Karen Russell's “St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves” is a story of lycanthropic girls who have been raised by their wolf parents who are being assimilated into human culture by forceful nuns. Claudette is the main character who is also telling the story. She faces many achievements and struggles, but by the end of the story Claudette has clearly conformed to human culture. This is supported when Claudette shows her loss of wolf-like traits, such as when she loses compassion for her pack members, and in the later stages when she starts to have complex human thoughts and starts to lose detectable traces of her wolf origins. Claudette encounters cultural shock and struggles to assimilate, however, she also reaches many milestones on her journey to becoming human. One example of Claudette struggling finds Jeanette crying and says “Why you cry?”... instinctively reaching over …show more content…
Lucy’s it is evident that Claudette is now a civilized, conformed member of human society. There are several pieces of evidence to support this statement. For instance, when Claudette visited her parents near the end of her time at the facility “The woodsman had to accompany me; I couldn’t remember how to find the way back on my own.” This shows just how far Claudette has ventured from her animalistic mindset, because if she was still a wolf she would never forget the way back to her home. Furthermore, Claudette says “I ignored her and continued down the hall. I had only four more hours to perfect the Sausalito. I was worried only about myself.” The pack was previously extremely loyal to each other and never did anything for the benefit of the individual. Now that she has taken on these human characteristics she can never go back. A third and final example is when Claudette arrives at her old home and says “So,” I said, telling .my first human lie. “I’m home.” This implies that Claudette is aware that this is not her home anymore and it never will be