41 pages • 1-hour read
Runt
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Themes
The Many Forms of Strength
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of animal death.
When King sees Runt for the first time in Chapter 1, he assumes that the pup will not survive the world’s harshness because “only the strongest, the best, the most intelligent and competent survive[]” (5). This assertion paraphrases the concept of survival of the fittest that drives Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The wolves must survive in a harsh and dangerous environment, and King’s experience has taught him that only the strong survive. The lesson that he must learn over the course of the novel—with Runt’s help—is that strength takes many forms, not all of them physical.
As a pup trying to prove himself, Runt makes mistakes, most notably the confrontation with the porcupine that leads to Thinker’s death. However, this experience leads Runt to the humans, who save him and help him realize that survival sometimes depends on making difficult decisions. By not killing him, the humans teach Runt that he is in control of his choices and that he can use those choices to survive. At the end of the book, Runt uses this lesson to call his family, rather than trying to kill the moose on his own—something he knows he cannot do. Thus, Runt’s strength comes from his ability to understand his limitations and make wise choices, even if it takes time for him to fully develop this strength of character.
While Runt offers a trial-and-error approach to survival, the wolf pack and the adjacent animals (such as the raven) show how animals rely on one another to survive. As dominant predators, the wolves are feared by the animals they consider prey. However, this does not make the wolves all-powerful in their environment. As seen in their failed attempt to defeat the moose, the wolves must be strategic to succeed, and failure has massive consequences, including the possibilities of starvation and fatal injury. The pack’s ability to survive also affects other creatures, such as the raven who picks at the remains of the animals that the wolves kill. This reliance creates a bond between species, as each knows that they have a better chance of survival together than apart. In this case, strength comes from connection and collaboration. Without the raven announcing the moose’s presence in Chapter 13, the wolves would not have known the creature was there. While this first hunt ends in failure, the later hunt when Runt calls the pack presumably ends in success, meaning that the raven ultimately helps the pack—and, by extension, itself—survive.
The Tension Between Autonomy and Belonging
At its core, Runt is a novel about finding one’s place within their family and the world while remaining true to oneself. Runt’s character arc revolves around this search, and his interactions with other animals, such as the dog Goldie, show how belonging means something different to every creature. From the moment Runt is born, he is on the fringe of his pack. While his mother and siblings accept him, King’s fear for Runt’s survival makes him keep the pup at a distance, and as a result, Runt feels that he must prove his worthiness to King in order to fully belong. At first, Runt associates belonging with bravery and strength. As a result, he takes unnecessary risks, such as braving the storm in Chapter 6, that only disappoint King and further distance Runt from the pack. In turn, this distance makes Runt try even harder, only to be driven further away when his actions bring harm to Thinker in Chapter 8. These early attempts at belonging fail because Runt is too focused on himself as an individual to see how he can serve the needs of the group, and these failures force Runt to rethink his definition of belonging. His turning point comes in stages, as he sides with Bider about the cow meat only to slowly realize that Bider’s arrogance put the whole pack at risk. When Bider dies as a result of his actions, Runt realizes that belonging means contributing and listening to the group. This allows him to rejoin his family for the final moose hunt and earns him acceptance as he finally takes action to support the family, not to promote himself.
In contrast to Runt’s journey toward belonging with his family, his interaction with Goldie in Chapter 10 explores the difference between belonging “with” a group and belonging “to” one. At this point in the story, Runt is not yet ostracized as a result of Thinker’s death, and he still believes that being impressive enough will win him acceptance. Thus, his sense of self centers around standing out, which means that he is immediately confused by Goldie’s willing submission to the humans. Where Runt wants to belong with his family by virtue of what he can do for them, Goldie is content to belong to the humans by virtue of what they can do for her, saying that she stays with them because “they feed [her]. […] They scratch [her] behind the ears. They get out [her] leash and take [her] for walks” (62). In exchange for these comforts, Goldie gives up her freedom, and Runt’s view of Goldie’s choices reveals how belonging is defined by each character’s understanding of the world. While life has not always been easy for Runt, he has always had the ability to choose where he goes and what he does because, while he belongs “with” his family, he belongs “to” himself. By contrast, Goldie’s sense of belonging “to” the humans means giving up her autonomy. When the two part ways, neither fully understands the other’s choices, but neither does either try to force the other to change. Whether one form of belonging is better or worse than the other is a matter of perspective, and it is up to Runt and Goldie to decide what they are willing to do or sacrifice to belong.
The Importance of Managing Risk
Throughout Runt, the characters must choose when to take risks and when to prioritize safety. As leader of the pack, one of King’s most important responsibilities is choosing when and how to hunt for food. In the latter portion of the book, the pack experiences a rash of unsuccessful hunts, leaving them hungry and exhausted. Even so, King doesn’t take unnecessary risks, and in a few cases, he chooses to back away from potential prey “because the animal they f[i]nd [i]s large and c[an] hold them at bay” (109). In these situations, King picks his battles because, while the pack is strong, it is not invincible; if members of the pack are injured or killed, future hunts will be even harder. Thus, when Helper is killed during the moose hunt, King retreats, realizing that he has made a mistake and that continuing the hunt is too risky. By doing so, King reveals that even careful decisions don’t guarantee success and shows the importance of also knowing when to back down.
Early in the novel, Runt’s need to prove himself to the pack leads him to undertake unnecessary risks—the opposite of King’s careful risk management. He stays outside during a storm, lies to his father about bravely facing a human, and challenges a porcupine. In each case, he expects his father to be proud of his bravery, but his father is instead disappointed by his recklessness. King helps the pack survive by taking risks only when the potential reward outweighs the danger. Runt finally gains his father’s approval—and with it a new name—when he shows that he has learned this lesson. At the end of the novel, he finds the moose badly injured and ready for death. Had this happened at the beginning of the novel, he would surely have attempted to take down the moose alone to prove his strength and courage. Now, instead, he calls the pack to undertake the kill together—proof that he has learned humility and good judgment.
While King shows how the responsibility of leadership means constantly weighing risk and reward, Bider’s character arc explores the slow, methodical process of waiting for the moment when a risk is likeliest to pay off. Bider’s name establishes him as the antagonist who is “biding” his time until the moment when he can challenge King. Bider’s end goal is to overthrow King and take the pack as his own, but as an older wolf who was already deposed once, Bider knows that he must wait for the right moment if he wants to stand a chance against King in a fight. Thus, while Bider waits, he purposefully instigates King by taunting Runt and making passes at Silver, always backing down when King intervenes to keep up the pretense that the threat isn’t serious. Bider’s choice to attack after the rash of unsuccessful hunts shows his patience and skill in assessing risk. Like King, Bider understands that it is best to pick a fight against an opponent whom he perceives as weak. Thus, Bider gorges on cow meat to make himself as strong as possible and then attacks when he knows that King has not eaten. By doing so, Bider gives himself the best chance of victory against a foe who is younger and typically stronger. While this allows Bider to put up a good fight, his ultimate loss shows that, much like with King and the moose hunt, careful decision-making does not guarantee victory. However, where King knows when to back down, Bider continues the fight even as he takes worse and worse injuries, and his defeat symbolizes the consequences of poor decision-making.
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