To me, the text was clearly comparable to Salten’s own childhood growing up in Vienna. Bambi as a word connects to the word bambino meaning child. Focusing on Bambi growing up in the forest learning everything he can about the world around him, but also being kept in the dark about the danger around him when he is young. Ultimately he gets exposed to Him and learns of the reality of the forest. Salten shows us the more gruesome and real side of the forest as it turns to winter.
Towards the end of the book, we see Bambi lean into isolation and he learns from the Prince who had kind of become his mentor. To survive in the forest as prey he sees the only option to distance himself from those he cares about and passes that on to Bambi. One of the scenes that comes to the front in my mind is when Bambi hears Faline’s calling him and doesn’t realize it’s the hunter’s call. The prince tells him this and Bambi understands the importance of his mentor’s advice. The book is later published and Salten writes a sequel while fleeing Austria that follows Bambi and Faline and their children and is more gruesome than the first book.
