Girls Raised By Wolves Analysis

In Karen Russell's short story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, a pack of wolf-girls are sent to a church to transform them into human-girls. As they journey through their transformation there is a guide called, The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock that helps the nuns running St. Lucy’s. The book describes the transformation in stages to help determine the girls’ place as a human. Russell uses the stages as an epigraph to start a new part of the girls’ journey. In stage one, the girls first arrive at St. Lucy’s to begin their transformation.

This affects how Jeannette views her life, and as a result, she wants to have a better life than

After arriving at “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, Claudette has not fully developed with the handbook. Claudette’s adaptation is different from the other girls because she can sometimes follow the human ways while other times she cannot.

During the previous stage, the pack’s attitude towards St. Lucy’s had been curious and excited, and the wolf-girls engaged in all manner of shenanigans as they explored the school. As stated in the Stage 1 epigraph, “The initial period is one in which everything is new, exciting, and interesting for your students” (225). By Stage 2, however, they become aware of the harsh reality of their situation. This revelation is reflected through a dramatic change in the pack’s behaviour. Whereas the wolf-girls had once been romping through the halls of St. Lucy’s, “Overturning dresser drawers, pawing through the neat piles of the Stage 3 girls’ starched underwear, smashing lightbulbs with [their] bare fists” (225), they had begun to feel restless and homesick, unsettled by their new home and its unfamiliar culture. Claudette

In every good initiation story the protagonist experiences a range of changes. In Karen Russell 's story “St. Lucy 's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, the protagonist Claudette is quickly submersed in a new world. She and her pack go from living with their lycanthrope parents in the woods, to being raised by nuns and taught to act human. She has to learn a whole new way to exist. She learns what to do, how to think, and how to become an individual. Karen Russell effectively shapes Claudette as a dynamic character. Throughout the story Claudette experiences changes in her personality and behaviors, producing a stark contrast in the end.

Feminism and what it means to people changes greatly over time. Feminism is not just about males and females being equal, there is much more to it. Feminism explores gender roles affecting both males and females, sexuality, and breaking the mold society has set for females. Feminism has an effect on literature, whether it is a lack of or inclusion of it. In Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones feminism is an apparent theme throughout the novel. Jones’ tale is one like no other. She demonstrates her traditional feminist ideas and beliefs in the story. Critics say that Jones’ feminist ideas are not the same of today’s “modern feminists” (Rudd 2). Although Howl’s Moving Castle may seem like a typical fairy tale, Jones creates a great piece of feminist literature by making the females powerful, giving characters qualities outside of the gender norms, and by making the female characters dynamic.

She realizes that it is not the same at St. Lucy's like how it was in the woods. “This wasn’t like the woods, where you had to be your fastest and your strongest and your bravest self. Different sorts of calculations were required to survive at the home.” (p.233) She was beginning to see that to be the best you had to adapt quickly or you won’t survive in the human world. She also began to wonder how people lived with themselves. She began to comprehend her surroundings more clearly and questioned them. “How can people live like they do? I wondered” (p.236) Claudette began to adapt but did not want to show it in the fear that she would be outcasted as Jeanette had been for adapting. “None of the pack besides me could read yet, and I wasn't ready to claim a common language with Jeanette.” (p.240) Claudette is able to think more human-like and has adapted

Finally, she had people who understood her and were willing to listen to her. She had people who believed in her, stood by her when she had her baby. The girls were not perfect, she had some not so good moments with them but even in their imperfections, they were people she could relate with. Being able to read her story to them, and hear their story, gave her a sense of belonging. When Ms Rain asked her how she feels participating in class she said “I feel here”. This is an indication of a sense of belonging.

Values create motivation within a person to act in a situation for someone who does not seem to be asking for it. An example of this is shown in the novel, “There Will Be Wolves” by Karleen Bradford. In this book, Ursula, the daughter of an apothercary, Master William, was accused to being a witch for healing an injured dog with Bruno, instead of being punished, Ursula was forced to join the Crusade for a complete absolution. In their journey, people will learn how to show importance to anyone. Some people do not realize the things they do are wrong that have good intentions for someone.

In conclusion, the epigraphs in the book can show the reader a different type of tone of the text. These epigraphs helped connect the reading with the novel and also helped establish a better understanding of the mood. The epigraphs also inform the reader about the content of the story and

As a result of these roles, the daughter’s and mother’s perspectives differ greatly, thus adding tension between the characters. Since the family moves a lot, the teenage daughter has her own concerns. Such as, making friends, and trying not to be the “new kid” in school all the time. On the other hand, the single mother, has other concerns. These include trying her best to support her daughter, and going to Costa Rica to complete her research so she can graduate; and this is all “for the better,” for her and her daughter. In an intense argument about moving to Costa Rica, the mother states, “...this a wonderful opportunity for you,” the daughter responds, “Opportunity? For me? Or for you?” This depicts the rising tension between the mother and daughter. It is obvious that in this scenario, the daughter felt like she was powerless, and that her other always gets to decide everything. This causes the daughter to become contrary and withdrawn. At one point in the story, the narrator goes into her room, and ignores her mother who is trying to talk to her from the other side of the door. In the text, her mother states, ‘She paused for a moment then continued. ”Would you please talk to me?”’ This emphasizes the conflict between the two, since the tension at this point reached it’s peak. Since the daughter isn’t replying to anything her mother says, this really implies the emotional stress both the mother and daughter went through. In general, it’s hard to constantly switching schools and trying to make new friends, but in this case, it becomes evident that the narrator is at the end of her line. She can’t take it anymore, all the moving, and “fitting in.” This establishes a strong sense of emotional struggle from the narrator’s perspective. By doing so, the author makes it blatantly obvious that the

By the end of the book Jeannette starts seeing that she does not agree with her parents motives, ideas, and ways of parenting so Jeannette becomes more vocal of her thoughts and opinions. One situation where she stood up for herself and grasped the idea that she is the only one who controls herself is when Jeannette and her parents get in a fight about money. Her mother concludes that she should “start living her life” for herself and that Jeannette and the other kids could make their own money. This makes Jeannette question why her mother is giving up on them and it ends with Jeannette accusing her that she is not acting like a mother “My mucus is yellow,’ Mom said. ‘If everyone who had yellow mucus stayed home, the schools would be pretty empty,’ I told her. Mom's head snapped up. ‘You can't talk to me like that,’ she said. "I'm your mother.’ ‘If you want to be treated like a mother,’ I said, ‘you should act like one." Then, Jeanette's father comes in and whips her with his belt, and at that very moment Jeannette knew that she would never be whipped again “The air was clear and cool, and the forest floor was thick with leaves that had fallen from the buckeyes and poplars. Late in the afternoon, I sat down on a tree trunk, leaning forward because the backs of my thighs still stung. All through the long walk, the pain had kept me thinking, and by the time I reached the tree trunk, I had made two decisions.” The author uses imagery and symbolism to show that this is when Jeannette has had enough and comes to the realization that she is alone and only her can get herself out of the situation she is in. The imagery used is describing the forest around her, this then merges with symbolism. By saying “the air was clear and cool” it symbolizes as Jeanette's realization and that it was “clear”

In the short story “St Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell epigraph number two is accurate to what happens next in the book.

The pack’s parents were “ostracized by the local farmers” and wanted “something better for [them]” (227) through becoming human. They want to improve their children’s lives by having them integrate into the same society that is chauvinistic towards themselves. However, the after long, exhausting days of adapting to a foreign culture, Claudette dreams of home. She fantasizes of “rivers and meat” and “full-moon nights” (229). “The whole pack was irritated, bewildered, depressed” (229) from the difficulties of changing to a civilization they feel no connection to. The process separates the once tightly bound pack. Claudette shows the human idea of exclusion when she describes hating her sister Mirabella because she is unable to fit in. They “began to avoid her” (233) and “couldn’t show Mirabella the slightest kindness anymore” (236). After months away from her family, Claudette has reached the furthest stage in her acclimation to human society but still can’t

In her transformation of the well-known fable "Little Red Riding Hood," Angela Carter plays upon the reader's familiarity. By echoing elements of the allegory intended to scare and thus caution young girls, she evokes preconceptions and stereotypes about gender roles. In the traditional tale, Red sticks to "the path," but needs to be rescued from the threatening wolf by a hunter or "woodsman." Carter retells the story with a modern perspective on women. By using fantasy metaphorically and hyperbolically, she can poignantly convey her unorthodox and underlying messages.