The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
"The Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean M. Auel is a compelling novel set in prehistoric Europe during the last ice age, often classified within the "caveman" fiction genre. The story follows Ayla, a Cro-Magnon girl who loses her family in an earthquake and is subsequently rescued by a Neanderthal clan led by Brun. The novel explores the stark contrasts between Ayla and the Clan members, who communicate primarily through gestures and have distinct physical characteristics. Ayla's adaptability and intelligence allow her to navigate the complexities of Clan life, where she learns about medicinal practices and faces significant societal challenges. Notably, her illicit pursuit of hunting leads to her eventual exile, showcasing the stringent gender roles of the Clan. As the narrative unfolds, themes of survival, identity, and the clash of cultures emerge, particularly through Ayla's relationships with characters like Creb, the clan's magician, and Broud, who embodies the clan’s rigid social hierarchy. The novel, the first in Auel's six-book "Earth's Children" series, has garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success, setting a foundation for further exploration of Ayla's journey in subsequent sequels.
Subject Terms
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
First published: 1980
Subjects: Coming-of-age, friendship, gender roles, and race and ethnicity
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical fiction
Time of work: The Middle Paleolithic epoch (approximately 35,000 years b.c.)
Recommended Ages: 15-18
Locale: The Crimean Peninsula near the shores of the Black Sea
Principal Characters:
Ayla , a young Cro-Magnon girl growing up with a Clan of Neanderthals who struggles with ancient Clan rules as she matures into an independent young womanBrun , the leader of the Clan, in whose hands the fate of Ayla often restsIza , the chief medicine woman of the Clan, who first finds and rescues Ayla and becomes her adoptive motherCreb , the magician, or Mo-gur, of the Clan, who accepts her into the Clan and becomes her adoptive fatherBroud , the arrogant and brutal son of Brun, who hates AylaDurc , Ayla’s mixed-race son, born of a violent rape
Form and Content
The Clan of the Cave Bear is a story set in prehistoric Europe during the last ice age; it has sometimes been categorized as “caveman” fiction. The novel’s exact setting on the Crimean Peninsula is detailed in a map preceding the text. The heroine of the captivating story is Ayla, a Cro-Magnon girl who, at age five, loses her family in an earthquake and survives a number of terrifying events, including the attack of a cave lion, before she is found half-dead by Iza, the medicine woman of a Neanderthal clan uprooted by the same earthquake and in search of a new cave. Iza empathizes with the barely alive child and convinces her brother Brun, the leader of the Clan of the Cave Bear, to let her bring the child along. When the girl recuperates from her wounds, it is obvious that two separate worlds have met: The Neanderthal Clan members are described as short, stocky, bowlegged, dark-haired, with large heads, and communicating mostly with hand gestures; Ayla, on the other hand, is thinner, taller, blond, blue-eyed, and talking freely in a language that the Clan does not understand.
Initially, everyone is suspicious of the orphan, who is so different from them and who belongs to what the Clan terms the Others. Ayla’s biggest supporter is Creb, the Mo-gur, the mighty magician of the entire Clan of the Cave Bear. Creb, brother to Iza and Brun, is a misshapen, one-eyed cripple, who, as a child, had survived the attack of a cave bear. Ayla shows him the affection that he never received from anyone else, and a deep bond develops between the disparate pair. Creb officially accepts Ayla, who accidentally discovered the new cave, into the Clan at a special ceremony, scandalizing the Clan by assigning her the powerful cave lion totem and laying the groundwork for the hatred of the arrogant and brutal Broud, whose own manhood ceremony is eclipsed by Ayla’s discovery of the cave and her totem ceremony.
From that time on, Ayla must learn how to be a Clan woman, whose tasks and rules are very different from those of the men. Ayla is especially adept at assimilating Iza’s medicinal knowledge and is groomed for the prestigious role of medicine woman. Ayla’s real trouble starts when she secretly learns to hunt with a sling, an enormous taboo for the women of the Clan and punishable by a form of exile. Because of her analytical skills, intuitive thinking, and tenacity, Ayla survives the exile and returns to the Clan. Broud, however, is pushing Ayla to the extreme, abusing her verbally and physically, eventually brutally raping her. The result of the rape is Durc, Ayla’s son, whom the Clan wants to reject and who is eventually accepted because of Creb’s influence. The novel ends as it began—with an earthquake, in which Creb is killed. Ayla is exiled by Broud, who has finally become the Clan leader.
Critical Context
The Clan of the Cave Bear is the first novel in Jean Auel’s six-volume, prehistoric saga called Earth’s Children, pioneering the genre of “caveman” fiction. The novel was a huge commercial and critical success, winning the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award for excellence in writing (1980) and the Friends of Literature’s Vicki Penzinger Matson Award (1981) and being nominated for the American Book Award for best first novel in 1981. The sequel to The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of Horses (1982) depicts Ayla’s struggle for survival after she had been cast out of the Clan. She eventually meets Jondolar, another Cro-Magnon man, and becomes his mate. Additional installments, such as The Mammoth Hunters (1985) and The Plains of Passage (1990), have been published. The sequels to The Clan of the Cave Bear have not been as critically acclaimed because of the many gratuitous sex scenes that they contain.