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Part 2: Miyax, the girl
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Julie of the Wolves, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humans vs. Nature
Memory and Disillusionment
Community and Survival
Tradition vs. Assimilation
Summary
Analysis
Miyax ends her reminiscences. Back in the present, she stands atop the frost heave overlooking the wolves’ abandoned den and cries out for Amaroq. She spots a piece of an antler on the ground and pockets it to use as a weapon. Miyax feels the spirits of her animal friends around her and wonders if they’ll cross paths again.
Miyax takes solace in her spiritual connection to nature. She knows she and the wolves are both a part of the interconnected natural world, which makes the wolves a part of her even when she isn’t with them. In addition to spiritual nourishment, nature also provides her with physical protection in the form of the abandoned antler she repurposes as a weapon.
Themes
Miyax walks back toward her camp. At the top of the frost heave, she is met with a disastrous sight: her house is caved in, her sleeping skins are shredded, and all her meat is gone. Miyax trembles with fear as she wonders what could be responsible for the destruction. Then, she sees a vicious Jello hidden in the reeds. Miyax instinctually backs up but corrects herself, knowing she must stand her ground. She growls at Jello, and Jello backs away with his tail between his legs. Miyax wants to hurt Jello but can’t bring herself to “strike a coward.”
Jello’s destruction of Miyax’s campsite puts her in grave danger. Now, she has neither food nor the support of her wolf community to bolster her chances of survival. Miyax’s refusal to hit Jello speaks to her selflessness and respect for other creatures: Even after Jello sabotages her, she refuses to seek revenge. When Miyax calls Jello a “coward,” she reaffirms how opposite he is from Amaroq, whom she lauds for his bravery.
Themes
Miyax keeps Jello at a distance and investigates the ruins of her house. She sees that her pack, which has some meat in it, is still intact. After Jello leaves, Miyax sees a lemming run across the grass, pursued by a weasel. Miyax smiles, realizing that “another cycle [i]s beginning.”
Themes
Miyax packs her things in preparation for her journey. She hears a snowshoe hare scream and goes to investigate. Around the bend, Miyax is suddenly face to face with the hare’s killer: a giant wolverine. Miyax fends off the wolverine and snatches the hare, placing it in the caribou skin to carry it. A tern flies past, and Miyax takes out her sinew, holds it in the air under the bird, and moves in the direction of Point Hope.
Themes
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At sunset, the clouds are dark and unreadable: they could bring a blizzard or hardly any snow. Miyax cuts into the frost heave with her knife and stuffs her ground skin into the cave. She climbs inside just as the snowfall begins, and she falls asleep.
Themes
When Miyax wakes up, the sky is clear, and the tundra is only dusted with snow. Miyax is nervous: she can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching her. Slowly, she crawls out of her cave and finds that the hare has vanished from the caribou skin. Miyax sings the song she made up about Amaroq to calm her nerves. That evening, she makes stew. As she’s tending to the pot, she feels the earth tremble and sees two enormous male caribou standing before her. It’s mating season, and the caribou begin to fight, smashing their antlers against each other’s. After dinner, Miyax packs her things and searches for a campsite away from the caribou.
Themes
Miyax settles on a campsite beside a pond. Unable to sleep, she takes out the wolf-puppy bone and carves a comb out of it. Later, when the sky grows dark, she excitedly notices that the first star of the year has appeared. She knows that the North Star, her guide, will soon be visible. Miyax hears wolves barking in the distance. Their cries seem wary at first, but they soon turn joyful. Suddenly, Miyax recognizes the barks of her pack. She listens for Jello, too, but doesn’t hear his voice.
Themes
Miyax hears something rustling nearby and grabs her club before realizing it’s just the wind. Ashamed of her fear, Miyax thinks about how incapable she is of following Kapugen’s advise and responding to her fear by “chang[ing] what she [is] doing.” But before she can relax, she sits up and screams: Jello lunges toward her, grabs her pack, and runs away. Miyax starts to panic—everything important is in her pack. She can’t get anywhere with no boots, and her needle was in her pack, so she can’t make any new ones, either. “My tombstone,” she says to herself, and wonders how long it will take for her to die. Miyax falls asleep.
Themes
Miyax wakes up and smells the sweet smell of fresh wolf urine. She feels vaguely reassured, though she can’t discern the urine’s exact message. She wraps two skins around her feet to serve as temporary boots and looks for her pack, hoping Jello abandoned it after stealing the meat. If Miyax can find her pack and tools—her ulo, needles, and matches—she has a chance at survival. Miyax scans the ground carefully. She thinks that the old the old Inuit people at the seal camp had been “wise” for not relying on “man-made gadgets.”
Themes
Suddenly, Miyax shrieks: on the ground before her lies the bloodied, mutilated body of Jello, and next to Jello, her pack. Miyax knows that Amaroq must have done this; she recalls Kapugen telling her that wolves turn on the lone wolf who steals from the pups. Miyax investigates her pack. The food is gone, but her ulo and needles remain intact—and this is all that matters. She praises Amaroq, calling him her “adopted father.” Miyax realizes that reaching Point Hope is no longer important to her: she could just as happily live here for another year.
Miyax trudges forward, unafraid as she sings her Amaroq song. She freezes sticks of grass in the water of an icebound lake and uses the frozen rods to form a tent. Amaroq calls to her, and she calls back to let him know where she is. A lemming runs through the grass. Miyax moves to catch it, but a fox beats her to it. Miyax grins and resolves to be quicker next time.
Themes
Kapu emerges from the grasses with a leg of caribou in his mouth. He dances in circles and beats the ground with his paws. Miyax gives Kapu a strip of caribou hide to thank him. She brings the caribou leg back to her tent and prepares a stew. As Miyax waits for her stew to cook, the cold air inspires her to dance like the bent woman had danced at the seal camp. When it’s time to dance about the evil spirits, Miyax improvises, as is tradition. Miyax dances to tell the story of Kapu bringing her the caribou leg. When she is finished dancing and feels how warm she is, she remembers that the old ways aren’t “foolish” but “have purpose.”
Themes
The sky darkens, and Kapu accepts some cooked meat. Miyax gazes at the sky and sees the twinkling North Star watching over her. Before going to sleep, Miyax cuts the rest of the caribou skin into strips and a circle, weighs down the pieces with stones, and drops them into the lake. She falls asleep to the sound of her howling wolf pack.
Themes
When Miyax awakens, it’s still snowing, and the air is colder than it was before. She breaks through the lake ice, removes the frozen skin she placed there the night before, and fashions them into a sled. She forms the remaining strips of skin into snowshoes. There will only be a few hours of daylight today, so Miyax works quickly. She finishes packing and continues her journey, noting the position of the North Star.
Themes
Through the yellow-green light of the midday sun, Miyax sees that she is in the middle of the caribou’s wintering grounds. She welcomes this news, hoping the presence of caribou might attract her pack. Miyax looks up and sees a skua bird, which means she’s closer to the ocean than she thought. She follows the skua until her eyes land on an oil drum, which signifies that civilization is near. Miyax realizes that while she would have been thrilled to see the oil drum a month ago, she’s more indifferent to it now that she’s come to appreciate the wilderness. Amaroq barks in the distance. Miyax howls and walks toward his voice.
It’s dawn. Miyax warms her stew over a fire. She hears Amaroq bark insistently. The other wolves respond Amaroq’s call, but they sound as though they’ve formed a circle around Miyax, which is odd. Miyax hears vicious barks and steps onto the frozen lake before her. About halfway across, she spots the dark, looming figure of a grizzly bear. The grizzly spots Miyax, snarls, and runs toward her.
Themes
Miyax runs toward her tent, but she realizes the wind is blowing her scent in the bear’s direction. She changes course and runs toward the south bank. Miyax wonders why the bear isn’t hibernating—the wolves have been asleep all day and can’t have been responsible for waking it. The wolves harass the bear, and Miyax realizes they are trying to chase it away from her. Finally, the wolves push the grizzly out onto the tundra.
Themes
The experience leaves Miyax shaken, but she thanks her pack and resumes her trek. As she travels, she suddenly realizes why the grizzly was out: it’s the start of the Americans’ hunting season. Miyax knows that the gussaks are paid a bounty to shoot the wolves. The men at the seal camp thought this practice was evil, since it was “killing for money, rather than need.” Kapugen used to say that the bounty was the gussaks’ method of eliminating the amaroqs (wolves) from the earth, which is something they have no right to do. Without the wolves, there would be too many caribou grazing, which would mean the lemmings would die from not having enough grass to eat, which would mean that all the animals that prey on the lemmings would die, too.
Miyax realizes the oil drum she just passed marks the border between civilization and wilderness, and she thinks it’s her job to warn her pack about the possibility of hunters. She wonders how to alert the wolves and begins to sing: “Go away, royal wolf, / GO away, do not follow.” Thickening clouds fill the sky, signifying a white-out, and Miyax decides to crawl into her shelter for the night instead of traveling. She pitches her tent and continues carving her comb. As she works, she realizes the comb isn’t a comb at all, but a figure of Amaroq.
Themes
Miyax hears a bird call out in the darkness. She peers outside and sees a young golden plover just outside her tent. Miyax carries the bird inside, admiring how the bird’s black and gold feathers glimmer in the light. Miyax has never seen a plover up close before, and she now understands why Kapugen calls them “the spirit of the birds.” The bird is lost, malnourished, and dying, but Miyax tells him she’s happy he can be here with her. She names the bird “Tornait, the bird spirit.” Miyax places Tornait inside her sleeping skin and offers him a piece of caribou meat. Tornait devours the meat and falls fast asleep.
Themes
The next night, the white-out is still too thick and impermeable to move forward. This is fine with Miyax, who has food, shelter, and companionship. She observes Tornait’s tame demeanor and wonders if it comes from the loneliness of living in such an isolated place.
Themes
The white-out is lighter the next afternoon. As Miyax prepares dinner, Tornait rises in alarm. Miyax listens closely but can’t hear anything. Suddenly, Kapu emerges from the mist. Miyax calls out to Kapu, but Kapu is distracted by something. Amaroq appears next, and Miyax throws her head back to signal happiness to her wolf friends. Amaroq stretches his neck back in a grand gesture before running back onto the lake. Kapu follows. Miyax tries to go, too, but Amaroq gives her a stern look, and she stays put.
Themes
Miyax scans her surroundings for Silver, Nails, and the pups but can’t find them. She wonders if Amaroq is teaching Kapu to be a leader—after all, a leader has to have “experience and schooling” in addition to bravery. The white-out disappears, and the stars emerge. With Kapu “in school,” Miyax once more focuses her attention on San Francisco. She emerges from her tent and wonders how to tell the wolves not to follow her any longer and realizes she can give Amaroq the same look he gave her when he didn’t want her to follow him and Kapu. Miyax hums to herself as she packs her bundle. She dons her snowshoes and places Tornait in her parka hood. Miyax pulls her sled behind her and trudges onward.
Themes
Miyax doesn’t hear the airplane, but she sees its metal body glimmering in the sky. As the plane draws nearer, she can hear the buzzing of its engine. The plane begins to fly in a zigzag pattern, and Miyax realizes it is following the path of river. Rivers lead to seas, and this means she must be almost finished with her long journey—Point Hope can’t be more than another night away.
Themes
Miyax sees fire blast from the plane and realizes people are hunting from it. She runs toward the oil drum for shelter, fearing that the hunters might mistake her for a bear. The plane follows her. Miyax reaches the drum only to find that it’s sealed shut. Working quickly, she squeezes herself in the space underneath the curve of the drum and remains as still as possible.
Themes
Miyax can hear gunshots. She looks overhead and sees that the plane isn’t aiming for her—it’s aiming for Amaroq. Amaroq and Kapu snarl and run, zigzagging across the snow. Miyax screams for Amaroq to come to her for shelter, but the plane overtakes him. Miyax hears the shots ring out and watches as Amaroq’s lifeless body collapses on the ground. Miyax sobs uncontrollably. As the plane circles back, Kapu dodges bullets and sprints toward the oil drum. Miyax can see in Kapu’s eyes that he’s scared for the first time in his life.
Themes
Kapu reaches the drum. Miyax covers him with snow to conceal him, but blood from Kapu’s shoulder turns the snow red. As the plane flies directly overhead, Miyax sees cities, bridges, TVs, and the pink room. The plane’s sooty exhaust fills the air. The plane flies forward but circles back. Kapu moves to get up, but Miyax urges him to stay; she knows the plane is coming to pick up Amaroq.
Themes
The plane flies low enough that Miyax can see the hunters inside the plane. They wear crash helmets and goggles and laugh to each other as they scan the ground. The plane picks up speed and flies higher, and Miyax realizes the men aren’t going to pick up Amaroq. They didn’t even shoot him for bounty—they shot him for nothing. Kapu continues to bleed. Miyax puts pressure on the injured vein. She pitches her tent around Kapu and warms the stew for them to eat. Once things have calmed down, Miyax tries to go to Amaroq, but grief immobilizes her. She stays and tends to Kapu, feeding him bits of stew. Upon investigating the wound more closely, she realizes it must be stitched closed.
Themes
Miyax tenderly passes the needle through Kapu’s flesh. He growls softly but remains still. Miyax sews up the wound and promises Kapu he will return to be the leader of their pack. The sun sets, and the northern lights flash across the darkened sky. Nails howls mournfully for Amaroq, and Miyax returns his cry. She decides now is the time to say goodbye to her friend and approaches his lifeless body. Amaroq’s fur shines underneath the northern lights. Miyax sings to him and offers the bone carving as a totem. The pain in her heart lightens as she feels Amaroq’s spirit is within her.
Themes
The sun sets for the last time that winter on November 10. Kapu exercises in the darkness, walking back and forth across the tundra. Tornait sleeps in Miyax’s furs. Miyax handles the darkness well enough; she can hunt caribou by starlight, though when the sky is overcast it's too dark to do much of anything. On these nights, she lights a candle and stays in with Kapu and Tornait. She continues to carve the antler-weapon, shaping it into five puppies with Kapu in the lead. She takes out Amaroq’s totem and meditates on him, thinking to herself “the pink room is red with your blood […] and I cannot go there.” She realizes she no longer knows where to go.
Themes
One night, Silver appears at the tent with a large hare in her mouth. Miyax realizes the pack is confused without Amaroq and can only hunt small prey like rabbits. She fears for them, knowing that kills like this won’t be enough for them to survive the winter. Several nights later, once Kapu can run without falling, Miyax decides it’s time to travel to the river, where there will be more game to hunt. She uses the North Star to guide her there. As Miyax travels, she sees the Brooks Range looming before her and knows her journey is nearly complete.
Themes
One night, as Miyax sits and sews a boot, Kapu leaves and does not return. A day passes. Finally, just as she is about to go to bed, Kapu returns with the rest of the pack behind him. Miyax turns to Tornait and tells him they can go now—Kapu is leading the pack.
Themes
At dawn, Miyax and Tornait continue on their journey. They look out for each other: Miyax feeds Tornait and keeps him warm, and Tornait keeps Miyax from becoming too lonely without her pack. As they inch closer to civilization, there are more and more oil drums. When Miyax sees 50 drums along a spit in the river, she sits down and thinks about what she actually wants to do. San Francisco makes her think about the airplane, gunshots, and death. When she sews with her needle, however, she thinks of Amaroq and feels content. Miyax realizes what she really wants to do is to live like an Inuit.
The next day, Miyax cuts blocks of snow with her knife and builds an icehouse. She spreads her skins across the floor and places Amaroq’s totem over the door. Time passes, and Miyax feels content. She becomes skilled at hunting small game and enjoys carving in her free time. She listens for her wolf pack, though they never visit.
Themes
One night, Miyax hears the crunch of footsteps running across ice. She peers outside her house and sees an Inuit hunter. “Ayi!” she calls out, and the hunter returns her call. The hunter pulls up his sled beside Miyax’s icehouse. A woman and child wrapped in furs stand beside him in the sled. Miyax greets them, though her voice is faint from disuse. She offers the family a place to stay for the night. They welcome their offer, explaining that they haven’t slept since they left Kangik, a town on Kuk Bay. With this information, Miyax has a better sense of she is. Though she’s farther away from Point Barrow than she’d originally thought, “she no longer care[s].”
Themes
Though the family first speaks in the Yupik dialect, the man addresses Miyax in English now. He introduces himself as Roland and asks Miyax if she’s alone. Miyax smiles but doesn’t respond. Roland repeats himself, but in Yupik this time. Miyax answers, confirming that she is alone. The mother speaks now. She calls herself Alice. When Miyax appears confused, Alice calls herself Uma, her husband Atik, and their child Sorqaq. Miyax enjoys their names and offers to share with them the freshly killed ptarmigan bird she’s cooking.
Themes
Miyax is seized by the sudden desire to talk. Speaking in the Yupik dialect, she tells the family all about the river, the game, and the stars, though she leaves out everything about the wolves and the past. After dinner, Miyax’s guests tell her all about Kangik, which is an Inuit village that now has an airport, mission, and a generator. Atik is proud of his village. After everyone is asleep, Miyax lies awake and considers her future. She thinks she can be helpful to the villagers of Kangik: she can teach the children to set traps, or make parkas, or carve. Most importantly, she’d be nowhere near San Francisco, where people hunt and kill animals for no reason.
Themes
The next morning, Tornait awakens first. Miyax dresses herself before feeding him. Atik, Uma, and Sorqaq wake next. Atik goes to his sled and brings back bacon, bread, beans, and butter—foods Miyax had practically forgotten about. Though her mouth waters, she declines the food until Uma’s obvious disappointment convinces her to nibble at some bacon. The meat is delicious, and Miyax momentarily misses the food she used to eat in Barrow. After breakfast, Atik prepares the dogs for travel.
Themes
Uma talks about her husband. Atik grew up in Anchorage and didn’t know much about hunting until he came to live with his grandfather in Kangik after his father’s death. When Atik’s grandfather, too, died, Atik was adopted and taught to hunt by Kapugen, the greatest Inuit hunter there ever was.
Themes
Miyax stops cleaning her pot, carefully asking Uma where Kapugen was born. Uma tells her that Kapugen simply arrived in a kayak one day and built a house where he landed. Though Kapugen is rich, explains Uma, he lives in a simple house along the river. Miyax can hardly contain herself and urges Uma to say more about Kapugen. Uma gushes about how Kapugen arrived in town and transformed the formerly poor, alcohol-ravaged town of Kangik into a an “independent and prosperous” place.
Themes
Miyax turns from Uma to conceal her eagerness. For so long, Miyax had believed Kapugen was dead, and the news that he might be alive is almost too much to process. Miyax now knows what she must do: she must find Kapugen and ask him to save the wolves like he saved Kangik. Miyax can no longer contain herself, and she sings to herself, “Amaroq, Amaroq.” Atik finishes preparing the dogs for their departure, and he, Uma, and the baby depart.
Themes
Miyax watches her new friends until they fade into nothing. She returns to her house and packs her things, singing as she works. Miyax slips Tornait into the hood of her parka, and they journey into the darkness. After a mile, Miyax hears Kapu barking authoritatively, urging her to stay. Miyax glares at her pack and tells them she must go, for “[her] own Amaroq lives.” These will be the last words she speaks to her pack.
Themes
Miyax wonders what she and Kapugen will say to each other. She thinks of all the things she can do for Kapugen with her new many new skills. She imagines the two of them “liv[ing] as they were meant to live—with the cold and the birds and the beasts.” Miyax wonders if her father’s face will look the same.
Miyax sees Kangik’s lights long before she reaches the village. When she arrives, she pulls her sled to a spot beside the river and pauses to think, observing the town. She hears sled-dogs barking and is pleased to find that the town is really an “old-fashioned” Inuit village. Miyax spots two houses near the wilderness and decides the one with the wooden boats out front must be Kapugen’s. She sees a woman leave, but she doesn’t mind—she figured he might be married.
Themes
Miyax walks down to Kapugen’s house and knocks on the door. She holds Tornait in her hand. When Kapugen appears in the doorway, he is exactly as Miyax remembered him. Miyax says nothing at first. When Tornait tweets, she offers him to Kapugen as a gift. Kapugen warmly accepts Tornait, though he admits that he’s “never seen such a bird.” He invites Miyax inside, speaking English first, and then Yupik after Miyax shakes her head.
The house is warm. There are harpoons on the wall and a kayak hanging from the ceiling. The house reminds Miyax of the one at the seal camp, and she feels like she’s finally home. Kapugen delights in Tornait. Miyax says Tornait is “the spirit of the birds.” Kapugen asks where Miyax heard such a thing, and Miyax states her full name: Julie Edwards Miyax Kapugen. Kapugen’s frostbitten hands touch Miyax’s face in recognition. He explains that he couldn’t bear to stay at Nunivak after Miyax left to attend school, so he decided to start a new life elsewhere. He returned to Nunivak to find her once he became rich, but she was already gone.
Themes
The door opens, and the woman appears. In English, she asks Kapugen to explain what’s going on. Miyax is shocked when she sees the woman’s pale skin and reddish gold hair: her father has married a gussak. Kapugen and the woman talk. Kapugen speaks quietly, but the woman’s voice is loud. When Miyax looks around the room, she sees things she hadn’t noticed when she first arrived: the electric stove, the cotton curtains, the radio. Finally, she notices a helmet and a pair of goggles lying on the chair. Miyax stares at them until Kapugen notices her. He explains that he owns a plane now: because there are so few seals and whales, it’s the only way to hunt. Miyax tries to push a horrific thought from her mind.
Themes
The wife turns to Miyax and explains that she’s a teacher in the school. She tells Miyax they must register her for classes, since it’s hard to live in this town without speaking English. Miyax ignores the wife and turns to Kapugen. She tells him she’s leaving for San Francisco tomorrow. Kapugen’s phone rings. He writes down a note and tells Miyax that he’ll be back shortly. He orders his wife, Ellen, to prepare some food for Miyax. Before Kapugen leaves, he slips on an Arctic field jacket.
Themes
Miyax retrieves her things and heads back to her icehouse. She knows she is an Inuk girl, so she must live like one. She plans for the future: she’ll build a snowhouse in the winter and a sod house in the summer. She’ll make traps and carve. Someday she’ll find a boy like her, and they’ll start a family together. Miyax thinks about what Kapugen said about the seals and whales being scarce, and she hears Amy’s voice asking when she’s coming to San Francisco. Kangik’s lights disappear behind her.
Themes
Tornait peeps weakly, and Miyax feels his body go limp. She offers him bits of chewed meat to eat, but he resists. Concerned about her friend, Miyax pitches her tent, lays down her furs, and lights a fire. The tent is warm. Tornait lies in Miyax’s hands and closes his eyes. Miyax buries Tornait in the snow many hours later. She feels Amaroq’s totem in her pocket. In English, Miyax sings a song to Amaroq’s spirit about the disappearing animals, and the end of the hour of the Inuit. When she is finished singing, Julie “point[s] her boots toward Kapugen.”
