"Bambi" by Felix Salten

 "Bambi" is an absolutely beautiful novel. Published by Felix Salten in 1923, the characters of the young deer and his mother have spawned lives of their own, beyond- likely- even Salten's own imagination, through the adaptation of the 1942 Walt Disney animated film. "Bamibi," for whatever legacy it may have, is a novel far more than a children's tale; far deeper, and filled with too much beauty to not be enjoyed at many stages in life. There is a lyrical, golden poetry to this novel of the forest and the lives within-- that speaks of life, death, family, God, the inherent brutal nature of the world and that which rises above. There is a whole chapter in the novel of dialogue between two leaves on a tree in the fall that is so simple, and beautiful, you read the words rapidly and then stop with wonder when it has ended.


"They were silent a while. Then the first leaf said quietly to herself, 'Why must we fall?...'
 The second leaf asked, 'What happens to us when we have fallen?'
 'We sink down....'
 'What is under us?' " (106)

© Bryan Ball, 2012, All rights reserved. 

  While Salten allows the reader these occasional interludes into another character's perspective, from the moment "He came into the world in the middle of the thicket," (1) we see the world of the forest through Bambi's eyes. And what a journey that is. We come to discover the forest as Bambi is taken, carefully, around the forest by his mother-- we meet the other animals who live there such as the Hare, the magpies, the squirrels and the pheasants. We meet Bambi's mother's sister, Ena, and her children: the beautiful Faline and the weaker Gobo. We see the beauty of the bright, shining life-filled forest, and experience the glorious meadow, where we learn the concept of danger, and why the deer have to be careful, each moment of their lives. The deer always have to be vigilant because of "He." Early on, while running, young Bambi comes face to face with "He" as "He" extends his third arm to point toward Bambi-- who, instinctively sensing danger, runs away.

© Bryan Ball, 2012, All rights reserved. 

 Reading up on what has been written about "Bambi," there are a whole hosts of thoughts on what Salten intended, with the tale of the animals in the forest being terrorized by their oppressor, the humans. A number of people maintain the novel as an allegory for Nazi Germany's treatment of Jewish citizens-- and Salten was Jewish, living in Austria during the 1930's. And some maintain that it is simply an environmental tale of the horrors life inflicts on itself. For while man is the most destructive force in the forest, nature is intrinsically brutal, as evinced multiple times throughout the novel, when Bambi witnesses animal on animal violence-- such as when he is frozen while watching a fox kill a duck, and, later, when that fox is murdered by a hunter's dog, as the forest literally calls the dog out a traitor, for serving the ultimate oppressor, the humans. "'Yes, traitor!' hissed the fox. 'Nobody is a traitor but you, only you.'" (276)

© Bryan Ball, 2012, All rights reserved. 

 And, perhaps, that is the ultimate message of the novel-- to show the reader that life is so beautiful, while so brutal, and in that the reader sees every such brutality which may occur-- from the obvious assaults of humans hunting animals to the horrors of Nazi Germany. Likewise, I find it compelling that this novel is classified as primarily a children's novel and-- at least that I have heard-- not often taught in schools. If George Orwell's "Animal Farm" is worthy of reading by high school students, "Bambi" certainly is, if not more so. There is just so much in here Salten intended for an adult audience. While describing the characteristics of deer-- as they grow, mate, socialize and live alone-- Salten paints such clear pictures of human emotion, and interaction. From early on, we see Bambi's mother and the dominating presence she has over his whole life, in what she tries to teach him, to survive in this harsh world-- "'Run anyway as fast as your legs will carry you. Run even if something should happen... even if you should see me fall to the ground...'" (29)

 And, after Bambi loses his mother, after he experiences intense loneliness, and later intense love with Faline-- he yearns for something else, some greater meaning. This meaning he searches for in all things, most predominantly in his relationship with his father. Only-- at the very end-- does at least his aging and declining father seem to find some closure for the similar quest he, too, must have been on all along. For it is in the novel's final pages, when Bambi's father leaves him before Bambi meets the young twin deer (who very well may be his and Faline's), does Bambi's father feel as if he has passed on everything he can to his son, the crucial knowledge of survival. A great many things may be taken from this passage. Bambi's father clearly feels his life complete now that he knows Bambi has realized the presence of a higher power, of the fact that this violent force of life that is "He" is not what truly governs the life in the forest, and all life. That there is something more, something greater, something good, which stands over all the violence, all the beauty, all the life.

"'Do you see, Bambi,' the old stag went on, 'do you see how He's lying there dead, like one of us? Listen, Bambi. He isn't all-powerful as they say. Everything that lives and grows doesn't come from Him. He isn't above us. He's just the same as we are. He has the same fears, the same needs, and suffers in the same way. He can be killed like us, and then He lies helpless on the ground like all the rest of us, as you see Him now.'..
 Bambi was inspired, and said trembling, "There is Another who is over us all, over us and over Him.'
 'Now I can go,' said the old stag." (286)


* © Bryan Ball, 2012, All rights reserved.  These three photographs are of one deer, who has taken up residence in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. A deer I call "Felix" after the author of the novel.