The Mammoth Hunters

The mammoth hunters.

Jean M. Auel

Title: The mammoth hunters

Name of the author: Jean M Auel

Year of first impression: 1985

Year and place of appearance of the impression used: 1985, Londen.

Index:

Page 3: introduction

Page 4: biography and bibliography

Page 5: empirical report

Page 6: assignment 1

Page 7: assignment 2

Page 8: assignment 3

Page 9: assignment 4

Page 10: short post face

Page 11: extra poem included.

Introduction:

Ayla is back in the third book of the earth's children. Ayla who met Jondalar in the last book, has agreed to come along with him to his home place in Zelandoni. They are with whinney and runner on the move when they see a couple of men looking at them. After an unusual meeting they come along with these strangers known as the mammoth hunters. Soon Ayla feels at home there. She discovers that a boy, named Rydag, looks a lot like her son who she had left behind with the clan. The people of the mammoth hunters are very friendly and understanding for where she has grown up. She soon makes friends. Jondalar the man she loves is very jealous. There is an interesting man, named Ranec who seems to be capable of getting Ayla in to his bed after a ceremony. Jondalar is devastated and believes that Ayla has chosen for Ranac. Ayla on the other hand thinks Jondalar doesn't love her any more. This goes so far on that Ayla almost bound with Ranec. Thank god in the ending Jondalar and Ayla find one each other again and they leave the mammoth hunters. Another adventure begins.

Biography:

Jean Marie Untinen was born February 18, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. She is the second of five children. Her father was a housepainter. After high school she married Ray Bernard Auel and raised five children of her own. In 1964 she became a member of Mensa. She earned her masters degree in 1976 - attending night school while working for a Portland electronics firm. At that time she quit her job in order to find 'more suitable work'.

Three months later she still hadn't found a new job that suited her. About that time she got an idea for a short story about a prehistoric girl. According to Jean, "The 'short story' led me to do some research; the research fired my imagination, and the wealth of material made me decide to write a novel. The first draft turned out to be more than 450,000 words and fell into s ix parts. On rewriting, I realized each of these six parts was a novel in itself. I have used that rough draft as the outline for the series."

Jean's extensive research has taken her to prehistoric sites in France, Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Ukraine, the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Germany (to follow a portion of the Danube for the 4th novel).

Future plans: "I've been working 17 years on this project, and I want to do something else--maybe a mystery, or a thin little literary science fiction book, or something. But, I admit, I've learned a lot. I love the research. I can't think of anything more fun than learning anything I want and earning a living writing about it the way I want to."

Bibliography:

Novels:

Clan of the Cave Bear, the (1980)

Valley of Horses, the (1982)

Mammoth Hunters, the (1985)

Plains of Passage, the (1990)

Shelters of Stone, the (2002)

Empirical report:

First of all I would like to say that you are dealing with an "earth children fan". I've read every part of this series and I really enjoy them. The only one I didn't like was the plains of passage. But that is another story. This one; the mammoth hunters is a class of work. It excites me, it angers me, it made me laugh out loud and it even made me cry. Any book which can do that to me is one hell of a book.

Assignment 1: write a different ending.

Page 774 Jondalar just asked Ayla to make a heart with him in zelandoni.

Ayla started crying, she felt silly for her flood of tears and cried out that she loves him and she wants to make a heart with him, more than anything in the world. But...she said I don't want to go away from clan of the mammoth hunters. It's my home....at least it feels like home. Jondelar looked startled but somehow he understands, she never had people around her who loved her for whom she is. In the clan where she's grown up she had to be a descent woman who lived by the rules of the men. Here she can be herself, a woman who is highly trained in medicine but also a great hunter. He wasn't even sure of his own people would love Ayla like the Lion camp does. He stood up and took her in his arms. It doesn't matter he said.