Pedagogy

Julie of the Wolves is a fictional novel written by Jean Craighead George in 1972, following a research on wolves with his son in Barrow, Alaska.  They saw a little girl walking by herself in the snow, to which Luke has remarked to be too little to be on her own.  With that, George had an inspiration for her novel.

Characters
The novel has two main characters, Miyax and Amaroq. Miyax is a girl who lost her mother and had lived with her father who taught her how to survive in the wild.  She later had her name changed into Julie when she started school.  Miyax grew up to be a skilled girl, who unfortunately had to suffer a succession of mishaps in her life, like her fathers supposed death in the army and an attempted sexual abuse from the man she was engaged to marry.  The latter event has forced her to run away and live with the wolves.  The skills she learned she was able to put into good use while he was living alone.

Amaroq is the alpha male of the wolf pack.  As the leader of the pack, hes bound to be extremely protective especially when it involves his son Kapu.  At first he was wary of the presence of a human on his pack, but he soon became soft as Miyax, who became Kapus bestfriend, gained his trust.

Plot  Development of the Story
There are three parts to the story, three jumps on a timeline the present, a jump back to the past, and then back to the present.  When you first begin to read the novel, youll meet Julie turned Miyax, alone in the cold and fending for herself with the goal of reaching San Francisco to live with a penpal.  Jump to the past where youll meet the little Miyax, growing up and experiencing all these experiences that will later be the reasons why shed run away from home.  And now to the present, where shell meet the wolf pack and eventually learn their ways and be able to communicate with them. She adjusted herself to be less threatening to Amaroq, the alpha male and become friends with its son, Kapu. When hunting season came, she decided to separate from them.  She witnessed how Amaroq was killed and Kapu injured by the hunters.  She nursed the pup Kapu to health until it became the alpha male, and forces the wolf pack to abandon her.  She found out that her father was actually alive, and married to an American woman whom she didnt like, so she continued on with her life alone.

Style  Theme
The central theme I could see here is the problem of fitting in.  MiyaxJulie had to fit in a world without her father, in a living environment with her Aunt Martha, in school, in the family shes soon going to belong to, in a group entirely different from her (as in the case of the wolf pack), and finally in his fathers new family.

Resolution
The resolution taken by our antagonist was rather weak.  She decided to walk away from it all, so she wouldnt have to fit in although it was the best thing to do, if I were to experience the same happenings.  She found it better to live independently, without having to cause any harm to herself or to others.

Recommendation
The theme is highly notable in teenagers of our time the sense of fitting in, the feel of being a member of.  The book itself is good it embodies a simplicity that is comprehensible to children and adolescents.  It is wholesome, yet gives a hint of the reality here and there.  It lacks, however, a better ending and that gripping suspense.  Julie couldve put up with all the challenges and didnt just choose to run away.