Introduction & Overview of The Clan of the Cave Bear

This Study Guide consists of approximately 90 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Clan of the Cave Bear.

Introduction & Overview of The Clan of the Cave Bear

This Study Guide consists of approximately 90 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Clan of the Cave Bear.
This section contains 191 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy The Clan of the Cave Bear Study Guide

The Clan of the Cave Bear Summary & Study Guide Description

The Clan of the Cave Bear Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:

This detailed literature summary also contains Bibliography and a Free Quiz on The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel.

The story concerns a young girl named Ayla who is orphaned by a natural disaster and then adopted by a group known as the Clan. Ayla is very different from the Clan: physically, she is blond and blue-eyed and the people in the Clan are stocky and dark; she is expressive, sensitive, and smart and they are dour, plodding, and cold. Historians and anthropologists immediately reacted to Auel's book, maintaining that her assumptions about Neanderthal life were not realistic. In fact, Auel seems to be basing her view of the Neanderthal on the racially motivated "bad" science of late nineteenth-century French anthropology. It is precisely this "bad" science and overt racism that has prompted many anthropologists to denounce the novel.

However, the reading public truly seems to enjoy the novel that sold over one hundred thousand copies in the first three months after its publication. The Clan of the Cave Bear is an original work of fiction that explores the world of human beings in prehistoric times. Her novel has even inspired fans to write sequels about the Clan available on the World Wide Web (www.onebridgehome.com/ altauel)

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This section contains 191 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy The Clan of the Cave Bear Study Guide
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The Clan of the Cave Bear from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.