Of Bears and “Men”

Is Liam a hero or is he a coward? In the short story "Bluffing" by Gail Helgason, Gabriella and her boyfriend Liam, are going to hike in the rocky mountains above Jasper, Alberta in order to share a nice lunch beside the lake. However, when Gabriella rushes in to the woods, away from Liam, after hearing irritable news about his upcoming adventure to "Yosemite, [or] maybe New Mexico", she finds herself running into a hulking grizzly bear. Liam follows close behind and upon his recognition of the grizzly bear he proceeds to sprint away at full speed. Later, in the hospital, where Liam lies in a bed, being held together by tethers of adhesive and the stitches strung through his skin, he claims that he ran away from the bear to save Gabriella from the potential attack. This is where the question arises, is Liam telling the truth? Or is Liam too afraid to admit of his strewn thoughts in the panicked situation? It is quite clear that Liam was just plain scared because he runs away, does not heed Gabriella's advice and he isn't connected with nature. To begin, when Liam finds himself in the predicament that Gabriella is in, she has already assessed it and is giving him advice that he should "try backing off slowly". Despite, Gabriella's efforts to help Liam and herself stay together and alive Liam decides to tear into the woods and the bear gives chase. Furthermore, Gabriella, being a Biology teacher and being connected with nature trusts her instincts and crouches into the fetal position whilst covering her neck as "the bear lunges forwards" but the bear doesn't want the easy kill: the bear wants to have some fun. Finally, Liam is a rock climber and he is clueless what he must do in their predicament and when he finds himself staring death in the eyes, he doesn't "[drop his] eyes from the bear's stare" like what Gabriella did, he tries to out run it. Luckily, Liam managed to survive but when he wakes up to find Gabriella with him he tries to salvage whatever is left of his dignity and he introduces the controversial statement.