I feel that Billy and the wolf connect in so many ways. Wolves are known for being wild and untamed. Billy seems to want to be independent and free of the domestic duties he has to perform every day and not to mention the not so good relationship he has with his dad. Throughout the first part of the book we see how Billy and the wolf connect. The wolf is mystical and you could say that there is also something mysterious about Billy. He is quiet and doesn’t seem to explain too much. I mean, he did leave his home without telling anyone about it. Billy is in search of something..maybe himself..he goes out of his way to take the wolf back where it belongs because the wolf has been running loose in the wilderness..so Billy wants to make the wolf’s search easier. So once Billy decided to take the wolf back..a journey begins. The journey brings the wolf and Billy together because without knowing they are both going back home to where they belong.
One of the passages that caught my attention regarding the relationship between the wolf and Billy is on page 89. “The wolf snubbed up close on the rope and starting and quivering…When he touched her, her skin ran and quivered…He talked to her about his life….After a while he sang to her…” There are also times in the books where we read how Billy would sit for hours and stare at the wolf. He’ll just analyze her and she will analyze him. It’s like there’s a connection between them when they lock eyes. Maybe Billy can see himself in the wolf which is why she amazed him so much.
Is hunting of the wolf a question of machismo of something deeper? I don’t think that Billy’s hunting for the wolf is much because of machismo. I really think that Billy is so intrigued with the wild and getting to know more about it. He’s so caught up with what the wild or obsessed with what it has to offer. Maybe we can say that in the beginning there is some machismo with the hunting of the wolf but it’s clear that later on in the story it’s not about that anymore. He learns the ways of wolves and later on learns the ways of men. All this makes him analyze himself without knowing it.
