History of Wolves

Chapter 4 explores Linda’s developing relationship with Paul and Patra. During their walk, Linda exhibits impatience and frustration with the childlike qualities of Paul, demonstrating her trouble with empathizing with children. Most of all, Linda’s reaction to Paul’s fragility highlights her own affinity for resilience and underlines her relationship to the natural world. As Paul cowers away from something as innocent as a duckling, Linda’s disappointment that he did not do something cruel reveals her desire to be an authority when out in the woods. She wants to be the one to teach him to “intervene on the behalf of animals” (43) because she wants to represent the woods—to instill the right amount of fear and reverence in Paul. Linda’s irritation toward Paul’s natural inclination for caution suggests that she associates his fear with prey. As Linda interacts with Patra, her desire for adult attention is on display; she is reluctant to go home mostly because her home is an unhappy place, but she also demonstrates an unwillingness to part with Patra specifically. She clings to each topic of conversation, though Linda has very little interest in Patra and Leo’s manuscript. As Patra describes the introduction to the book, the author presents the theme of as trusting in logic to “understand the true nature of reality” (47). Though Patra is speaking in a cosmological sense, the line applies to an overarching theme of the novel: observe closely. 

Linda’s dream in Chapter 5 serves as foreshadowing and stresses the motif of dogs in the novel; dogs are omnipresent throughout the tale, represented by their howls heard from across the lake or their shadows swimming through trees. Mostly, they are ever-present in Linda’s psyche. The dogs in her dream “lunge and snarl” (49) at Linda, but she interprets that as love and happiness, hinting towards her own warped understanding of affection. As Linda recalls the dog who discovered the photos in Mr. Grierson’s apartment, she is again highlighting the significance of dogs in the story. She recalls one quote: “We misapprehend the true nature of these dogs […] Give them a mission!” (50). Interestingly, the nature of dogs overshadows the nature of humans in this section; Linda, like the article, is more preoccupied by the dog’s role than by Mr. Grierson’s actual crimes. 

The author explores human nature through the strange behaviors of Lily and Paul. Lily, who enjoys the spectacle of all sorts of rumors which surround her, navigates her world slowly, unaware of her surroundings. Her pilfering of the lost and found is more indicative of her character than her socioeconomical status—she appears drawn to things which will gain her just the right amount of attention, but never too much. Paul’s behavior, however, is more unsettling. During his encounter with the girl at the playground, Linda finds “something predatory in his kneeling stance, something aggressive” (57). This display is so contrary to his hesitant and fearful interactions with animals and suggests something deeply disturbing in his understanding of the world. Neither he nor Patra ever exhibit religious affiliations, so Paul’s singsong chant makes his eerie behavior especially unnerving. 

Linda’s reflection that all kids are freaks is poignant: Kids “were the best kind of quacks, if that’s what you wanted—pretenders who didn’t know they were pretending at all” (59). As Linda confirms her suspicion by thinking that all kids are parrots, the novel insinuates that Paul is modelling his behavior—parroting—someone in his life. 

Fridlund begins to unravel conventional genres in Chapter 6 by intertwining the thriller with elements of a bildungsroman. Patra enjoys the idea of calling Linda a governess rather than a babysitter because it sounds more exciting—more romantic. She alludes to The Turn of the Screw and Jane Eyre because the novels represent a darkly glamorized version of the position. Both novels, however, also play with perception, convention, and the more sinister aspects of human nature. Fridlund uses these allusions here to convey pertinent themes of the novel. This text is responding to the gothic paradigm which The Turn of the Screw and Jane Eyre helped establish by appropriating the narrative structure and suspenseful tone to fit Fridlund’s unconventional format. Most tellingly, the mention of The Turn of the Screw hints at a connection within this story to one told entirely by the first-person narration of a governess, whose perception of the strange events is a subject of frequent contention. 

Moreover, Patra’s allusion to Jane Eyre—of Linda falling in love with a Mr. Rochester—contributes to the mysteriousness of Leo. Linda calls him “Leo the husband” because that is all he is to her; he is physically absent, but almost always present through phone calls or Patra’s stories. The absence of Leo, though, suggests that Patra’s relationship with Linda will be the formative one for Linda, likening Patra, rather than Leo, to Mr. Rochester. Chapter 6 also introduces the symbol of number 11. Linda is interested this pattern, and her likening it to “the Eleven, the chosen” (70) develops the theme of religion and explores its significance in regard to biblical numerology. Aside from being the number of apostles after Judas’ betrayal, the number 11 represents chaos and judgement. In this way, Linda here is foreshadowing an event, perhaps tragic, with long-lasting consequences related to the four characters linked by the number 11.