How may one feel if everything known strips away from them? In St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, a short story by Karen Russell, the wolf pack goes to St. Lucy’s Home to become more civilized. As the journey continues, Claudette learns how to successfully leave her origins and adapt to human life.
In the early stages of the story, Claudette faces many challenges whether it involves identity, family, or overstimulation. Accordingly, in stage 1 Claudette is seperated from her brothers and parents. She is then sent to a home for girls raised by wolves. While living at the home, Claudette faces new challenges and concepts. For example, in stage two, Claudette has a hard time accepting her new life. In the text, Claudette states that the pack “[has] never wanted to run away so badly in [their] lives” (Russell 230). Claudette does not enjoy the conditions within St. Lucy's Home. As well as, in stage three, Claudette does not want to make any mistakes, however, she says that, “[t]here were so many things that we could do wrong” (Russell 238). One can see that she feels the need for approval.
…show more content…
To demonstrate, when Mirabella jumps onto Claudette she needs to decide on what should happen next. Claudette states that “everyone was watching; everyone wanted to see what I could do” (Russell 245). Claudette now must make a choice, in this case, she became very bewildered and lashed out on Mirabella. Although, one may consider this as an eradicate outcome, it helped Claudette in the end. In stage five Claudette graduates from St. Lucy’s Home and then she returns “home”. It states in the text, “So,’ I said, telling my first human lie. ‘I’m home’” (Russell 247). Claudette refers to herself as human, and after returning to her previous home she realizes the differences between her and her parents. One can see how each epigraph shows Claudette improving whether it be a challenge or not, each time improvements are