Students were asked to read The Valley of Horses and to write their book report on that novel. They had to relate to a time period other than the present and to deal with the subject matter discussed in class. The writer who wrote the report below met that assignment.

Language and Logic Cave Woman Style

The second book of a trilogy, The Valley of Horses ¹ fictionalizes the beginning of civilization in the Asian area north of the Beran Sea. Like Jean M. Auel's other two books, The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Mammoth Hunters, this one gets its foundation from archaeological research supporting the evolution of man. In this unusual historical novel, the reader follows Ayla, a child of the Others, who has been reared by the Clan of the Cave Bear and then ejected form the Clan when she violates customs she can neither understand nor accept. In exile in the valley of the horses, she survived five years alone until she meets Jondalar, a man of the Others. They face a major obstacle: they cannot communicate. Ayla has no verbal language, and Jondalar cannot understand the nuances of her gestures and facial expressions.

Ayla faces a lonely struggle for survival after her death curse by the Clan. To solve basic survival problems, she must use logic: alone, how can she kill, butcher and process an animal large enough to feed her through the severe winter; alone, how can she provide clothing, cooking utensils, sleeping skins, and shelter for protection; alone, how can she protect herself from the dangers around her? Her training as a medicine woman and her knowledge of hunting coupled with the large brain characteristic of the Others allow her to succeed. Also as a result of her background, she saved Jondalar's life after a lion mauls him and kills his traveling-compagnion brother. Jondalar is the first of the Others that Ayala has seen. After Ayla's medicinal powers help Jondalar regain his health, the two of them suffer from their inability to understand each other's customs. Jondalar finally teaches her to speak, however, and they establish a strong bond, sharing their creative ideas to reach solutions for both the physical and mental problems they face as a team.

Among the many concepts about the development of civilization that Auel weaves into her novels to stimulate the reader's imagination and curiosity, one of the most intriguing is the development of language. Without writing a history of the development of language, Auel forces the reader to deal with the transition from nonverbal to verbal to written communication. The Clan, characterized as Neanderthals, used only grunts, facial expressions, and gestures to communicate. As Jondalar notes in one encounter, he was "aware, peripherally, that the young flathead (Clan member) and the female were waving their hands and making gutteral sounds." He adds that he "had an impression the were communicating." By contrast, the Others use almost entirely a spoken language. In fact, when Ayala tries to explain to Jondalar how she guides her horse, she can only say, "Whinney just knows where I want to go." The horse senses her muscular nudges and reactions and knows where Ayala wants to go, a phenomenon Jondalar has difficulty understanding. Written language, however, is unknown to either of them. While Jondalar explains sculpture to Ayala, neither of them draws representations as a preliminary written language. On the other hand, Ayla does make marks on sticks to keep track of the days and months. Interestingly enough, though, she cannot count the many marks she has made; Jondalar calculates her lonely stay at over five years.

Another intriguing idea presented in The Valley of Horses to stimulate the reader's imagination about the development of civilization deals with the importance of logic for survival. Much of the development of the various civilizations was aided by the people's ability to reason and solve problems. The Clan people, described by Auel to resemble the forerunners of Homo sapiens, had memories but could not learn anything new. They could not reason. they did whatever they did because it was all they knew. Necessarily, then, Ayla was feared. As a woman, she learned on her own to hunt, something no Clan woman could or would think of trying to do. Because the Others had a larger brain, they could learn new things, adapt to their surroundings, and yes, verbalize. In one instance, when Ayla discovers by accident that striking together two pieces of flint can produce fire, the author says of the accident: "That was the serendipity. Ayla supplied the recognition and the other necessary elements: she understood the process of making fire, she needed fire, and she wasn't afraid to try something new." The implication, of course, is that Others succeeded and thrived; the Clan died.

Auel suggests other topics for thought about man's development: how Ayla first learns to start a fire with flint, how she learns to use a horse to help her, how she learns to communicate in a kind of extrasensory way with animals, how Jondalar learns to construct a craft to move on water. All are woven into the plot as naturally as any other event in a historical novel. The difference between this and more typical historical novels is merely setting; but the research -biological, geographical, geological, zoological, anthropological, sociological, and archaeological- exhibited by the author makes for astounding, thought-provoking reading. As the second book of the series, however, The Valley Horses undoubtedly evokes the greatest comment on the development of languages and the importance of the ability to reason in the development of civilizations. That Auel could do all of that and still maintain suspense and drama in a complicated plot significantly credits her creative ability. ²