St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Analysis

In every good initiation story the protagonist experiences a range of changes. In Karen Russell 's story “St. Lucy 's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, the protagonist Claudette is quickly submersed in a new world. She and her pack go from living with their lycanthrope parents in the woods, to being raised by nuns and taught to act human. She has to learn a whole new way to exist. She learns what to do, how to think, and how to become an individual. Karen Russell effectively shapes Claudette as a dynamic character. Throughout the story Claudette experiences changes in her personality and behaviors, producing a stark contrast in the end.

In the excerpt “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russell the narrator speaks as a half wolf half human mind set. She discusses the improvements and difficulties of living in captivity after being free and wild their entire lives. There are three (3) main characters, Mirabella (youngest), Claudette who is the middle child of the three (3) sisters, and last but certainly not least, Jeanette. These girls are few of an entire “pack” of half human half wolf. The pack is referred to as a whole throughout the duration of this excerpt. They experience difficulty in the transition of the “wolf-identity” into more of a “human-identity”. This short story exemplifies how the difficulty of change after being exposed to ones “tradition” for so long differs for each “person” wolf or not.

Karen Russell’s St Lucy’s Home for Girl Raised by Wolves is about a pack of wolf girls that are taught how to act civilized at St Lucy’s. Over the course of the story, there are three main wolf girls, Claudette, Jeanette, and Mirabella. At St Lucy’s the girls go through five stages. Some of the girls will either be ahead, stay at the same pace as, or be behind the program. The epigraph for Stage One suggests that the girls will have a new-found curiosity and excitement. It also suggests that they will enjoy the new environment that they’re placed in.

The second epigraph of St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By Wolves refers to a “Stage 2” from the Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock. According to the text, in this stage, the wolf-girl pack will realize that they are required to make an effort to adapt to their new environment and begin the stressful process of integrating themselves into the host culture. During this period, the epigraph explains, students may feel frustrated, depressed, confused, out-of place, or somewhat insecure, reminiscing about their old home and ways of life. Stage 2 marks an important phase in the development of the pack as a character, and of the wolf-girls as individuals.

The author of this passage, Ban Zhao, seemed to be very knowledgeable and influential to young women. Since the setting takes place in Asia, I think that the author may have been influenced to write this piece by other woman of her country. Taking clues from the style of writing I can infer that this piece was written in a past since it uses words and phrases that seem dated. When looking over this writing piece I can heavily agree

St. Lucy’s home is a home for girls to go to when they have been raised by wolves. They go there to gain skills and manners that they weren’t taught growing up. During their visit, they go through five stages to become more human. Some girls change and improve, but others do not and they stay the same. Something happens with Mirabella and she did not improve during her visit.

Kanye West said it best, “Everybody knows I’m a M*f**ing monster” and honestly, as humans we are.

Whether one would like to admit it or not, change is a difficult and not to mention uncomfortable experience which we all must endure at one point in our lives. A concept that everyone must understand is that change does not occur immediately, for it happens overtime. It is necessary for time to pass in order for a change to occur, be it days, weeks, months, or even years. The main character, who is also the narrator of “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, realizing that “things felt less foreign in the dark” (Russell 225), knows that she will be subject to change very soon. The author makes it evident to readers that the narrator is in a brand new environment as the story begins. This strange short story about girls raised by

Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast, -at her, the child of honourable parents, -at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, -at her, who had once been innocent, -as the figure, the body, the reality of sin.

Language: In On the Equality of the Sexes, there are a few phrases that seem to show some importance. “There is something new under the sun” is italicized in the text. She is saying that there is going to be some change coming soon with women’s education. She also uses the word superior, or superiority, quite a bit in the text. She questions whether or not mental superiority between sexes actually exists. She also talks about imagination a lot. She makes the point that society constricts how women use their imaginations. The way she uses domestication in the text is in a negative way. She uses the phrase “fertile brain of a female” and by doing this she is trying to show that females’ brains are productive and capable of becoming so much

The epigraphs in St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves are intended to give information as to what development the wolf-girls of the school will experience. The information they give us typically concerns the actions the girls may perform and the feelings they might experience by telling us the stage that they are at in their transition. With the exception of Mirabella, all the information we're given concerning the girls matches up with the quotes's corresponding epigraph. Epigraph two and it's sequential text is no different.

In a surprise ending, the female slave lightly debates everyone’s morals coherently: “(Stand off!) we help not in our loss! / We are too heavy for our cross, / And fall and crush you and your seed” (243-245). Notably, this is the one time in the narrative that we find the female slave easy to understand and sensible.

In the short story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, by Karen Russell she talks about how the girls develop and how the nuns guided them while using the, Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock text to help them teach the girls and guide them throughout the stages. Karen Russell talks about how the girls have developed in the stages. Russell specifically talks about how the narrator Claudette has developed. Which leads into being a accepted into the human culture. After arriving at “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, Claudette has not fully developed with the handbook. In the first stage Claudette is still very much a wolf girl and not a girl, because she is just starting her lessons at the boarding school.

The paper will be discussing about the relationship in stage 2, between the epigraph and the girl's development. Addressing the similarities of what the epigraph says to what the stage describes. With referencing evidence to support different claims. Generally, the epigraph of stage 2 tells that the girls may feel uncomfortable towards their development and adjustment to their new culture and identity. Similarly, the passage follows the general structure and description of it's epigraph. The goal in this paper is to prove that the epigraph is a general description of what will happen to the girls in that stage.

The poems “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe have many similarities, as well as many differences. They have two different dates they were published. “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” have much in common when it comes to their themes or their motifs, they also have differences in their themes. These poems are alike and unlike in imagery and figurative language. Lastly, they can be compared and contrasted in their form, structure, and their sound devices.