Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat is a non-fiction story about naturalist Farley Mowat, on an expedition to find out why so many caribou were being killed. Mowat’s superiors believed that wolves were killing the caribou. He spent almost a year investigating the wolves’ way of life focusing on a small pack made up of two males and a female with her pups. Mowat camped near their den and observed their eating and hunting habits.He observed that wolves rarely ate caribou and when they did, it was the weak and sick ones. Also, with the help of Ootek, a local Eskimo he was able to understand how wolves communicate and hunt, and he saw that these wolves were not a tremendous threat to the caribou. This book gives the reader a view into the life of these wild animals and how they all work together in their unique environment. Mowat had many doubts, but he slowly understood the truth about wolves. He also spent time following the wolves as they hunted and he examined their techniques. Mowat even experienced close up encounters and the wolves did not treat him like a foreigner. Mowat and his colleagues had the wrong idea about the wolves and this novel allows the reader to be able to see the truth. Mowat spent enough time familiarizing himself with the wolves so that they did not see him as a threat. As his trip came to an end, Mowat had to investigate the wolves’ den. As he entered he realized he was not alone. The female wolf, Angelina, and one of her pups were hidden due to the
Pa is clearly shaken by the experience but he tries to downplay it so as not to frighten the children. Rather than talk about the wolves, Pa tells the family that he has met new neighbors who live six miles away and that he has spotted many Indians in the area. Laura is fascinated by the idea of Indians and yearns to see a papoose.
Within Aldo Leopold’s novel, A Sand County Almanac, the concept of trophic cascade is brought forth with his idealistic mindset for “a land ethic”. To Leopold, the land ethic “changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members and also respect for the community as such” (Leopold 871). Utilizing this mindset, the actions, consequences, and events from Timothy Treadwell’s life depicted in the documentary Grizzly Man have an understanding and purpose for why they transpire the way they do.
Jon Krakauer immediately conveys an image of McCandless in the first few pages of Into the Wild. The issue of his subjective narrative arises when the protagonist is described as a young man, “shivering in the grey Alaskan dawn” (Krakauer 1996:3). The reader is not sure whether the descriptions are literary techniques applied by Krakauer to convey his imagination of McCandless or if it based on facts provided to him by Gallien, who is an Alaskan union electrician, and gave McCandless a ride until he dropped him off close to the edges of the Alaskan Range. One of McCandless’ answer to not having a hunting license is “How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules” (6).
The way Krakauer organizes Into the Wild helps support his argument towards Christopher McCandless and to the responses received by the article Krakauer had written earlier on McCandless and about his trip. Krakauer gives the readers background information for most of the book, along with excerpts from McCandless’s journal he seldom kept. McCandless’s journal entries include statements such as, “MOOSE!” on June 6th when he shot a moose instead of squirrels, and different types of birds which he had been eating since he got to the bus (Krakauer 166). McCandless’s last writing reads, “ I have had a happy life and thank the Lord.
In the book, “Never Cry Wolf,” there are two different opinions as to why the deer population is declining. The first opinion is the one the government wants to impress on people, and it is the one that most people believe. They believe that the decline in the population of deer is being caused by the wolves. “…because their grievance is the complaint that the wolves are killing all the deer, and more and more of our fellow citizens are coming back from more and more hunts with less and less deer” (Mowat 9). They believe that the wolves are vicious and that they kill for enjoyment.
Never Cry Wolf is a complex and interesting story where many concepts are explored. Man’s relationship with nature, First Nation’s history, and Canadian history are all touched on in the movie. The effects of capitalism is also a central theme to the movie. The plot revolves mainly around Tyler, a biologist hired by the Canadian government, and Mike, an Inuit who was sent down south to go to school, and the relationship of their stories. The story is constructed in a way that shows the similarities and differences of the two stories, while also discussing the place of nature and culture in each.
One mother abandons her baby in the hospital and the other might have possibly thrown her daughter to wolves, depending on how the story’s ending is interpreted. The theme of Native American traditions is evident
Though this book only contains transformative myths, it is a large portion of the interest area I have in this topic regarding wolves, and therefore immediately relevant. The book however, extends far beyond the area of my interest including stories about bears, snakes, and other animals revered by Native
This conflict still exists today, but this film humanized the wolf bringing a greater understanding and respect to animal. Looking at the interaction of the wolf with other breeds of animals, the wolf is a predator and will kill. Humans
Feeding the Wolf by Greg Cantrell is about John B Rayner Texas Politician who was born in North Carolina to parents Kenneth Rayner and Mary Hicks who were mixed race. He was a Texas politician who believed that the civil war was what put an end to Slavery. Rayner was born as a slave in 1859 father of Rayner a slave as well and a man from Raleigh North Carolina later was known as leader of nativist anti-immigration. Although prejudice existed against African Americans during this era Rayner was able to rise to public prominence during the other half of the 19th century in Texas. John B Rayner was a politically impassioned politician who exceeded the expectation society extended to African Americans.
In the short story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” author Karen Russell develops the narrator, Claudette, through the use of five “stages” to show her progression from her wolf identity to the human culture. This short story follows a group of girls raised by wolf parents through their journey at St. Lucy’s, which is a rehabilitation center for human children raised by wolf parents. Throughout their time at St. Lucy’s, the girls are expected to experience five distinct stages as they adapt. Each of these stages is described by a fictional text entitled The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock. The nuns at St. Lucy’s use it as a guide for teaching their students.
Most people do not have to remind themselves of things like not chewing on their shoes or being shunned, but in “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell, Claudette is forced to worry about both, along with many more. Through Claudette’s journey she is faced with several obstacles and challenges that test her commitment and determination to become “civilized and ladylike, couth and kempt” (237). Claudette makes the transition from wolf to human girl by beginning to act more civilized with a changed mindset and separating herself from the pack. Throughout this story, the wolf pack is forced to go through a drastic change in their lives.
Claudette also comes to believe that the actions and culture of wolves and
One young woman, completely innocent in life, meets a handsome boy in the woods on the way to her grandmother’s house. He is, of course, a wolf. The charming boy goes to her grandmother’s house and eats granny only to lie in wait for the young girl. She arrives, but instead of cowering in fear, the young girl throws her clothes into the fire and rips off the wolf’s, embracing him for a kiss and for the night. The two stay in bed until morning, together and calm.
In Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves” the wolves are perceived as dangerous and aggressive creatures posing threat to humans. In small villages, the children are given weapons just to protect themselves from the evil wolves. However, in Angela Carter’s story, a male can turn into a wolf. This undermines the binary oppositions for Carter’s story. Aaron Devor states in “Gender Roles Behaviors and Attitudes”, how the females are dependent and how the males are independent and much more aggressive.