Identity and Transformation
This is the main physical transformation the girls undergo at St. Lucy's.
What is changing from wolf-like behaviors and appearances to more human-like behaviors and appearances?
This is the primary goal of St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.
What is to assimilate wolf-raised girls into human society?
These are the challenges the girls face in learning to communicate.
What is learning human language, having previously communicated through howls and barks?
These are some of the natural behaviors the girls have to overcome.
What are instinctual behaviors like howling, hunting, and walking on all fours?
These two are the very first adaptations the girls have to make at St. Lucy's.
What are learning to walk upright and eat with utensils?
This is the protagonist who struggles with her identity throughout the story.
Who is Claudette?
This is what the "stages" mentioned in the story represent.
What is "phases of the girls' education and assimilation into human culture"?
This is the effect of Claudette's ability to narrate on her pack's situation.
What is positioning her as bridge between the wolf and human worlds?
This is the influence of St. Lucy's environment on the girls' development.
What is: "how it shapes their behaviors, attitudes, and understanding of human society"?
This is the character most successful in adapting to the new environment.
Who is Jeanette?
This is the significance of the girls receiving more human-like names as they progress through the stages.
What is awarding them (in the nuns POV) because of their transformation and assimilation?
These are some of the varied reactions of the girls to their assimilation process.
What is some adapt quickly and eagerly, while others struggle or resist?
This is what language serving as a barrier between the girls and the nuns represents.
What is the gap between human language and etiquette and wolf language?
This is evidence of the girls' natural nature persisting despite their nurtured upbringing at St. Lucy's.
What are occasional lapses into wolf-like behavior, and their deep, instinctual connections to each other?
This is how the concept of survival changes for the girls from the beginning to the end of the story. (Hint: it shifts from using all fours to how to talk to boys as a girl)
What shifts from physical survival in the wild to emotional and social survival in human society?
This is the guide in the beginning of the book that outlines the expectations and stages of becoming more human for the girls.
What is "The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock"?
This is the story's suggestion about the impact of culture and assimilation on individual identity. (Hint: Think opportunity costs)
What is "it suggests that assimilation can be complex and painful, often involving loss of original identity"?
This is the role of misunderstanding and miscommunication in the story. An example of this is also needed.
What is "it highlights the difficulties the complexity of communication beyond just language?
Example: "When the boy tells Claudette at the end that she smells nice something he would have naturally said, instead of what he wanted to say"
This is how the story explores the concept of "civilizing" the wild.
What is "How it questions whether nature can be fully overridden by upbringing and education"?
These are the two ends of the spectrum of the different survival strategies employed by the girls. An example of each spectrum is needed. (Hint: Think Mirabella and Jeanette)
What is strategies ranging from eager assimilation to outright rejection of human norms?
Example:
Mirabella - "Mirabella would rip foamy chunks out of the church pews and replace them with ham bones and girl dander."
Jeanette - "Her real name was GWARR!, but she wouldn't respond to this anymore."
This is the significance of Claudette's final act of howling at the end of the story and what it reflects. (Hint: Think about Antoinette's social status in Wide Sargasso Sea)
What is "it signifies her internal conflict and the incomplete nature of her transformation, reflecting her struggle with identity?"
This is how the metaphor of "wilderness" versus "civilization" is used in the story.
What is "How does the wilderness symbolize natural, untamed identity, while civilization represents societal norms and the pressures to conform"?
This is the power of language in shaping identity and belonging as illustrated by the story. (Hint: Think about the difference between how Claudette understood human language and how Jeanette did)
What is "how it shows that language is a key tool for assimilation, yet it doesn't guarantee a sense of belonging or understanding"?
This is the implication of the story's ending in the context of nature vs. nurture. An example of this is also needed.
What suggests that nature cannot be completely erased by nurture, as the girls' wolf heritage remains a part of their identity?
Example: "Claudette basically almost forgetting everything she ever learned at the school when the pressure came on during the performance of the dance."
This is what the story implies about the relationship between adaptation and identity. (Hint: Think about the costs of adapting)
What is: "How it suggests that adaptation can be a means of survival, but it often comes with the cost of altering one’s identity"?