Girls Raised By Wolves Analysis

In “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, Claudette, Mirabella, and Jeanette is taken to a foreign place to adapt to human nature. They are taken through the process of 5 stages of becoming human. Claudette, the speaker of the story, is stuck between two faces, the human and the wolf face. While Claudette is in between these two worlds, she has fully conformed from wolf to human. She has completed the transformation from wolf to human because her own mother doesn 't recognize her, trying to make herself seem more like human, and not even caring about her own fellow wolf mates anymore.

This proves itself by how Claudette took on a large dose of self-confidence and independence. At the installation of the fourth section, Claudette ignored Jeanette’s need for help and continued with what she needed to accomplish for herself to be successful at the time. Claudette’s confidence and independence shows her understanding of situations and comfort in her new life. Further along in the fourth stage, when the Debutante Ball began, Claudette had her hair swept “back into high, bouffant hairstyles” and was “wearing a white organdy dress with orange polka dots” while eating fancy hors d’œuvres (Russell 242). This display of comportement further shows her confidence and acclimation to the human culture through her ability to stand the high class situation.

Not great and not terrible, solidly middle of the pack” (Russell 232). This idea of Claudette being a good but imperfect character connects to her relation to the Handbook, as she mostly follows along with its expectations but occasionally lags

In Karen Russell 's short story, “St. Lucy 's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, she takes the character Claudette on a journey from a barbaric, careless wolf to a independent, determined girl. Claudette is the narrator of this short story. She and her pack start off in the woods, where they lived all their lives, the nuns in the home use the handbook to take them from the woods and teach them to be civilized humans. Claudette goes through this journey, trying her best, for if she cannot become human, she will have nowhere to go. The nuns split the girls learning process into 5 stages, each one filled with new things. The handbook shows the expectations of the girls and what should be in store for them. Russell uses this handbook to develop Claudette 's character throughout the story. Claudette changes throughout each stage, learning and shaping her new identity in each one.

In Karen Russell’s short story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, she develops the progression of the characters in relation to The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock. The characters, young girls raised as if they were wolves, are compared to the handbook with optimism that they will adapt to the host culture. The girls’ progression in the five set stages are critical to their development at St. Lucy’s. The author compares Claudette, the narrator, to the clear expectations the handbook sets for the girls’ development. Claudette’s actions align well with the five stages, but she has outbursts that remind her of her former self.

Claudette tried her best to adapt to the humans culture and all the feral children had spent months learning to assimilate into human culture. However, despite her perseverance through all these challenges, some of the wolf in them still remained. This would later cause Claudette to stand out in both societies due to the wolf characteristics that still remained (thus not fitting in with the human societies) and the human characteristics that she learned (thus not fitting in the the werewolf societies). Feral diction also appeared in the story when Claudette attempted to dance to sausalito with Kyle. When she stepped onto the dance floor, the panicked and the feral part of her returned; Russell writes, “I threw back my head, a howl clawing its way up my throat” (250).

People who endure dislocation feel out of place and have many mixed emotions. Karen Russell’s “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” tells the story of a group of girls who suffer from lycanthropy including Jeanette, Claudette, and Mirabella. The “pack” of girls go through many stages to rehabilitate to their human identity. The girls experience culture shock and have to work as they progress through the stage.

There are many other times that the reader will find an act of responsibility that Jeannette had but those were just a few that stood out in the novel. With her family being the way it was, there were two things that could have happened to Jeannette, she could have turned out like her parents or turned her life of poverty into a life of wealth. Jeannette is an inspiring author and also a motivational speaker with a story that needed to be told that wasn’t just told, but printed to hundreds of people that needed to hear her story

She is not comfortable in the human culture if she resorts to her natural tendencies. While she is preparing to dance, she, “rubbed a pumpkin muffin all over [her] body earlier that morning,” (Russell 242) to mask her scent. This action not only creates humor but also shows that Claudette is not ready to go back and forth from human culture and wolf culture. Normal humans would use perfume to mask a smell, Claudette chose to use a pumpkin muffin because she knew it would mask her odor. This is not a human action, therefore, she does not meet the expectation of Stage

They think they can bend the rules and do what they think is necessary. Jeannette is exposed to these understandings, making her the person she grew up to be. Jeanette demonstrates how she struggles with her family throughout numerous portions of the novel: “The Desert,” “Welch,” New York.” These struggles developed and defined who she came to be.

Whether it's learning how to swim, cook, or make friends, Jeannette learns to become a strong, self-sufficient women who makes a successful life for herself. When having to face adversity, Christy Brown in My Left Foot, Bethany Hamilton, and Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle are perfect examples of how you can create a better life when overcoming adversity. To be able to be resilient and perservering when times are tough, are key to become a stronger, more well rounded adult. The ones who can accomplish this are the ones who can

When Jeannette’s mom gives birth to her fourth child; named Maureen, Jeannette says to her, “I promised her I’d always take care of her” (46). She promises to take care of Maureen, and to take care of her Jeannette has to keep motivated and hope for the best, but also remain dedicated and try her hardest. Making that promise shows Jeannette is mature and she will accomplish whatever is possible for Maureen. As life moves on, Jeannette wants to feel like she knows what is going on in the world, “But a newspaper reporter… I decided I wanted to be one of the people who knew what was really going on” (204).

Love tends to effect each character’s action differently. For example, love is what motivated the plot of the story “The Valley of Girls” by Kelly Link. For instance, the Olds observed society and performed actions to make sure their children are aligned with success. Love and social status is what makes these people relate, or correlate with each other; it reminds me of a government politically develop by love and society. In “The Valley of Girls” by Kelly Link, from Teenagers and Old are motivated by two specific motives, which are love and social status.

In stage two of Karen Russell’s story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, the epigraph informs us that the girls will be working very hard and will experience stress which will cause emotional distress and periods of unhappiness. As well as that they must “..must work hard to adjust to the new culture”.The pack of girls felt as if they weren’t in their place or where they belonged. They didn’t find their purpose yet. The girls during this stage will experience feelings of being “isolated..,depressed, or generally uncomfortable” as they begin to adjust to their new environment.

There are many literary devices used across stories. Color imagery is one of these literary devices that is used when colors give objects a symbolic meaning. In the short story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell, girls who have been raised as wolves are thrust into the unknown as they are forced to adapt to human society. Their childhood was spent living with wolves, however they are taken in by nuns of St. Lucy’s who attempt to assimilate them into the human world through different phases. Throughout the story, color imagery is used to emphasize the key theme of unity, establish the conflicted tone, and metaphorically develop Claudette’s character.