The Wolf-Leader · Chapter
IX: The Wolf-Leader explained
Thibault, fleeing from Madame Polet's threats, enters the forest and is surrounded by a pack of wolves that escort him home.
What happens
Thibault, fleeing from Madame Polet's threats, enters the forest and is surrounded by a pack of wolves that escort him home. He discovers his red lock has grown, and he begins to use the wolves to hunt game, selling it to the innkeeper. His ambitions grow as he watches the aristocratic society in Villers-Cotterets, and he starts to lose his moral compass.
Themes in this chapter
Deal with the Devil
Thibault's power from the wolf grows, and his red lock expands, symbolizing his deepening pact with evil.
Class and Power
Thibault's envy of the aristocratic visitors and his desire to rise above his peasant status drive his actions.
Supernatural and Folklore
The wolves behave unnaturally, escorting Thibault and obeying his commands, reflecting folklore about werewolves and animal familiars.
Characters to notice
- Thibault
Flees into the forest, is escorted by wolves, discovers his red lock has grown, and begins using the wolves for hunting and selling game.
- Madame Polet
Threatens Thibault with farm servants, causing him to flee into the forest.
- Landry
Mentioned as the cousin whom Madame Polet preferred over Thibault.
- Agnelette
Thibault thinks of her as a poor peasant girl compared to the aristocratic ladies.
- Baron de Vauparfond
His hunting horn is heard in the forest, and his pack is compared to Thibault's wolves.
- Madame de Montesson
Visits Villers-Cotterets with the Duke of Orleans, part of the aristocratic society Thibault envies.
Key passages
“He had only to send them where he had sent the widow’s pig, and he was sure of being rid of them.”
He could dispose of enemies as easily as he had the widow's pig, by sending them to the devil.
Thibault reflects on his power to banish people with a wish.
“But Thibault’s wolves were evidently wolves of a special sort, accustomed to fire, for they did not budge an inch from the post they had taken up.”
The wolves were not frightened by fire, showing they were supernatural.
The wolves' indifference to fire highlights their unnatural nature.
“True, he was still the handsome Thibault, but the one red hair, thanks to the hasty wishes which had so imprudently escaped him, had now grown to a regular lock of hair, of a colour and brilliancy that vied with the brightest flames upon his hearth.”
His red lock had grown into a prominent flame-colored lock, a sign of his escalating pact.
The growth of the red lock symbolizes his increasing corruption.