ipl-logo

Summary Of St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves

596 Words3 Pages

Through the use of her short story, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell tries and succeeds in pushing the idea that being civilized does not equal being better. All too often, being civilized automatically comes with an association of being greater than everyone, and anyone who is uncivilized is associated with being lesser or even unhuman. Russell’s goal in writing this short story is to throw away that bias and show that there is more than one way to live life. One of the main themes throughout this short story is the idea that what works for one person will not essentially work for another; there is no correct way to live life. A prime example of this theme is the obvious difference of standards of living between the nuns at St. Lucy’s and the pack of …show more content…

The nuns also hold being able to dress appropriately, while keeping up with hygiene to be very important just not to the extent of being civilized. One the other hand, the pack of girls’ places value on extremely different concepts, a main one being strength, both as individuals and as a group. Harmony and leadership are two other ideas that these girls place value on, “the main commandment of wolf life is Know Your Place, and that translated perfectly” (Russell 241). This concept of knowing one’s place is understood by these girls and helps them to cooperate with the nuns; however, the pack’s understanding and the nuns’ understanding is quite different. The girls are accustomed to having a hierarchy that comes with each individual knowing their role in the community, the nuns simply see themselves at the top and the girls beneath them; the same basic concept with two distinct interpretations. In the end, the nuns’ values end up triumphing over the girls’ values—all of the girls, with the exception of Mirabella, end up graduating from St. Lucy’s, meaning that they have all successfully become civilized. The girls were all forced to let go of their values and adapt to the values of the

Show More
Related

Analysis Of St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves

385 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Analysis

989 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” written by Karen Russell, a pack of wolf girls leave their home in the woods for St. Lucy’s in order to be able to live in human society. Within the story, Russell has included epigraphs before each stage from The Jesuit Handbook for Lycanthropic Culture Shock. This handbook was for the nuns at St. Lucy’s to help guide their students. Karen Russell included the epigraphs, short quotations at the beginning of a chapter intended to suggest a theme, from the handbook to help the reader understand what the characters might be feeling or how they will act in a certain stage. In Stage One, the epigraph closely relates to the characters’ development, yet doesn’t consider that the girls could be fearful in their new home due to interactions with the nuns.

Read More

Summary Of St. Lucy's School For Girls Raised By Wolves

481 Words | 2 Pages

“St. Lucy’s School for Girls Raised by Wolves” toys with the idea of human embodiment and wolfish characteristics, which leads to a unique theme of werewolves. If one does not pay significant notice to the story’s title, the first paragraph of the book might leave a momentary shadow over the nature of the characters: are they wolves, humans, or an unnatural combination of sinew and soul? In a way, the girls at St. Lucy’s school are all three personas. Their actions are wolf-like in behavior—the result of being werewolves’ progeny. The girls are also human since the werewolf gene skips a generation, yet, the combination of both wolf and human leaves one with a lingering sense of the werewolf.

Read More

St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Analysis

819 Words | 4 Pages

in the story ”St. Lucy 's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell, Claudette undergoes a difficult and overstimulating experience trying to be retaught so she can join the human world. It is clear that Claudette has most definitely adapted to the human world and it’s civilized background. The pack would have been ostracized by both the wolfs and the humans if not for her parents wanting better for them. In the beginning, Claudette was very good at reading the foreign language,”But I had an ear for languages, and I could read before I could adequately wash myself.

Read More

Feral Diction In St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolf

462 Words | 2 Pages

In the story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, the author, Karen Russell, uses feral diction to establish that although people strive for perfectionism in their lives, people cannot become someone or something that they are not, thus causing a loss of identity. Russell uses feral diction in “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” to prove that people cannot change who the are. For example, Kyle tried to talk to Claudette, but just succeeded in annoying her instead. Claudette immediately reacted and, according to the story, “I narrowed my eyes at Kyle and flattened my ears, something I hadn’t done for months” (249).

Read More

St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Short Story

1067 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

What Is The Theme Of Harrison Bergeron By Kurt Vonnegut

165 Words | 1 Pages

Equality is a great idea that we should strive for and achieve; however, being made equal physically and mentally by the government could be very unfair. People should still have characteristics that make us different. One can be diverse but still equal to his neighbor. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s use of point of view, conflict, and imagery in his short story “Harrison Bergeron,” illustrates how difficult living in a world where everyone is the same would be.

Read More

Life's Inequality In Life In The Iron Mills

666 Words | 3 Pages

For the lower class in Life in the Iron Mills life sucks, but that’s life right? John F. Kennedy bluntly explains how life is like in three short sentences, “There is always inequality in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded and some men never leave the country. Life is unfair.” While there is no war in this book, it is true for some of the characters that life is truly unfair, in fact in severely unfair.

Read More

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

785 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

The Movie Matilda Doesn T Trust Estella

332 Words | 2 Pages

It is shown in this movie,that there are lot of not so good things can happen if we didn't finished our studies. Like what happened with the main character,she did not go to school,she got married to a man named Daniel and they had 3 daughters. They are living with her husband's mother named Matilda,Matilda love her 3 grand daughters so much,and she doesn't want them to grow like their mother who did not attended school that's why she cannot read nor write. Matilda acts like the mother of the 3 children of Daniel and Estella,she doesn't trust Estella because of her being ignorant,and because of that,Estella's image was not as good as she wanted to be,her second child was treating her with no respect. Her husband has always been dependent to her

Read More

Summary Of St Lucy's Home For Girls

1429 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More

Overcoming Obstacles In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

701 Words | 3 Pages

In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette manages to overcome her obstacles by realizing her independence. She is impacted by her parents’ incapabilities because she realizes that she has to do things differently than other children. Her father was a stubborn alcoholic who believed that: “[they] were all getting too soft, too dependent on creature comforts, and that [they] were losing touch with the natural order of the world”(Walls 106). He believes that every human should be independent and fend for themselves. By using the term “creature comforts”, her father is trying to separate himself from what he calls the civilians.

Read More

Summary Of St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves

1580 Words | 7 Pages

This shows that the girls still possess their animal instinct, but are overpowered with the strong sense of curiosity to the life that the humans live. Claudette even mentions that they had forgotten “the barked cautions of [their] mothers

Read More

St. Lucy's Home Raised By Wolf Analysis

504 Words | 3 Pages

Karen Russel’s narrator, Claudette in the short story “St. Lucy’s home for girls raised by wolves” has a guilty hope that she fails to adapt to her new human culture and exhibits her instinctive wolve traits showing that Claudette has not successfully adapted to the human culture. Claudette wishes to adapt to the human culture but has a difficult time accepting it. The St. Lucy’s home for girls raised by wolves is for girls to learn the human culture. The faster the girls go through the stages, the faster they have adapted and accepted their new culture and can be released. While Claudette acts as if the human culture is growing on her

Read More

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

721 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Summary Of St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves

Related Topics

Open Document