St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Theme

Change is a part of life that can be beneficial, harmful, or both. Every day people dream of becoming something they are not with hopes they can achieve what they believe to be a better life. In “The Ruined Maid” by Thomas Hardy and “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell, both narrators undergo a drastic transition in their lifestyles. In Hardy’s poem the narrator, Melia, goes from living a simple farm life, to living a luxurious life as a prostitute. In Russell’s short story the narrator, Claudette, transitions from life as a wolf-girl to becoming an average human girl. Though the content might be different, the theme of these two pieces of literature are the same. The theme being that change does not come without sacrifice.

In “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” the nuns use a shockingly casual tone when speaking to the girls, as if they understand the sacrifices the girls are going to have to make. For example, when the girls first arrive at St. Lucy’s and are running rabid around the courtyard the sister asks, “And what is your name?”(239). The nun asks this question as if she is speaking to a girl who knows how to respond despite the fact she knows the girls can not speak. In “The Ruined Maid” the author uses word choice to set the tone. By repeatedly using the word ‘ruined’ Melia does not let the country girl forget that despite how glamorous her life seems it does not come without a price. The word ruined sets Melia’s tone as insightful of her situation; on the other hand, the country girl’s tone is extremely naive. In lines 21-22 the country girl states, “I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,/ And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!” The author includes this line to show the naivety that Melia herself probably had before her transformation. The author is aiming to establish a contrast in the tones of the two characters in order to establish