ANALYZING FICTIONTHE WOLF GIFT BY ANNE RICE

Agustina Betsy

Title : The Wolf Gift

Author : Anne Rice

Publisher : Anchor Books

Year Published : 2012

Width : 17.5 cm x 10.5 cm

Thickness : 502 pages

Front cover : white

CHARACTERS

Reuben Golding, main character of the story, a young reporter who works for fictional San Fransisco Observer, and well writer. He encountered the life of the werewolf pack through his first meeting with Marchent Nideck, grandniece of Felix Nideck, owner of Nideck Point (a house which later was named by Reuben himself). Reuben’s transformation into a werewolf gives him an unforgettable experience and he has to cope with it.

Father Jim Golding, a priest, Reuben’s older brother. Father Jim is a priest who cares much about his brother Reuben, especially when Reuben came to him and admitted his wolf transformation and “sins” of killing people in order to prevent victims from being murdered or tortured.

Laura Dennys, Reuben’s girlfriend. A beautiful young woman who is loved by Reuben so much. They first met in Muir Woods when Reuben was in his wolf transformation. Instead of frightened Laura was fascinated to the man wolf that she saw.(p.177)

Marchent Nideck, an elder woman who asked San FransiscoObserver to write story about the big house belonged to her great-uncle Felix Nideck who had been disappeared for twenty years (p.3) in attempt to sell it. Marchent had been a brief lover to Reuben since he adored her exotic and elegant look before she was murdered in an incident that changes Reuben’s life for good.

Felix Nideck, sub leader of the werewolves and Marchent Nideck’sancestor. Felix is the owner of the house who disappeared in one incident occurred because of Marchent’s father treachery. He reappeared as “Felix Nideck’s illegitimate son” in order to meet Reuben personally.

Margon Sperver, leader of the werewolf, also known as Margon the godless for he doesn’t believe in God(p.453). He has lived for a very long time even before the era of Uruk began. Margon was once a king who got deposed from his throne (p.465) and he gained his werewolf power from an ancient tribe in Africa and apparently became the eldest morphenkinder among the werewolves.

Tom Marrok, a werewolf who was in charge of turning Reuben into werewolf. He was infatuated with Marchent and was about

to help her in the night when Marchent’s brother killed her.

Marrok accidentally bit Reuben and passed the ‘chrism’ to him.

His attempt to kill Reuben led him to death (p.252).

Grace Golding, Reuben’s mother, a distinguished doctor and the

one who encouraged his son to pursue his career in journalism.

Phil Golding, Reuben’s father, a professor in literature and a poet

too.

Stuart McIntyre, a newly changed werewolf. He is a gay

teenager who was attacked by four gay bashers when he was

with his boyfriend in the wood. Reuben managed to help him but

not his boyfriend Antonio and Reuben coincidentally passed the

‘chrism’ to him.

Antagonists:

Dr. Darya Klopov, a female doctor who obsessed to reveal secrets of the werewolves with her companion, Philippe Durrell (deceased).

Dr. Akin Jaska, the apprentice of Dr.Klopov and the one who was the most fierce when they did confrontation against the pack, Reuben’s family, and several medical teams who insisted to keep Stuart away from them (p.414-415).

Minor Characters:

Celeste, Reuben’s former girlfriend

Mort, Reuben’s best friend

Mr. Leroy Galton, the housekeeper of Nideck’s Point.

Simon Oliver, Arthur Hammermill, lawyers.

Werewolves:

Baron Thibault

Sergei Gorlagon

Frank Vandover

Reynolds Wagner (deceased)

POINT OF VIEW

The story is told from third person point of view. In this case Reuben as the main character of the story is the central figure of

the novel.

PLOT

The story began when Reuben Golding, a young journalist from San FransiscoObserver came to the house near the cliff in order to write an article about that house.

There he met Marchent Nideck, the guardian of the house. He admired the house and Marchent herself and promised himself to become the owner of the house one day.

In one night, an attack occurred, Marchent died meanwhile Reuben was saved by an anonymous helper who was actually a werewolf later known as the morphenkinder.

The werewolf could speak like human being and suggested Reuben to call 911 as soon as possible.

Accidentally, the werewolf bit Reuben and passed the chrism to him and turned him into werewolf too.

The power of the morphenkinder that Reuben gained made him capable of hearing sounds of people got tortured, smelling evil from distances, and having a huge power to kill and tear people.

Meanwhile Reuben’s mother Dr.Grace Golding insisted her son to meet distinguished doctor, Dr.Akin Jaska who understood a lot about changing that happened to her son which was caused by the incident occurred in the house of the Nidecks.

Reuben uses the power to help victims from: murder, kidnapping, rapist, torturing, and another acts of violences.

His first transformation into a man wolf happened when a woman was almost raped. He was able to save her.

This incident resulted:

Reuben realized the true power of the morphenkinder.

Public awareness of a super beast soon they recognized it as the man wolf.

Authorities started an intense search to find the man who is known as the man wolf.

When an entire busload of students from the Goldenwood Academy in Marin County got kidnapped, the news went viral and Reuben once again managed to escape the victims after a news told a dead body of a little girl was found in Muir beach.

Reuben ran away to Muir Woods and there he met Laura Dennys, a young woman who lives in the forest. She wasn’t afraid of the man wolf that she looked at and afterwards they fell deeply in love each other.

Reuben made a confession to Father Jim Golding, his elder brother about his transformation and murders that he had done before. Father Jim Golding became the only one in Reuben’s family who knew his brother’s secret.

Another victims who were saved by Reuben were a mother with her two children. They were about to be killed by their mother’s husband.

Soon the reputation of the man wolf attracted Marrok, the werewolf who passed the chrism to Reuben. Marrok believed that passing the chrism to Reuben was a terrible mistake and he decided to kill Reuben together with his girlfriend. His attempt was failed, and Marrok met his end.

Both Reuben and Laura were shocked knowing that the morphenkinderwould be dissolved when he dies.

Simon Oliver, the lawyer who was in charge of the property of the

Nidecks notified Reuben through e-mail that Felix Nideck’sillegitimate son was found alive and he wanted to see Reuben.

Oddly, this ‘illegitimate son’ didn’t pursue his right to gain the

property of the Nidecks. Later it was known that he was Felix

Nideck himself who reappeared after he had been missing for

almost twenty years.

Once again, Reuben heard a victim who was asking for help. He

was Stuart McIntyre, a gay teenager who was attacked by gay

haters when he was in the wood with his boyfriend Antonio. He

was saved by Reuben but Antonio died. Coincidentally, Reuben passed the ‘chrism’ to Stuart. He left a bitten mark on the boy’s

left hand (p.348).

Reuben confused to this unpredictable situation, he searched for

Felix Nideck but Felix was going abroad.

Regularly, Reuben visited Stuart to see how things were going.

Furthermore, he found out that Stuart stepfather was one of the

criminal who was in charge of Goldenwood Academy

kidnapping.

Worst thing happened as Stuart began his transformation. He turned to be a werewolf and fled from hospital.

Reuben, Laura, and Stuart ran and hid inside house of Nidecks

and the story of Man Wolf went viral once again.

Dr.Jaska and Dr.Klopov came to the house and insisted to take Stuart away from the house.

When the medical team appeared, Felix and Margon also

arrived on time to prevent further destruction.

They did a confrontation against the Russian doctors who were supported by some authorities.

Suddenly, a man wolf came and attacked both the Russian doctors. The man wolf was Sergei Gorlagon and he managed to escape.

After all problems got solved, Reuben’s parents, friends, the medical team, and everyone unless people who got involved to the man wolf had a conclusion that the werewolf they saw was exactly the man wolf that had been known before.

Afterwards, Reuben and Stuart heard original stories to what exactly happened to Felix, Margon, and another werewolves twenty years ago.

They also heard the real story of Margon and the origin of the morphenkinder.

The story ended with Reuben lived together with the packs and his girlfriend, Laura.

THEME

The central topic of the story revolves around myth and legend

about werewolves.

It blends with topic that occurs in present day such as: rights of

gay and advantages of mass media and electronic.

SETTING

The story took place in present days. It is shown on p.112 and p.364

when Youtube and a famous series happens in USA, Game of

Thrones are mentioned.

Mendocino county, San Fransisco, State of California is the main

location of the story, although there were different places

mentioned in the story.

A house which is later known as the ‘house of Nidecks’ or ‘Nidecks

Point’ is the main setting of the story. It became a ‘silent witness’ to

what actually happened related to the morphenkinder. House of

Nidecks also kept many tablets from the past which indicated or

gave hints to the origin of the werewolves.

SYMBOL AND IMAGE

Symbol that was used in the story is the morphenkinder.

The morphenkinder itself is the name given to mention the werewolves.

The power that has been passed by a morphenkinder to ordinary man was called chrism. It was said at the end of the stories that female can be a morphenkinder too.

Image of the werewolves is described as the “heroes” or savior to the victims. The werewolves or the man wolves were described as powerful, having strong senses such as hearing and smelling scent, intelligence, and can talk and act like human being.

The human side of the man wolf was described as a ‘pretty handsome’ boy whose face shines like sun.

STYLE

Anne Rice has her own style in writing her gothic fiction. Her fiction often revolves around spiritual beliefs, finding the true

meaning of life, and being contradicted to religion aspect. The

appearance of father Jim Golding is a contradiction to what

later became what would the main character believed at the

end of the story.

TONE/ATMOSPHERE

Romantic. Relationship that has been built between Reuben and Marchent and later Reuben with Laura became the soft side of the characters of the story. It sometimes led to sexual relationship too.

Thrilling, it is not the transformation of the werewolves which frightened the readers a lot, but the evil side of the normal human, intending to kill another people, and another kind of violence appeared in this novel which made the readers thrilled.

Blood bath, gothic and gore sides of the story were shown through fights or merely a slaughtering between the man wolf and the normal men who became murderers.

STRUCTURE

Setup, Reuben’s meeting with Marchent Nideck is the starting point of the story. The meeting led to many incidents, including the first attack that Reuben had in the house of Nidecks. The attack made a ‘transformation’ that changed Reuben’s life for good. Many things happened when the transformation took place, Reuben had also struggled with the fact that he was no longer a normal man anymore.

Confrontation, appearances of another werewolves like Marrok, Felix, and later on Margon explained a lot to the mystery of the chrism. But it also led him to dangerous moment when they confronted ingenious dr.Klopovalongside dr.Jaska.

Resolution, their ‘wolves’ identity has never been revealed until the end of the story. After successfully defeating the two doctors, the werewolves shifted the subject of the man wolf and made people believe that none of them were the man wolf.

MYTH AND ARCHETYPE REBIRTH “THEN DIE AND BE BORN AGAIN OVER AND OVER IF YOU NEED TO.”

- SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (2005)

Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolves, those three iconic figures in the world of gothic literature have been told and retold from generation to generation. Meanwhile Frankenstein was a representation of human selfish ambition of recreation, the story of Dracula and the lycans revolves around two different phases of a human being.

When a vampire or werewolf bit his victim, he made two optional choices to what would happened to the victim; died or reborn as a new form of a creature.

A man wolf is a form of the reborn creature that can’t have same life as he used to have before he was being transformed.

Margon Sperver was once a nobleman in an old kingdom before uruk, but then he was deposed from his position and being exiled. Margon was ‘dead’ not literally when he was sent out from his country. He gained his power and being ‘reborn’ when he gained the power of the lycan from an ancient tribe in Africa.

Matter of death and reborn happened to our main character, Reuben Golding. When his first lover (Marchent Nideck) eventually died and there weren’t anything he could do about it, he was also dead in the hands of Tom Marrok, but then he gained his new power through the chrism passed to him. Tom marrok accidentaly created a ‘new born’ morphenkinder. His new born led him to a new love through a young woman named Laura.

Stuart McIntyre was a gay boy who was banished by gay haters. He was considered died by the time Reuben bit him and he thought the young boy would die. But the fact had its other way, Stuart gained his new power and life through the transformation of the man wolf.

We, the readers can feel the experience of the rebirth through the point of view of the characters in the story. Anne Rice would like to show us what lies beneath the human conscious of her characters when they were reborn into another creature that was absolutely not them.

Through what had been proposed by Maud Bodkin in 1934, the archetype of reborn possibly made us imagine about drowning to the death and recalled back to life through process of rebirth.

Rebirth or reborn in the case of either werewolves or other mythological creatures have been lied down on two possible situations: rebirth to become a better or worse one.

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