Once There Were Wolves

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-11

Chapters 12-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapter 26-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Wolves

The wolves act as a controlling metaphor in the novel, meaning that they provide the central theme, symbolism, and motif. When a novel has a controlling metaphor, that metaphor relates deeply to the protagonist’s character development, externalizing their internal conflicts and providing catalyzing moments in the plot for character growth.

The novel explores many dichotomies embodied in the wolves: wilderness versus civilization, morality versus amorality, cruelty versus kindness, predator versus prey. A dichotomy is black-and-white thinking about the world. Concepts like cruelty and kindness represent opposites that can never be reconciled. For much of the novel, this is how Inti sees the world, especially as it relates to human relationships.

As the wolves become increasingly linked to the Highlands, these dichotomies are proven to be dialectics. Dialectics are opposing concepts that are linked to and reliant upon one another. In a model of dialectical thinking, two opposing principles can be true. This is the basis of the belief that wolves, who are seen as vicious predators, are integral to the survival of the landscape and the people who depend on it. Nature is the greatest dialectic model because everything is linked. Inti’s character growth shifts her from dichotomous thinking to dialectical thinking, which gives her a more open perspective on life.

The Trembling Giant

Like the wolves, the trembling giant is a metaphor for the interconnectedness of nature. The trembling giant is a single tree that looks like a forest. Also known as Pando, it is in Fishlake National Forest in Utah and is one of the world's oldest and largest living organisms. Inti describes the experience of seeing the trembling giant for the first time: “We three crested a rise and saw a forest of quaking aspen. Thousands of slender white trunks and a canopy of electric yellow mist above” (72). The trees are genetically identical and share a massive root system. Pando is Latin for “I spread.” The quaking Aspen are so named because their leaves are delicate and tremble in the lightest breeze. At over a hundred acres with thousands of individual trees, the trembling giant shakes the ground with the sounds of its millions of fluttering leaves.

Visiting Pando revives their father’s memory, and for the first time during their trip, he recognizes his daughters. The recognition is only temporary. Like the giant, their father is in decline. Inti says of the giant: “Some think it could be a million years old. And it’s dying. We’re killing it” (72). The young shoots that are supposed to routinely replace the older, dying trunks are disappearing due to overgrazing by deer and elk caused by a lack of apex predators, such as wolves.

The trembling giant symbolizes the vulnerability of our ecosystem. Even though the trembling giant is massive and possibly a million years old, it is subject to the same forces that threaten to destroy other areas of our natural environment.

Gealaich, or “Gall”

Gealaich is the horse that Inti buys from Stuart Burns. She decides to call the horse “Gall” because she cannot pronounce its name, which sounds like gee-a-lash (39). Gall was injured and deemed worthless, but Inti does not believe it should be destroyed because it can no longer serve humans. She feels so strongly about saving the horse that she allows Stuart to charge her the outrageous sum of three thousand pounds.

When Inti takes Gall home, she places her in a paddock to graze. She does not expect Gall to do any work, though eventually she will want the horse to be ridden.

Gall symbolizes Aggie’s mental health. Aggie loves horses and is a much better rider than Inti. Inti encourages her to work with Gall, but Aggie’s fear of leaving the house keeps her away. Inti says that Aggie “still hasn’t gone out to meet Gall. Probably a greater indication of her mental health than just about anything” (124). Inti is surprised one day when she finally sees Aggie outside: “I watch my sister walk to the horse and reach up to Gall’s mane and swing herself onto her back. […] When Aggie places her face against the neck of the creature and smiles, I sit down on the kitchen floor and weep” (158). Aggie’s growing relationship with the horse signals that she is healing and reconnecting with the world.

Becoming closer to Gall also symbolizes Aggie’s independence. When she rides into the forest at the end of the novel, she takes Gall with her. She knows Inti will be okay without her and will understand why she left.