Part 2 provides flashbacks reminiscing on Miyax’s life before she departed for the wilderness. These flashbacks, which describe her life among other people, contrast with Part 1’s focus on natural imagery and the forces of wilderness and wildlife. The anecdotes of Miyax’s earlier life also flesh out her character and deepen her story. While Part 1 mentions Miyax’s relationship with her father and her husband Daniel in passing, Part 2 provides specific details about what Miyax has lost and left behind since entering the wilderness, developing the theme of The Wilderness Versus Human Society. 

Miyax is adept in the wilderness, but she struggles to find her footing in 20th-century, Westernized society. When she moves from her village to live with her Aunt Martha and go to school, she feels constantly out of place and “desperately homesick” (94). She makes an effort to learn Western ways but finds it difficult. Even among people her own age, Miyax struggles to fit in. Girls at school make fun of her for believing in her i’noGo tied, causing “the blood to rush to her face” and for her to throw her i’noGo tied away (85). Some of Miyax’s reactions to these struggles foreshadow her increasing sense of pride and confidence in her identity and further tie the human versus nature conflict to the novel’s depiction of Indigenous Wisdom and Traditions. While Miyax makes a concerted attempt to learn English, she also prefers to speak her first language, such as when she tries to speak it with Pearl.

As Part 2 continues, human society proves to be challenging and dangerous. In addition to being an outsider in Westernized spaces, Miyax is forced to dodge Naka’s drunken outbursts and domestic abuse, the apparent death of her father (which later turns out to be false), and being assaulted by Daniel. Amidst all of the challenges that she faces and her ongoing sense of isolation, Miyax does find two friends who influence her motivations and actions. The pen pal relationship she develops with Amy provides a glimpse into another way of life and encourages Miyax to believe that the situation she is in is not the only one possible for her. The friendship she develops with Pearl is equally encouraging. It is Pearl who reminds Miyax that she is not bound to a life with Daniel, urging her that “[a]ll you have to do is leave the house or run away and everything’s forgotten” (94), and it is Pearl who helps Miyax prepare to run away by giving her food and supplies. The friendships Miyax makes with Amy and Pearl while living in the city of Mekoryuk, which is otherwise unfriendly to her, mirror the bonds Miyax forges with the wolves in the largely hostile landscape of the North Slope of Alaska and reflect the novel’s interest in Independence Versus Solidarity. 

It is naïve of Miyax to hold on to the hope of getting to San Francisco, a city far away, which she has never visited, to live with a pen pal she has never met in person. This is especially so given how unhappy Miyax is with urban life. Nevertheless, Amy’s letters turn into a signal for a path to escape, in Miyax’s imagination. Immediately after Daniel assaults her, Miyax decides to leave for the wilderness. She not only leaves the area but also sheds the identity of Americanized city life, telling herself “Julie is gone […] I am Miyax now” (104). More than it reflects a desire to live in a city, Miyax’s plan shows that she is determined not to reject her identity and traditional upbringing, even if it means leaving a world of comfort behind.