History of Wolves

In Chapter 16, Patra’s love for Paul is expressed through her dedication to the quality of his life—aside from his health. Her decision to secretly meet with a pediatrician, and subsequent decision to ignore the doctor’s advice, demonstrates Patra’s ability to discern and willfully neglect Paul’s ill health. Leo’s control is on full display here, too; once he suspects that Patra is losing faith, he works to isolate his family, to keep them under his control and achieve “some mental space” from outside influences (218). Linda’s last memory of Patra, doubled over, terror and grief contorting her features, alludes to Patra’s understanding that Paul is in immense danger—but she gets into the car in silence anyway, choosing to ignore her instincts. 

The chapter shifts to the theme of growing up as Linda recalls her mother’s account of the commune, especially her realization that her mother had misled Linda about her age. When Linda learns that she’d been 33—mature enough to make her own decisions—she is beginning to understand that adults are equally capable of naiveté and recklessness as children. The thought relates to Patra and Leo, who certainly “should have known better” (223). The story further likens Leo and Patra to the commune through the “good ideas, good plans” (224) that all ended badly. This comparison positions Leo and Patra’s family to be as isolating and toxic as the commune Linda grew up in. 

Chapter 17 uses Mr. Grierson’s letter to express the very different perspective adulthood offers: “[T]hings always seem more impressive when you’re a little kid” (225). This description works to represent both Linda’s memory of the woods as well as her memory of the Gardners. As an adult, Linda can look back upon their—and her own—actions and see them clearer. Patra’s power also diminishes over time. As a young woman, Linda saw Patra as great and permanent, like the trees, and Linda trusted her implicitly. However, time and perspective illuminates Patra’s humanness and ultimate weaknesses. 

Chapter 18 offers the novel’s climax through the anti-climactic trial and final encounter between Linda and Patra. By revealing Paul’s death early in the novel, the text has been building up to a confrontation or revelation, which appears through the unraveling of events in Patra’s testimony. Here, Patra’s early concerns about Paul highlight her irresponsibility in ignoring them and ultimate culpability in his death. She looks to Leo often, whose calmness is unsettling, suggesting his lack of concern over his son’s death. Patra’s hostility toward Linda is misplaced anger. The chapter centers around the theme of guilt and complicity through Patra’s blaming of Paul’s death on Linda and through Linda’s own admission of guilt: “I should have gone earlier […] I should have gotten help for us” (234). This admission—the only time Linda ever expresses it—is incredibly significant; she is recognizing her own role, however small, in Paul’s death and acknowledges the help they all needed, not just Paul. With “us,” Linda expresses that Patra, too, needed to saving. Patra’s accusation hurts Linda, but it is Patra’s rejection of her that provokes Linda to lash out in the only way she can—by assuring Patra looks guilty by clarifying that she’d done nothing for her sick son. 

Chapter 19 explores the power of thought, first through Linda’s gradual sense that her mom is not her biological mother and then through the question of Mr. Grierson’s guilt. A lifetime her mother misunderstanding her leads to an unpassable gulf between the two, with Linda becoming outright hostile. The thought that her mother does not care for her properly because she is not her mother is Linda’s motivation throughout her adolescence, and she’d sought love and approval from Patra because she couldn’t find it at home. Whether it’s true or not, this belief determined Linda’s reality, much in the same way that Patra and Leo’s beliefs determined theirs. As Linda wonders, “what’s the difference between what you think and what you end up doing,” she meditates upon a major theme of the novel, whether bad thoughts are the same as wrongdoing. This chapter unpacks the very different examples of the power of thought. On the one hand, Mr. Grierson’s thoughts—though not punishable by law—are indicative of major predatory deviancy which should be understood as some measure of guilt. However, Linda’s thoughts, in Paul’s case, are meaningless unless she does something to help him.