Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George was another piece of required reading for my children's literature course.
The story is broken into three parts, each covering an important aspect of Miyax's life (Julie is her English name). She's an Eskimo girl set in her Eskimo ways, and when the life she's living becomes unhealthy, she chooses to leave it behind. She's taken in by a pack of Arctic wolves, and she learns to live the way they do. Life with the wolves is well, until she realizes that winter is coming. Now she must decide if she's going to stay out on the frozen tundra, or try to find her way back to civilization. But that's not the only decision she has to make.
Miyax wants to get from the frozen Arctic to San Fransisco where her pen pal lives. Green grass, a pink room, no snow and civilization all sound quite appealing, until Miyax realizes how the gussaks (white people) treat the wild life and the Eskimos. Everything that she was led to believe, whether it was from her father, or her pen pal, isn't so true after all. The only ones she can rely on is her pack of wolves, and herself.
Julie of the Wolves is simple, but I found it interesting as I've studied Native literature before. I was able to draw parallels, and understand the story in a different manner, I think, than those who have never studied Native lit at all. Regardless, it's still worth reading if you're looking for something short (by novel standards) and simple to pass the time.
1 comment:
I, too just finished reading Julie of the Wolves. There are many good points, such as the detailed characterization of animals and nature, in the book. However, I could not understand Julie's mindset. When a plane approaches her, she hides. She is not spotted. This seems unlikely. It also seems that she wants to continue to wander the tundra, alone. She's a thirteen year old girl! Not likely. Upon finding her father, she chooses to leave and go back out into the wilderness (to wander some more, I guess) because the father's new wife was not a Native. Julie does not even try to get to know this woman. Very judgemental-and foolish. I suppose she wants to continue to eat grass and regurgitated meat from wolves. Also, she rejects her father because he now uses a plane to hunt. Surely, the father cannot be expected to go back to the old ways? If Julie is so set in living in the old way, I wonder why she wants to go to San Francisco so badly?
Sorry for venting. But these points did not make sense!
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