St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolf Summary

My early reading experiences reflect the history that Vogt and Shearer (2011) describe in the first chapter of Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches in the Real World. The basal reading programs of the 1970s and 1980s included “leveled readers, phonics activities, and a great deal of comprehension skill practice, usually found on the pages of the accompanying workbooks. The programs also included highly structured, detailed teacher’s guides, with different lesson plans for each of the three instructional groups” (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p.13).

St. Lucy’s home is a home for girls to go to when they have been raised by wolves. They go there to gain skills and manners that they weren’t taught growing up. During their visit, they go through five stages to become more human. Some girls change and improve, but others do not and they stay the same. Something happens with Mirabella and she did not improve during her visit.

“The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter is very similar to “Little Red Riding Hood”, the little girl heading out with a basket full of liquor and goodies for her grandmother. The wolf stopping her on her way to the grandmother’s house; the wolf races to the house, eats the grandma, pretends to be the grandma and makes “Little Red Riding Hood” believe that he is her grandma. He pounces on her and tries to eat her but a hunter comes and kills the wolf and saves the grandma. The story reveals an extensive imagination by elaborating on different ideas and points of view of gender roles. Carter’s characters portray these roles very similar to the way we view gender roles today.

Karen Russell’s St Lucy’s Home for Girl Raised by Wolves is about a pack of wolf girls that are taught how to act civilized at St Lucy’s. Over the course of the story, there are three main wolf girls, Claudette, Jeanette, and Mirabella. At St Lucy’s the girls go through five stages. Some of the girls will either be ahead, stay at the same pace as, or be behind the program. The epigraph for Stage One suggests that the girls will have a new-found curiosity and excitement. It also suggests that they will enjoy the new environment that they’re placed in.

The epigraphs in St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves are intended to give information as to what development the wolf-girls of the school will experience. The information they give us typically concerns the actions the girls may perform and the feelings they might experience by telling us the stage that they are at in their transition. With the exception of Mirabella, all the information we're given concerning the girls matches up with the quotes's corresponding epigraph. Epigraph two and it's sequential text is no different.

Ostensibly, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” is a story about the human daughters of a pack of werewolves trying to learn the

Jeannette’s self-reliant behavior is frequently shown through her refusal of help from others. On one trip to retrieve her father from a bar, Jeannette’s father is so drunk that he can no longer walk. Another man offers to drive them home, and

The key to change is acceptance. “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell follows the steps that need to occur to go through a cultural change from a wolf to a human society, and shares what happens if the transformation remains incomplete. This story shows that acceptance is the only way to complete a change because a person has to accept the change itself, others around them, and themselves. If this does not happen, then there will always be something from the person’s old life holding them back making it nearly impossible to move forward in their new life.

In the excerpt “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell the narrator speaks as a half wolf half human mind set. She discusses the improvements and difficulties of living in captivity after being free and wild their entire lives. There are three (3) main characters, Mirabella (youngest), Claudette who is the middle child of the three (3) sisters, and last but certainly not least, Jeanette. These girls are few of an entire “pack” of half human half wolf. The pack is referred to as a whole throughout the duration of this excerpt. They experience difficulty in the transition of the “wolf-identity” into more of a “human-identity”. This short story exemplifies how the difficulty of change after being exposed to ones “tradition” for so long differs for each “person” wolf or not.

The summary of the story is a memoir, which is about Jeannette and her family who are constantly low on food and money, family moving around the country a lot, and having a hard time to re-settle. The family is very dysfunctional with a multiple of stories to tell. The book is filled with much different kind of experiences that the family including Jeannette has been through together.

Jeannette’s family is not your average American family. Her father was a raging alcoholic who lost too many jobs to count and her mother was an adrenaline addicted painter, who never wanted to work

In “Monster Culture”, Jeffery Cohen develops an idea that “monsters” are essential to society. In fact, they construct what is “normal”, “rational”, and “civilized”. Specifically, “monsters” are foundational to how we view ourselves. “Monsters” contain all the traits deemed unacceptable and odd. It can be concluded that every outlier is a “monster”. In St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell tells the story of a pack of wolf girls who are transitioning into young ladies. Russell delves into society’s need for conformity, gender roles, and change. The story is told from the point of view of the middle wolf girl, Claudette, and follows her on her journey from wolf to woman. In relation to Jeffery Cohen’s idea of monster culture, Claudette’s journey applies to Thesis IV “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference” and part of Thesis I “The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body”. Claudette is torn between two worlds and she has to learn how to successfully “move between the two cultures”. Through Cohen’s theses, Karen Russell uses character development and dialogue to depict the inner and outer battle of societal femininity and individualized femininity and the decision of accepting either side. The presence of “monsters” are essential for this acceptance.

Marguerite’s physical appearance itself is representative of stereotypical beauty admired in woman. She is described as a tall actress with auburn hair and blue eyes, a childlike mouth and a

Cosette is deprived of the love that she desires and deserves. She longs for love and instead receives the opposite. The Thenardiers do not care for Cosette and do not view her as their child, to them she is a servant girl. When Jean Valjean offers to take Cosette away from the Thenardiers, they reply, “Ah monsieur! My good monsieur! Take her, keep her, take her away, carry her off, sugar her, stuff her, drink her, eat her, and be blessed by the holy Virgin and all the saints in paradise!” (154). The Thenardiers want Cosette out of their house, and no longer want the responsibility of taking care of the “imbecile child” (147). It is a blessing to them that this traveler has come to take Cosette away forever. Because of Jean Valjean's good deed, Cosette's life can improve and she can finally experience the emotion of love she longs for. Although Jean Valjean offers Cosette all the love he is capable of giving, it is not enough to satisfy Cosette. She craves for a different, romantic love after she is introduced to Marius. Hugo,

The failure of students being able to read and comprehend what they are reading is a great concern for most schools. When students enter the fifth grade and are not on grade level, they are already behind their classmates. Teachers are then responsible for remediating the students to get them on grade level. Unfortunately, these same students are unable to keep up with on grade level standards teachers are required to teach, because they lack the skills needed. These students will continue to struggle throughout their education because they will not be able to catch up to their grade level. Many educators have realized there is a gap between fluency and comprehension. Because of this realization, special instruction such as guided reading and remedial teaching has been implemented.