The clan of the cave bear

[Loomis]

Has anyone read the book The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel?

The book is about a Cro-Magnon ice-age girl adopted by Neanderthals. In the story the brains of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons are very different and it is reflected in striking behavioral differences between them. The book tells a story, in my opinion, of what it would be like for a NT to live in a world with humans whose thinking processes are greatly different from hers. The story was written in 1980 and I do not believe for a moment the author intended to describe aspies and NTs. I read the story about 20 years ago and enjoyed it very much. This was long before I knew I was an aspie. The only downside to an aspie reading this novel is that the Cro-Magnon girl is the hero of the story and the Neanderthals are portrayed as brutish slow thinkers who are greatly inferior to the Cro-Magnons.

 

[Spinning Compass]

Yes, I read "The Clan of the Cave Bear" years ago, as well as the other books in the series. I think "The Clan of the Cave Bear" is the strongest. The other books bothered me somewhat. In the second one I felt that too much attention was being given to Jondalar's sexual adventures and Ayla's sexual awakening. Also, the fact that Jondalar and Ayla were blond and blue eyed, which might not have been such a big deal except I felt that Auel was making them out to be the future of humanity and I think there's been a little bit too much glorification of blond hair and blue eyes if you know what I mean. Plus, as my father pointed out, they were too perfect. They never made any mistakes. For example, when Ayla rides the horse for the first time she stays on and doesn't fall off right away, even before that when she rode the lion the same thing. And I know from experience that that just does not happen. It takes time to learn how to ride even if one has good balance and sometimes many many falls.

I guess what nagged at me as I continued reading the series is that Auel was trying to use her story to get some points across and not just tell a story. Parts of it sounded like propaganda, of what she thought a perfect society would be. Spoiler alert: in the last book Ayla serves as a kind of Eve who inadvertently spoils this paradise by introducing new knowledge into the world.

 

[smith2267]

No, but I watched a porno once called cave of the bare clan.

 

[cheetoe80]

I never read the book, but I watched the movie clan of the cave bear years ago. The book sounds interesting.

And I thought Cro-Magnons looked like modern Europeans Compass, why wouldn't they be blonde?

 

[Spinning Compass]

Certainly they could have been blonde--but not all Europeans are blonde. However, hair color is often symbolic. Think of Disney heroines and how many of them are blonde. Think of Disney villianesses and how many of them are dark-haired. In the Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch Glinda is a blonde while the Wicked Witch is--you guesssed it. Wonder Woman is a blonde. Barbie and Ken are guess what? And on it goes. The stereotypical Aryan was blonde-haired and blue-eyed. So blonde is not exactly neutral. Ayla and Jondalar are not just any old Cro-Magnons, they are symbolic of the most advanced Cro-Magnons. Which is why I suspect that Auel chose to make them blonde. If they had been dark-haired it wouldn't have had the impact. I think some of our members of color might be able to explain it better than I.

Note: I am not anti-blonde, I am just pointing out how hair color (and skin color) have been used to designate character type. It's kind of a shorthand to readers and viewers, just like white hats and black hats in old-time cowboy movies. You knew instantly who was the good guy and who was the bad guy just by looking.

 

[cheetoe80]

well okay, but Wonder Woman is not a blonde, she has had black hair since she was fighting nazis in the 40's