Wolfsong

Ox is both Wolfsong’s protagonist and its moral compass. He is a dynamic character whose transformation forms the novel’s emotional backbone. At the story’s start, Ox inherits from his father a narrow, damaging script of masculinity: men don’t cry, don’t feel, don’t ask for help. His father’s abandonment leaves him with a core of sadness and self-doubt, so that his early world is defined by shame and unexpressed emotions. Klune uses this imposed stoicism as the central obstacle of Ox’s bildungsroman. Everything that follows—his relationships, his leadership, and his love—is a process of unlearning the harmful narrative of gender identity his father ingrained in him.

At the beginning of the novel, Ox is also defined in his belief that he isn’t smart—another damaging belief ingrained by his father. As his world broadens, Ox learns that his heroism lies not in stoicism or intellect but in openness and caring. Klune constructs him as an archetypal “gentle giant,” physically large, slow in speech, and emotionally complex. His simplicity of language allows readers to witness the gradual growth and sophistication of his emotional vocabulary. The world of the novel teaches Ox to interpret love through action, sensory connection, and ethical choices.