Who is Mirabella, and why is she such an important and tragic character in Karen Russell’s “St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves?” This is a big question readers may encounter in the story, seemingly about a pack of wolf girls learning to be civilized, and if you dig deep into the text, you may find hidden allusions and references to things such as boarding schools. The big idea Russell is trying to portray in this text is that adapting is not always the best for certain parties involved, and at times assimilation will tear away and shed a culture one member at a time until that culture and its people are nothing more than a distant memory resembling a fate worse than what they believed would ever come to them. With that being said, how does
…show more content…
Her teeth were ground down to nubbins; her hair was falling out. She hated the spongy, long-dead foods we were served, and it showed—her ribs were poking through her uniform. Her bright eyes had dulled to a sour whiskey color” (Russell 237). The quote shown is a big indicator of her current condition and the lengths she is willing to go to retain her sense of self and her refusal to let her culture be eradicated from her people, going to lengths such as starving herself, running away, chewing on items to the point her teeth are ground down, and more. Mirabella in this stage and most stages after is going directly against the epigraph from the introduced book “A Guide to Lycanthropic Culture Shock.” In stage three, Mirabella is starting to feel the effects of her consistent rebellion against humanity, but she is far from done with her soundless protest. As the story concludes, Mirabella still has not changed her ways, nor does it appear she is going to attempt to. Instead, she gives back into her lycanthropic ways and remains an outcast in her ‘barbaric’ ways, according to the other
Her teeth were ground down to nubbins; her hair was falling out. She hated the spongy, long-dead foods we were served, and it showed—her ribs were poking through her uniform. Her bright eyes had dulled to a sour whiskey color” (Russell 237). The quote shown is a big indicator of her current condition and the lengths she is willing to go to retain her sense of self and her refusal to let her culture be eradicated from her people, going to lengths such as starving herself, running away, chewing on items to the point her teeth are ground down, and more. Mirabella in this stage and most stages after is going directly against the epigraph from the introduced book “A Guide to Lycanthropic Culture Shock.” In stage three, Mirabella is starting to feel the effects of her consistent rebellion against humanity, but she is far from done with her soundless protest. As the story concludes, Mirabella still has not changed her ways, nor does it appear she is going to attempt to. Instead, she gives back into her lycanthropic ways and remains an outcast in her ‘barbaric’ ways, according to the other