best of her. Ana stormed out of the party and walked home alone in the dark out of anger of being alone at the party. A week after Maya got raped she had the courage to speak out to her parents and the police, she got put into a hospital for testing and to make sure she's ok and that she gets the help and support she needs. While in the hospital Ana would visit everyday to comfort and be there for her best friend. It was really hard for Ana to be her best friend in such a vulnerable spot. “Ana is standing on the floor with her hands covering her face and shame.”(268). This shows that Ana has so much love and compassion for her best friend. When she's covering her face in shame she's trying to hide from the reality of what happened and she thinks that it's her fault that Maya got assaulted but reality it's nobody's fault. Guilt has affected the way that she lives her life, because she has to live with the fact that she can't change what happened and they need to learn how to live with it. After Maya came home from the hospital Kira was talking to Ana while Maya was sleeping and Kira was telling Ana that she has to go home for a little while and that their family needs to be together. Maya wanted Ana to stay but was too tired to talk. So Peter drove her home and told her that it's going to be okay, she quietly walked through her door and woke up the dogs. “Then she sits there with her face buried in their fur and cries.”(269). At that moment she felt like she's failed as a friend and as a person. All she wanted to do was protect Maya and she felt so much guilt that she couldn't do anything about the situation because it had already