The Feral Child

People are always attracted by the unknown, passionate, and wild. The notion of a feral child combines all that attracts and frightens an average person. The history has known many stories about the wild children. Many of them seem fantastic, but these cases had happened in different countries at various times. However, all forest kids, no matter of their origin and history, have one thing in common: an almost complete inability to adapt to human society. This paper will discuss the occurrences of the children found in the woods and the attempts of their socialization.

The Concept of the Feral Child

The concept of “the feral child” has the Latin origin, meaning “a wild animal” (Curtiss & Whitaker, 2014). These are human children, who grew up in the extreme social exclusion, i.e. out of contact with people from an early age. These kids do not know the human language, prefer to walk on four extremities, and have the habits of the animals living in an environment where they grew up. They live in the conditions where they do not feel care and love of another person, have no experience of social behavior and communication. Such children are either abandoned by their parents, brought up by animals, or live in isolation. The literature provides a description of such cases, although many have not been publicized (Curtiss & Whitaker, 2014). These children are of great interest to researchers in the field of psychology and sociology because they usually imitate their behavior.

Myths, legends, and other literary works describe children raised by wild animals, such as wolves and bears. The notable examples are Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan, and Romulus and Remus. The legendary and fictional “children of the jungle” are often depicted as those with relatively normal human intelligence and physical abilities, as well as an innate sense of culture, but with a more developed survival instinct (Newton, 2014). Mowgli and Tarzan, being fictional heroes, were able to find a common language with both humans and animals, and understood the law of the wild as well as civilized world. There were many stories when human babies grew wild. According to the documentation, the feral child could be adopted by any animals (Curtiss & Whitaker, 2014). However, most of the kids live with dogs or monkeys.

From the History of Feral Children

The stories about the wild children have been known since the 14^th century (Newton, 2013). Thus, in 1344, in the woods near the German town of Giessen, there was found a boy raised by wolves (Newton, 2013). He walked on all fours and ate only raw food. According to the research, in the 18^th century, a few wild children have been found in various European countries. Among them were a boy from Germany, named Peter, and the French “Mowgli’ (Curtiss & Whitaker, 2014). Despite the numerous attempts to socialize them, the only improvement made by doctors was teaching the boys several words and bipedal locomotion.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, in India, there were found two girls brought up by a wolf: Amala and Kamala (Newton, 2014). They had the habits of wild animals, moved on four extremities, bit, and ate raw meat. In addition, the girls had a phenomenal sense of smell. The younger girl, who was about six years old at the time of detection, died after only a year. The elder lived for about ten years, learned simple words, but could not adapt to the human society. Probably, all of these children were lost in the woods on their own or have been deliberately left there by parents who were unable to maintain them.

Unfortunately, cases of detection of wild children happen in modern history. However, these are kids who have been forced to isolation from society. According to Newton (2013), in 1970, in the United States, the woman brought her thirteen-year-old daughter to the department of social protection. The girl did not know how to speak, to take solid food, use everyday items, and lavatory. After the investigation, it was found out that the girl’s father kept her locked in a room for years. Being tied to a chair, unable to move normally and communicate, the girl resembled an animal. Despite the best efforts of doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists that lasted more than one year, the girl could not master the normal human speech and socialize.

Human Nature: Congenital or Acquired?

The nature of feral children evoked controversy in the scientific community. The question of whether the human nature was congenital or acquired has worried philosophers and psychologists (Curtiss & Whitaker, 2014). One of the first persons who became interested in this topic was Ludwig Feuerbach, the German philosopher and atheist. He shared the concept of “human nature” in his teaching. According to his theory, the nature of a man is his natural abilities and data, but the essence is something that occurs only as a result of communication with their own kind (Newton, 2014).

Some psychologists say that the style of the behavior: aggressiveness, shrill cries, and addiction to eating raw food make these children close to the autistic (Newton, 2013). However, the feral kids have abilities that are not autistic. For example, they have a better sense of smell; they are easier to tolerate cold, heat, and temperature changes; they are also more resistant to the infections and better adapted to communicate in non-verbal level.

Conclusion

All the attempts of the scientists to fully socialize feral children failed in the process of their experiments. Only those who had certain social skills before the time of isolation showed a little improvement. However, if the child was withdrawn from other people under the age of one year and held in isolation for more than three years, the development of language, physical skills, and social skills turned out to be almost impossible.