Customer Reviews

The Wild Boy of Aveyron

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the very early story of the compassionate attempts to "tame" a boy found in the woods of France, living with and raised by animals. It was determined that the boy was deaf, in addition to being totally unknowing of human ways. When he was discovered, he, in fact, did not know he was human. It is the first recorded attempt in civilization to "domesticate" a child who had never been exposed to human habits - walking upright, communicating with more than rudimentary gestures, eating at a table, even hygiene. The priest who undertook this task was later credited with the development of sign language, Abbe de la Pais. He was a French monk; thus, today American Sign Language bears more resemblance to the French than to the English or German version. Unfortunately, de la Pais claimed a total rehabilitation of this child as he became a young man. In truth, the young man never lost many of his animalistic ways, due, probably, to the young age at which he was adopted by the forest denizens. See also "The Forbidden Experiment..." by Shattuck.