An Interpretation Of Never Cry Wolf From The Perspective Of Animal Studies

Beginning in the 1990 s,“animal studies” has begun to grow in humanities and social sciences in the West,it is an interdisciplinary and transcultural field that explores the spaces that animals occupy in human social and cultural worlds and the interactions humans have with them.Animal studies mainly examines human understandings of animals,and the extent to which humans understand animals are gradually deepened,from studying cultural representation of animals in literature to focusing on the ethical values and status of animals,and to probing into the importance of animals in ecosystem.Never Cry Wolf is a nonfiction written by Canadian writer Farley Mowat,which describes the writer's actual experience observing Arctic wolves in the subarctic tundra of Canada.In this work,Mowat is assigned a field project to study wolves by Canadian government who hopes he will bring back testimony to the claim that wolves are a lethal threat to herds of caribou.However,the findings he has obtained are completely different from what the government and even he himself have preconceived.This thesis discloses the evolvement of the socially and culturally constructed images of wolves in western literature,presents the subversion of the conventional images of wolves by their actual traits in Never Cry Wolf,thus indicating that ethical care should be accorded to wolves,it also emphasizes that people should retain exploring spirit and critical thinking so as to weigh and trace actual facts rather than indiscriminately adopt such notions as the negative meanings of wolves which are imposed upon by human society and culture.Furthermore,this thesis analyzes the close relationships between animals and deep ecology so that to reveal the web of life,which just embodied in Never Cry Wolf,among the Eskimos,wolves and caribou.The thesis aims at stressing the interdependence between humans and animals,appealing to self-reflection of human beings,changing their attitudes toward animals.Only in this way,can humans convert their attitudes to “others” and the world,and reconstruct a modern human society which is in conformity with ecological development.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion,this thesis contains three chapters.The Introduction briefly presents Farley Mowat and Never Cry Wolf,summarizes the literary review and the vacancy of research on this nonfictional work,and states the significance of this study.Chapter One expounds the theoretical basis,namely,animal studies which is a newly emerged field mainly examining the relationships between animals and human societies,cultures and histories,as well as human concepts of animals and animality.Meanwhile,this chapter draws a clear clue of the historical development of this theory,displays its influences on literary studies,and provides the feasibility of this thesis.Chapter Two traces the change of wolves' images in western literature,demonstrates that the wolves represented in Never Cry Wolf by Mowat subvert their conventional images,thus proving that wolves in this nonfiction are sentient beings with specific language system and many positive traits,hence they own inherent worth and merit moral concern.Chapter Three elucidates that humans,animals and even the whole wilderness are parts of nature,therefore,wolves and ecological environment are closed connected.This chapter examines the deep ecology embodied in Never Cry Wolf,showing that the Eskimos,wolves and caribou comprise a web of life in which all the components are of interdependence and mutual promotion.The Conclusion points out that human beings' concepts of and attitudes towards animals hinge upon animals represented in literature and culture rather than those exist in real life,animals symbolized by wolves deserve moral consideration because they indeed bear ethical weight;also shows that humans,animals and wilderness constitute the web of life,embodying the idea of deep ecology.In short,mankind,instead of interfering with the balance of nature,should extend ethical care and respect to animals.