The Mythical Wolf and Ruled Dogs: A Glimpse of Evolution and Domestication of Species in Post-human Era
When we return to the novel Laughing Wolf, in the second half of the story, the young protagonists no longer refer to themselves as Akela and Mowgli, but rather as the characters of a French novel, Remi and Capi, an orphan and a dog, respectively. Why does the wolf narrative disappear from the novel and become the domesticated offspring of the species - the dog?
With a perception of a domesticated species, dogs are often labeled with loyalty and submission. However, with the emergence of the wolf in literature texts and the contrast with it, the image of dogs undergoes drastic literary changes. In The Misanthrope, Lianshu’s ironic ask of having children bark like a dog clearly demeans dogs as living creatures, connecting it to a sound image to be ridiculed by the public and clearly loses the power and rendering of the wolf howling that transcends anger and agony. In Laughing Wolf, even though Capi, the dog represented by the heroine, possesses intelligence, in the original French novel the dogs are only narrated by their masters, who have no control over their voice and are therefore “forever at the whim of human cruelty and kindness”3. At the same time, the dogs that the protagonist encounters in the train station are always abandoned by their owners and lead a spoiled life and even attempt to attack humans, completely losing the spirit of their ancestors - wolves. While on the one hand, the presence of dogs epitomizes the chaos of the world order and the distorted interactions between creatures, it also provokes us to reflect on the evolution and domestication of species under the influence of animal-human dynamics.
Lacking the knowledge of biology or genetics, it might be difficult to objectively comment on the changes and overlap between species in the real world, but the fictional sci-fi world gives people unlimited imagination to explore how non-human animals’ consciousness and behaviors have changed in the course of time under the influence of human beings.
Kim Bo-young’s novel Last of the Wolves tells the story of a world where humans seem to disappear, and where dogs, the dominant creatures, are controlled by dragons. In this dehumanized world, the protagonist looks just like a dog, speaking a human-like language but being domesticated by another creature (dragon). On her journey to find the wolf, a group of brave species that dare to push against the power, she finally meets an old woman who seems to be a “wolf” while being portrayed as having “not a stitch of fur on her”. The image of a wolf does not conform to common sense and even has a fully human flavor, all pointing to the fact that the species of “wolves” actually alludes to untamed human beings, who do not have to obey any species and are full of mysteries and unknowns. On the contrary, the dog as “I” is ruled by another species, losing the ability and direction of self-governance and autonomy, as the old lady puts it:
“And even if you were to leave, if it’s out of despair because they don't know how to love you, your soul will never be free. You don't have what it takes to be a wolf.”
The untamed wolf exudes freedom and independence, and in all three works of literature, they loathe to succumb to the other and remain a creature of purity and nobility even when alone and unsupported. However, equally, in all three works, whether caused by cultural reforms, warfare, or the force of evolution, the wolf becomes an image of despair, the antithesis of the masses, a will to be resisted. Therefore, this impulse to highlight the predicament and the cold reality under the times form a strong collision, making the reader feel more of the inner struggle and uncertainty when the individual is affected by the corrupt environment. When the image of a human is replaced by the wolf, it has a more or less withdrawn, egotistical temperament. Looking into the future, will such literary interactions between human beings and wolves change and evolve in a new way?
3. Fraser, Lucy. “Women and the Non-human Animal: Rewriting the Canine Classic—Tsushima Yūko, Tawada Yōko, Matsuura Rieko, and Sakuraba Kazuki.” Handbook of Modern and Contemporary Japanese Women Writers. Ed. Rebecca Copeland. Amsterdam UP, 2023. 80-94. Print. Handbooks on Japanese Studies. P. 84