A Wolf Called Wander

At the beginning of the novel, Wander’s pack is made up of four adult wolves; the two leaders are his parents, whom Wander calls simply Mother and Father. Song, Wander’s aunt, is a strong, resourceful wolf who accompanies Mother and Father as they hunt for elk, the pack’s preferred prey. As is customary in wolf packs, only one breeding female is present at any given time, so Song has no pups of her own. Instead, she helps to protect and provide for the pack in a supportive role. Growl, a wolf with a physical disability that renders his gait uncertain and his stamina low, is not a hunter but is instead charged with the essential responsibility of caring for and guarding the pack’s pups while the hunters procure food. It is from Growl that Wander and his siblings learn essential safety lessons crucial to their survival, and about the importance of respecting and understanding physical territorial boundaries. When Wander is a yearling, Mother gives birth to a new litter of pups, and Wander is delighted by them and encouraged by the newfound opportunity to act as their instructor, playmate, provider, and protector.

The early habits of Wander’s pack also allow Parry to engage in a bit of world-building and create a sense of “wolf culture,” as it were, for Mother teaches Wander about the Wolf Star, which for the purposes of the narrative embodies the concept of a guiding presence in the sky that watches over the wolves below. She also teaches her children that mountain ranges are the domain of the world, and that the most important characteristic of a pack leader is one’s ability to provide food for the rest of the pack. From his father, Wander learns the complicated business of hunting elk, from discovering the location of a herd to delegating specific roles to each pack member and choreographing the attack itself. Father also teaches Wander about how to establish the pack’s ownership of a region, by wet-marking (or urinating), creating scratch marks on trees and other soft organic surfaces, and exaggerating the scent trail exuded by the pads of a wolf’s paws. Ultimately, Father’s guidance ends the moment he is killed by a pack of pale wolves that attack Wander’s pack and take over their territory; his last act as pack leader is to howl the directive “Carry on,” to any of his surviving pack members. The fate of Mother and her pups is unknown, and thus, the tragedy of the pack’s demise and Wander’s resulting grief grant the pack members a “presence” in the narrative long after they are gone. Their teachings and influence inform everything that Wander does as a lone wolf, and in the larger, environmentally conscious narrative of Parry’s novel, they take on the role of all real-world wolves who have been slain by the harshness of their environment, whether their deaths are caused by the whims of the wilderness or the cruelty or indifference of humankind.

Warm is Wander’s littermate, the smallest, meekest, and most affectionate among all the siblings. Early on, he is identified as a less aggressive individual and is given a more passive role in the hunt. Eventually, he takes on responsibilities that are similar to those of Growl and becomes a minder and mentor for Mother’s newest litter of pups. Warm is particularly attached to Wander, and when Warm notices that Wander is not receiving the opportunities and accolades that he hoped for, Warm becomes concerned that Wander, like many yearling wolves with dominant instincts, may strike out on his own if he cannot find a way to outshine their older brother Sharp, who has become a successful hunter. Warm promises that if Wander were ever to do so, Warm would leave the rest of the pack and follow him.

Wander sends Warm after their mother and the new pups when the pale wolves attack, so that their mother might have added protection. Wander leaves a scent trail for Warm, hoping that Warm will follow him if he is able. Several times during the narrative, Wander thinks that he smells Warm’s scent nearby, but can never be sure. When at last Wander does find Warm, Warm is terribly injured, with claw marks raking down his entire back. Warm, unable to hunt for himself even the smallest of animals, is also starving. Warm repeats his promise to follow his brother’s leadership, and Wander realizes the great extent to which his brother exerted himself in order to find him. Wander intends to protect Warm, but hunters, assuming that Wander and Warm were involved, or perhaps simply prejudiced against wolves, shoot Warm to death as he and Wander try to escape. Wander credits Warm with contributing to who Wander has become as a wolf, and he experiences great sorrow and guilt at having found his brother again only to lose him so quickly.