At the beginning it was hard for the girls to adapt and practice “lady like actions” because at first they didn't have any manners. When they first got there they did uncivilized stuff such as peeing on the bed, being rowdy, and other uncivilized actions. After practicing with the nuns and learning from them, they started to become more civilized and learned about human culture.
After the girls spend a short time at St. Lucy’s, “Many…feel isolated, irritated, bewildered, depressed, or generally uncomfortable” (270). Claudette confirms this in her narration, detailing the horrors of civilized life such as “trying to will our tongues to curl around our false new names” (270). The word choice itself conveys how the girls begin to lose their identity as members of the pack. In …show more content…
Claudette looks to Jeanette for help, but the hateful older sister taunts her instead: “The steps?” Jeanette replies and then whispers back “Not for you” (277). In this instance, Jeanette makes herself the monster-manifest, demonstrating that being a monster has less to do with circumstances beyond one’s control and more to do with the choices one makes. The savior in this situation turns out to be Mirabella, the most physically monstrous of all, who tackles Claudette to the ground, thus taking the fall for her. Claudette, however, has already forsaken pack loyalty and instead looks out for herself, so she does not even seek out Mirabella to thank her. In the last line of the story, Claudette admits she is “telling [her] first human lie” (278), confirming that in becoming civilized, she has joined the ranks of the only true monsters: humans, capable of taking children from their homes, erasing everything good they know, and replacing it with a life of lies and
After the girls spend a short time at St. Lucy’s, “Many…feel isolated, irritated, bewildered, depressed, or generally uncomfortable” (270). Claudette confirms this in her narration, detailing the horrors of civilized life such as “trying to will our tongues to curl around our false new names” (270). The word choice itself conveys how the girls begin to lose their identity as members of the pack. In …show more content…
Claudette looks to Jeanette for help, but the hateful older sister taunts her instead: “The steps?” Jeanette replies and then whispers back “Not for you” (277). In this instance, Jeanette makes herself the monster-manifest, demonstrating that being a monster has less to do with circumstances beyond one’s control and more to do with the choices one makes. The savior in this situation turns out to be Mirabella, the most physically monstrous of all, who tackles Claudette to the ground, thus taking the fall for her. Claudette, however, has already forsaken pack loyalty and instead looks out for herself, so she does not even seek out Mirabella to thank her. In the last line of the story, Claudette admits she is “telling [her] first human lie” (278), confirming that in becoming civilized, she has joined the ranks of the only true monsters: humans, capable of taking children from their homes, erasing everything good they know, and replacing it with a life of lies and