Earth's Children: Difference between revisions

The novels revolve around "Ayla," a Cro-Magnon woman who lived about 30,000 years ago, somewhere near the Black Sea (modern-day Ukraine). Orphaned at five due to an earthquake, she is taken in by a group of Neanderthals. Auel goes into great detail on the physiology of these Neanderthals, who call themselves the [[Title Drop|Clan of the Cave Bear]] after their primary deity. The main difference between Clan and "Others" (Cro-Magnons) is that Clan have access to [[Genetic Memory]], which makes them quick studies for anything their species already knows but very slow to accept innovation or change. Ayla is adopted by the clan's medicine woman, and her brother, a crippled shaman, learning a great deal of herb lore and practical medicine, but also learns to hunt in direct defiance of the Clan's traditions. Her clan's leader (the brother of the medicine woman and shaman both) accepts her as best he can, able to recognize her talents and skills even if they make him uncomfortable, but when his snotty son takes up the mantle of leadership, the son has Ayla exiled from the Clan (after raping her). This would be easier on 14-year-old Ayla if she hadn't borne a son, Durc, a ''Homo neanderthalensis x sapiens'' hybrid that must be left behind.

 

 

== The novels in the series: ==

* ''The Land of Painted Caves'' (2011): Ayla continues her training to become a Zelandoni (priestess/medicine woman) for her tribe.

 

 

Ayla is an extremely talented cook, hunter, healer and equestrian, and has single-handedly accomplished a number of technological breakthroughs, such as the discovery of making fire with flint and tinder; the domestication of the first horse (Whinny), and the first proto-dog (Wolf); the invention of the travois and sewing needle; and being (one of) the first to make the connection between sexual intercourse and reproduction. Jondalar has also showed fecundity by collaborating with her on the invention of the spear-thrower (atlatl), the sewing needle, horse tack, and "break-away" reusable spears. Thankfully, the pair didn't invent everything: alcoholic drinks are already well known (and a bit of a problem) in the depicted Cro-Magnon societies, a priestess in another tribe is said to have invented earthenware, yet another has accidented soap into existence, and in no particular order other tribally unique inventions/discoveries: charcoal, salt mining, chamois leather, boat keels and rudders.

* [[Heartwarming Orphan]]: Rydag, a half-Clan/half-Other boy who is adopted by Nezzie, the mate of the headman of the Mamutoi's Lion Camp. He's even sickly (a weak heart), but after Ayla teaches him the Clan's sign language, the rest of Lion Camp learn it to varying degrees so that they can communicate with him. When {{spoiler|he dies of heart failure}} toward the end of ''The Mammoth Hunters'', most of the Lion Camp are {{spoiler|devastated (and even some readers get a little teary-eyed.)}}

* [[History Marches On]]:

** Neanderthals are portrayed as almost universally dark-haired while Cro-Magnons show all the phenotypes found in modern (mostly European) humans. Recent studies in neanderthal mDNA have shown that at least some of them were red-haired.

** The technology and cultures of the Others are a mixture of several different distinct Late Pleistocene material cultures, now known to have been separated by multi-millennial gaps in time.

* [[I Am Not Pretty]]: Ayla continues to view herself by the Clan standards with which she was raised, according to which she's too tall, unfeminine, and ''very'' ugly. Everyone around her was a Neanderthal, so that's the appearance she's used to. By European ''Homo sapiens'' standards she's actually beautiful, but she can't wrap her head around that.

* [[IKEA Erotica]]: Ayla and Jondalar's increasingly tedious sex scenes.

* [[Jerkass]]: Broud. And no, not in the "sensible character who expresses doubt about the [[Mary Sue]]'s wonderfulness" way, but in the "sadistic, arrogant, out-of-control, all around unbearable" way. By the end of the first book, even his father almost disowns him. Frebec of the Mamutoi Lion Camp is also a Jerk Ass, but it's implied that a lot of his stems from feelings of inferiority, and he turns into a [[Nice Guy]] by the end of the book.

* [[Jungle Princess]]: Ayla qualifies, especially if you believe the Clan are animals. (Jondalar has to teach her to speak verbally.)

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Judging by Ayla's vision of the Mother {{spoiler|being forsaken for the Son}} and a number of Zelandonii men's reactions to her new verse in ''The Land of Painted Caves'', our heroine may have established the basis for future {{spoiler|patriarchies}}. She's almost certainly bringing an end to {{spoiler|[[Eternal Sexual Freedom]]}} amongst the Zelandonii, and later, other groups, with her concept of fatherhood. Those Who Worship the Great Earth Mother will probably not be best pleased.

* [[No Guy Wants an Amazon]]: Played straight in the Clan since Ayla is extremely tall and hideously misshapen to their eyes, and then averted by Jondalar and most of the Others, who have no problems with Ayla's self-sufficiency. Stands to reason, too: if you live in communities of 50-100 people or so, you'd be suicidal to turn down able-bodied workers just because they happen to have tits.

* [[Not So Different]]:

** Every time someone of the Others tries to justify their [[Fantastic Racism]] towards the Clan with some terrible thing a Neanderthal has done (such as Broud raping Ayla), she points out that some of the Others have done the exact same things (with actual examples) and asks if that makes ''them'' dirty animals.