Survival in the Wild Children by Felice Holman

As Charles Darwin states it, “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” In Felice Holman’s “The Wild Children”, the twelve-year old protagonist, named Alex faces the struggle to survive during the Russian Revolution. He learns that survival is more than just having a family there to support him. It is what a person or group does to keep on surviving. The band including Alex experiences many difficulties that they have to overcome to survive. Ensuring each others and their selves survival the band has to finds shelter, finds food and finds collaboration .

Though living in the most difficult and unimaginable places, the band survives. To the most of us, the shelters that the band has slept through and eaten in would be unrecognizable. For example, on page 39, “ A large cellar, with a dirt floor was the place which he found himself, when he could see at all. The room was filled with a dense oily smoke, lit eerily from the back as if by matches behind a filmy curtain.” It gives the illusion that it is not a perfect place to live due to its’ poor conditions of cleanup. This is because the band is focusing on surviving and seeing what their basic needs are and what they need, which is a shelter to give warmth and safety from the excruciating weather conditions that will help make sure survival for their futures. This bit of evidence gives the conclusion that cellar is not a pretty place with fancy doorknobs and curtains, however it is one thing that will help them survive. Survival makes it challenging to survive with illnesses. For instance, on page 86 when Kostia says, “ ...Peter won’t let us stay with other bands in the caves because of their sickness…” and “ Everyone ...

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...f the job it impacts that person’s survival of that particular day. Another example, on page 59, “ He will keep the chemist so busy in the front so, you won’t have any trouble at all getting the herbs from the jars in the back.” This also suggests teamwork, while Ivan keeps the chemist busy by distraction; Alex goes to steal the herbs. They both work together towards a common goal, survival. Alex and Ivan’s actions of teamwork to steal allow the band to survive another sickness if there happens to be one.

Keeping each other and themselves alive the band learns to survive by finding shelter, finding food and finding collaboration. They are also people who learn how to overcome hardships and gain more ability from their experience. Knowing people who are the smartest are not always the ones that survive, but instead are those who learn to adapt and manage change.