The Exploration of the Human Relationship with Nature in Never Cry Wolf

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Somewhere to the eastward a wolf howled; lightly, questioningly. I knew the voice, for I had heard it many times before. It was George, sounding the wasteland for an echo from the missing members of his family. But for me it was a voice which spoke of the lost world which was once ours before we chose the alien role; a world which I had glimpsed and almost entered…only to be excluded, at the end, by my own self. (Mowat 163)

These words are central to Farley Mowat’s idea that humans are able to join the world of nature that they were once a part of, but must ultimately return to the radically different world of humans. Firstly, man’s capability to adapt and then exclude themselves from nature is demonstrated in the affiliation of the protagonist with the wolves. Secondly, Ootek’s explanations of his knowledge and past experiences indicate that man is not able to fully adapt into nature as they would be alienated by their own feelings and reactions. Finally, the consequences of a man’s prolonged separation from nature is shown through the symbol of the Eskimos. Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf suggests, through the relationship of the protagonist and the wolves, Ootek’s progression into nature, and the strange, unusual perceptions the symbol of Eskimos portrays towards man, that man has the ability to adapt and become a part of nature, but must eventually revert to the human world.

Throughout the novel, the ongoing relationship between Farley Mowat, whom is the protagonist, and the wolves demonstrate the way which the protagonist adapts himself into nature, only to exclude himself from it. Initially, the protagonist and the wolf are scared of one another. To illustrate, the protagonist and a wolf meet face to face, where they sta...

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...rstly, the relationship between the protagonist and the wolves demonstrates man’s ability to become accustomed to nature and then to be rejected from it by their own natural human attributes and qualities. Secondly, man’s own human nature will stop him from fully merging with nature, which is explored through Ootek’s descriptions and explanations. Lastly, the symbol of the Eskimos reveals that because man has been isolated from nature for so long, they will never fully become a part of nature. As a matter of fact, humans were once a part of nature, but they have decided to detach themselves from it to create and follow a new role in the world. Now, humans are destroying nature, rather than preserving and respecting it. With the natural and human qualities that humans have, it is no wonder why humans are not able to fully rejoin the world of nature once again.

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