Julie Of The Wolves

“They become restless, then crazy. They run in a frenzy until they die.”

Miyax recalls her teacher discussing lemmings, the small rodents whose populations can boom to huge numbers. Lemmings’ allegiance to following their group is so strong it can even lead to their death. For example, if some lemmings start to cross a body of water that is too deep or too wide, many might die because the group will blindly follow the dangerous behavior. Later, Miyax will hunt lemmings for food. Yet the rodents also point by contrast to the incredible independence of Miyax, who refuses to follow the ways of other people. 

“She wanted to get up and run, but she gathered her courage and pranced closer to him. Swiftly she patted him under the chin.”

Miyax watches the wolves for some time, trying to observe their patterns and understand their behavior. Through patience, she comes to realize the social cues and expectations of the wolf pack. Miyax then uses that knowledge to approach the wolves carefully. She is motivated to bond with them because she depends on them to bring her food. Nevertheless, she still must draw on great courage to overcome any fear of the danger the wolves pose. 

“‘Change your ways when fear seizes,’ he had said, ‘for it usually means you are doing something wrong.’” 

Though she has been separated from her father Kapugen and believes that he is dead, Miyax remembers lessons he taught her. Lost on the harsh tundra, she recalls his advice to not be crippled by fear but to see fear as a sign that change is needed. Kapugen’s insight on both human nature and the ways of the wilderness is a model for Miyax as she faces challenges. When she later learns that Kapugen has adopted modernized life instead of traditional ways and folk wisdom, Miyax is hurt. 

“Lifting out the warm viscera, she tipped back her head and popped them into her mouth. They were delicious­—the nuts and candy of the Arctic.” 

The narrator describes how Miyax pulls caribou organs from a fresh carcass and happily eats them raw, as though they are treats like candy or nuts. The act shows that Miyax has knowledge, realizing that the organs are highly nutritious, and she has the willpower to do something that civilized people might not bring themselves to do. 

“Slipping her hand beneath a nipple she caught several drops, keeping her eyes on Silver to discern her mood.”

After observing how Silver’s pups nurse, the starving Miyax gets the idea to try some wolf milk as a source of food. In getting a few drops, she shows her ability to closely observe wolf behavior and follow their actions without being hurt by the dangerous animals. As when she eats raw caribou organs, she also shows a willingness to leave her comfort zone to survive. In addition, literally being nursed by Silver symbolizes the many ways that the wolf pack helps Miyax.  

“Then, scoffing at herself for being such an old-fashioned Eskimo, she sharpened her man’s knife on a stone and set to work.” 

After the wolf pack allows Miyax a share of a caribou carcass, she is thrilled to have food to eat. Almost by instinct, she pays tribute to the caribou spirit by raising her hands to the sun. She feels embarrassed in that moment, but she immediately picks up her knife and begins to cut from the carcass according to Inuit custom. The moment is a sign that although Miyax might feel self-conscious about her culture, she is learning to appreciate her culture. As the novel proceeds, her allegiance to that culture strengthens. 

“Miyax stood still, surprised by the power she felt. The knife made her a predator, and a dangerous one.” 

Miyax is stunned to find Jello attempting to steal from her stew pot. She wields her so-called “man’s knife” to scare the wolf off and discovers that she can have power, even over an animal as powerful as a wolf. She realizes that when holding her man’s knife, she has a strength and power that goes beyond her age. At the same time, she acknowledges that the power comes from the knife, and thus she gains an appreciation of the tools of her culture. 

“‘Wolves are brotherly,’ he said. ‘They love each other, and if you learn to speak to them, they will love you too.’” 

Miyax’s father Kapugen taught her several lessons about wolves. She recalls one thing he told her that stressed the bond between wolves. Alone and lost in the harsh wilderness of the North Slope of Alaska, Miyax takes solace in the idea that the wolves might accept her. The companionship and support they ultimately provide her is as essential to her survival as the food they share with her.

“‘Yes, you are Eskimo,’ he had said. ‘And never forget it. We live as no other people can, for we truly understand the earth.’” 

Miyax looks to Kapugen for wisdom and sees him as a model of strength and independence. His pride in Inuit culture makes a deep impression on Miyax. Over time, a love of her traditional culture becomes increasingly important to her. When she learns in Part 3 that her father now leads a modernized life and rejects traditional Inuit ways, he seems to veer from his statements like this one about Inuit people understanding the earth.

“Maybe the Europeans once thought the earth was flat, but the Eskimos always knew it was round.” 

Even though Miyax is alone in the wilderness and has left her village behind, she thinks about her culture. In addition to recalling Inuit proverbs Kapugen shared with her, Miyax thinks about the wisdom of her culture more broadly. She notes with pride that the Inuit people never believed that the earth was flat, which to her implies the superiority of her culture over Western points of view. 

“Then Julie saw Daniel. She knew from his grin and dull eyes that something was wrong with him.”

Miyax accepts the prospect of marrying Naka’s son Daniel as a means of getting out of living with her Aunt Martha. However, when she first meets him, he leaves a sinister impression that alarms her, which also foreshadows the moment when Daniel assaults her. 

“Julie rolled to her stomach and vomited. Slowly she got to her feet.” 

After Daniel assaults her, Miyax feels sick. While it takes her a moment to collect herself, the slowness of her rise comes in contrast to the swiftness of her decision to run away. She survives the attack resolved to escape her life in the city, her marriage, and modernized culture. 

“Running from broken house to dumped cooking pot to icebox, she felt needles of fear move up her spine, spread into her arms, and pierce her whole body.” 

Miyax’s independence and ability to survive are tested when Jello destroys her camp and steals her food. By describing the chill of fear striking Miyax, the narrator conveys the urgency of the situation. In the blink of an eye, Miyax realizes that she might starve or freeze to death. 

“Her needles and ulo, the tools of survival, were all in the pack.” 

Miyax realizes that with the loss of a few simple items like her needles and her knife, or ulo, her situation has become dire. Without those items, she cannot complete basic tasks for her survival on the tundra, like sewing together hides for clothing, or hunting and finding food. The loss of these items, though temporary, is also an opportunity for Miyax to deepen her appreciation for Inuit culture. 

“On the side of a ground swell lay Jello, his body torn in bloody shreds, his face contorted. Beside him lay her backpack!”

Miyax experiences both horror and relief. Jello lies dead, killed by Amaroq for stealing from Miyax and thus breaking the unwritten law of the wolf pack. At the same time, Miyax sees her pack containing her needles, ulo, and other precious items that Jello stole from her. With those items recovered, her life is no longer in danger. More importantly, the killing of Jello signifies how deeply Miyax has been accepted by the wolf pack and brought under its protection. 

“With a skip and a leap she told him in wolf language how glad she was to see him. He replied by dashing around in a small circle, then three big circles.” 

The wolf pack continues to help Miyax by bringing her food as she continues her journey across the tundra. Kapu brings her a leg of caribou, and she does a dance that is a means of conveying appreciation to the wolves. Kapu responds in kind, showing that Miyax has successfully learned how to communicate with the wolves. In addition, the dance is a moment of joy within a difficult time that emphasizes how Miyax feels at home in the tundra despite the challenges she faces there. 

“And she liked the simplicity of the world. It was easy to understand.” 

Even though being alone in the wilderness has tested Miyax’s ability to survive and endangered her life, the experience has given her a new appreciation for Inuit culture. Ironically, nearly losing her few essential items after Jello stole them made her realize that the beauty of her culture is in its simplicity. As a result of her experiences, Miyax no longer feels so sure about her plan of traveling to San Francisco. 

“Then he reared, and dropped on the snow. He was dead.” 

Miyax watches in horror as Amaroq is killed by hunters shooting at him from an airplane. The moment is stunning; in his last moment, Amaroq rises up, suggesting his noble nature. In a flash, however, Amaroq is dead. The simplicity of the language in this quote emphasizes the suddenness and impact of Amaroq’s death, as though it is almost too awful for words. 

“Black exhaust enveloped her, and civilization became this monster that snarled across the sky.”

As Miyax watches the airplane carrying the hunters who shot Amaroq and Kapu fly overhead, she is filled with dread and disgust. The plane becomes a symbol of what Miyax sees as the wickedness of civilization. The narrator emphasizes the wickedness by characterizing it in figurative language, through the metaphor of a snarling monster. 

“When she thought of San Francisco, she thought about the airplane and the fire and blood and the flashes and death. When she took out her needle and sewed, she thought about peace and Amaroq.” 

Reflecting on her situation after hunters kill Amaroq, Miyax contrasts the world of civilization and the world of her traditional culture. Seeing the hunters in the plane makes her think of all civilization as dangerous and wicked, unlike her traditional culture (symbolized by her needle and other simple tools). In this moment of reflection, Miyax begins to decide against her original plan to escape to San Francisco.

“Miyax smiled at him as if she did not understand.” 

Out on the tundra, continuing to make her way toward San Francisco after the death of Amaroq, Miyax runs into a family of Inuit hunters. Recognizing them as belonging to her culture, she does not address them in English, even though she hears them speaking it. Instead, she waits to see if the hunters instead speak an Inuit language. The choice to speak to them in their native language represents Miyax’s pride in her culture and her decision to avoid non-Inuit culture. 

“Come in. I’ve never seen such a bird.” 

The family of hunters who Miyax meets on the tundra inadvertently let her know that her father Kapugen is still alive. She is excited and changes course to go and see him. She brings him a bird, Tornait, as a gift. When she knocks on his door in the town of Kangik, the first words he has for her do not express joy at their reunion, or even that he recognizes Miyax as his daughter. Instead, he notes that he is not familiar with the type of bird. This suggests that Miyax’s vision of her father as an all-knowing, noble Inuit might be mistaken, and that the life she envisions does not correspond to Kapugen’s. 

“Kapugen, after all, was dead to her.” 

Miyax long thought that her father Kapugen died while alone hunting seal, an assumption that turns out to be false. Once she and Kapugen are reunited, however, he turns out to not be what she expected. Miyax does accept that Kapugen chooses to live in civilization and practice non-Inuit ways like hunting from an airplane and wearing an American coat. While she did not have a choice to be separated from him before, when she thought he was dead, she can now make the conscious choice to leave him behind of her own accord.