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The document is an analysis of Claudette's development in the short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell. It summarizes that Claudette develops according to five epigraphs from "The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock" that outline the stages girls should progress through. Specifically, [1] Claudette explores her new environment excitedly in stage one, [2] feels depressed and irritated in stage two, [3] questions human culture in stage three, [4] starts understanding and prioritizing herself in stage four, and [5] fully transitions between cultures in stage five. The document concludes Claudette

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226 views4 pages

9

The document is an analysis of Claudette's development in the short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell. It summarizes that Claudette develops according to five epigraphs from "The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock" that outline the stages girls should progress through. Specifically, [1] Claudette explores her new environment excitedly in stage one, [2] feels depressed and irritated in stage two, [3] questions human culture in stage three, [4] starts understanding and prioritizing herself in stage four, and [5] fully transitions between cultures in stage five. The document concludes Claudette

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Christopher 1

Emmalee Christopher

Mrs. Luton

English I

3 November 2016

Claudette’s Development

Just like anyone else, the girls in “St. Lucy’s School for Girls Raised by Wolves,” all

developed at different rates. In “ St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” written by Karen

Russell, they used epigraphs. The epigraphs in the story are what the nuns at St. Lucy’s used as a

reference for how the girls should progress, the epigraphs came from ​The Jesuit Handbook on

Lycanthropic Culture Shock.​ Throughout the five stages of the story Claudette’s development

went along with what the epigraphs were saying.

Undoubtedly, Claudette stayed within the first epigraphs standards. The first epigraph

suggested that everything is new and exciting for the girls and that the girls will want to explore

their new environment. Nonetheless, what Claudette was describing throughout the stage fit this

description. For example, “We tore through the austere rooms, overturning dressers, pawing

through the neat piles of the stage 3 girls starched underwear, smashing light bulbs with our bare

fist” (Russell 225). Therefore, this proves that Claudette was were she needed to be in stage one.

During, stage 2 it says that the girls will start to realize that they have to work to adapt to

the host culture, and they may feel depressed, irritated, bewildered, and may miss certain things.

Claudette and the pack would do things as though they were still living in the woods, but they

realized that they would not be able to do that stuff at St. Lucy’s, and eventually, gave up. “We

puddled up the yellow carpet of old newspapers. But later, when we returned to the bedroom, we
Christopher 2

were dismayed to find all trace of the pack musk had vanished,” after a while the pack and

Claudette figured out that it was a waste of time to destroy their things if someone was going to

fix it right after (Russell 230). Essentially, Claudette’s development during stage 2 was were it

should be.

Claudette developed as the third epigraph said she should. Epigraph 3 states that the girls

will come to a point were they will withdraw themselves and begin rejecting the host culture, and

that they will start to question how they live like they do.This example shows how Claudette

does not agree with how her host live, “I felt sorry for them. I wondered what it would be like to

be bred in captivity, and always homesick for a dimly sensed forest, the trees you’ve never

seen,” (Russell 237). As a result, this proves that Claudete has in fact progressed as she should.

In addition, epigraph four says that the girls will start to understand the host culture, feel

more comfortable in their environment, and things will begin to make sense. Normal human girls

will rarely worry about someone other than themselves, they make sure that they have everything

done for themselves before helping another person. “‘Please. Help me mop up Mirabella’s mess.’

I ignored her and continued down the hall. I had only four more hours to perfect the Sausalito. I

was worried only about myself,” this shows how Claudette is starting to embrace her host culture

(Russell 241). Thus, Claudette has proven to have reached the standards of the fourth epigraph.

Finally, in epigraph five the students at St. Lucy’s should be able to now make a smooth

transition from wolf culture to human culture, and also find it easy to move between the two. The

girls now know all the components to become a girl and should easily be able to become one. In

this part of the book it shows how Claudette has changed since the beginning of the story, “I

wore my best dress and brought along some prosciutto and dill pickles in a picnic basket”
Christopher 3

(Russell 246). Notably, this shows how Claudette has developed to meet the thinking processes

of the creators of the fifth epigraph.

In conclusion, though all people develop at different rates Claudette’s progression at St.

Lucy’s shows that she developed as the epigraphs thought she should. In epigraph one Claudette

showed excitement and curiosity for the exploration of her new environment. Claudette’s

development in epigraph two shows that she is feeling sad and depressed as it said she should.

Stage three, Claudette is beginning to question why the humans live as they do. The fourth

epigraph says that the girls will start to understand the host culture more than before, and like

any normal human Claudette was only worried about herself. In the fifth epigraph Claudette had

made her full transition to the human culture as the epigraph said she should. Finally,

considering all the evidence here it is quite obvious that Claudette developed throughout the

story as she should.


Christopher 4

Work Cited

Russell, Karen. ¨St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.¨ ​St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised

by Wolves, ​Knopf, New York, 2006, pp. 225-246.

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