Stickeen

Summary

Stickeen is John Muir's true account of the most dangerous day of his Alaska travels and of the little dog who shared it. In the summer of 1880 Muir sets out from Fort Wrangel by canoe with his friend the missionary S. Hall Young and a crew of Native paddlers to explore the glaciers of southeastern Alaska. Young brings along a small, black, silky-haired dog named for the Stickeen people, who regard him as a kind of good-luck charm. Muir objects that such a toy dog will only be in the way, but Young insists, and Stickeen soon proves tough, independent and oddly aloof, a dog who goes everywhere and shows his feelings to no one. On a stormy August morning at an inlet now called Taylor Bay, Muir leaves camp before breakfast to explore a huge glacier, and Stickeen follows him through rain and wind. They spend the day crossing seven miles of ice and exploring its far side. Turning back late in the afternoon, with snow falling and darkness coming, they find themselves trapped among crevasses on a narrow island of ice. The only way off is a thin, weathered sliver of ice that spans a chasm forty to fifty feet wide, sagging far below the rim. Muir cuts steps down the wall, straddles the sliver, chips it level inch by inch, and climbs the far side. Stickeen, who had never before seemed to know what danger was, now understands it perfectly. He cries, moans and refuses to follow, until Muir pretends to leave him and then calls sternly that he must come. At last the dog creeps down the steps, walks the bridge with slow, measured paces, and springs up the notches past Muir's head. His explosion of joy, racing in circles and shouting, is one of the most famous scenes in American animal writing. Muir and the dog stagger back to camp about ten at night, too tired to eat. Afterward Stickeen is a changed dog, devoted to Muir for the rest of the trip. Muir closes by saying that through Stickeen he has learned to look with deeper sympathy into all his fellow mortals. The story first appeared in The Century Magazine in 1897 as An Adventure with a Dog and a Glacier and was published as a small book by Houghton Mifflin in 1909.

Plot or Argument

• The Little Black Dog

  At Fort Wrangel in 1880 the missionary S. Hall Young brings his small dog Stickeen on the canoe trip; Muir thinks him worthless, but the dog proves hardy, independent and mysterious.

• On the Voyage

  Stickeen swims, explores and keeps his own counsel as the party paddles north through the islands and fiords toward the ice-fields of the Fairweather Range.

• The Storm-Day on the Glacier

  At Taylor Bay Muir sets out alone into a gale to explore a vast glacier; Stickeen insists on following, and the two cross about seven miles of ice to the far shore.

• Trapped among the Crevasses

  Returning as the light fails, they find themselves on an island of ice bounded by great crevasses, with only a sagging sliver-bridge as a way out.

• The Sliver-Bridge

  Muir cuts steps, straddles the bridge and crosses it inch by inch; Stickeen, terrified, refuses until Muir pretends to leave, then crosses with careful steps and leaps up the cliff to safety.

• Deliverance and Afterward

  Stickeen's wild joy, the exhausted return to camp, the dog's new devotion to Muir, and his mysterious later fate; Muir says that Stickeen opened a window into the hearts of all fellow creatures.

Characters

• John Muir, narrator

  Naturalist exploring Alaska's glaciers who at first scorns the little dog and ends by loving him.

• Stickeen, dog

  Small, black, silky-haired dog, aloof and fearless, who learns fear and devotion on the glacier.

• S. Hall Young, missionary and Stickeen's master

  Presbyterian missionary at Fort Wrangel and Muir's companion on the canoe journey.

• Joe, hunter

  Member of the party who hunts wild goats while Muir explores.

Lessons

• Do not judge by appearances

  Muir dismisses Stickeen as a worthless toy, yet the dog proves to be brave, wise and capable of deep feeling. The story warns against despising the small and unpromising, a lesson that applies to people as well as animals.

  • Why does Muir object to taking Stickeen at the start?
  • What does he learn about the dog by the end?
  • When have you been wrong about someone because of a first impression?

• Courage is not the absence of fear

  Stickeen had never seemed to know danger, but on the brink of the crevasse he sees it clearly and is terrified. His crossing is brave precisely because he is afraid. Muir also must master his own fear to cut steps across the sliver.

  • How does Stickeen show that he understands the danger?
  • Why is his crossing braver than his earlier carelessness?
  • What helps a person act rightly when afraid?

• Responsibility for those who follow us

  Muir tried to send Stickeen back, but the dog followed him into the storm, and Muir feels responsible for leading him into danger. Leaders and older brothers and sisters must remember that others follow where they go.

  • Was Muir right to go out on the glacier in such a storm?
  • How does Muir care for Stickeen during the crisis?
  • Who follows your example?

• Sympathy with all creatures

  Muir closes by saying that Stickeen became a window through which he looked with deeper sympathy into all his fellow mortals. Seeing fear and joy in an animal deepened his compassion more widely.

  • What does Muir mean by a window?
  • How can caring for animals teach us to care for people?
  • What does Scripture say about how the righteous treat animals?

Context

Alaska had been purchased from Russia in 1867 and in 1880 had almost no government; Fort Wrangel was a small trading and mining town near the mouth of the Stikine River. Presbyterian missionaries, including S. Hall Young, had begun work among the Tlingit people, and Muir, who had first visited in 1879, returned to study the great tidewater glaciers. The glacier of the story, at Taylor Bay on Cross Sound, is usually identified as the Brady Glacier.

Composition

Muir told the story often to friends before he wrote it down. It was first published as An Adventure with a Dog and a Glacier in The Century Magazine in September 1897, and Muir later revised it as a short book, Stickeen, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1909 and dedicated to his daughter Helen. The book prints J. G. Holland's poem To My Dog Blanco as an epigraph.

Reception

Stickeen became the most popular of Muir's short works and has been reprinted many times, often as a children's book. S. Hall Young told his own version of the adventure in Alaska Days with John Muir (1915). The story is widely read in schools as a classic of animal writing and of courage under danger.

Comparisons

• The Call of the Wild

  London's Buck and Muir's Stickeen are both Alaskan dogs tested by ice and danger; London writes fiction about a dog returning to the wild, Muir a true story about a dog drawing closer to a man.

• White Fang

  White Fang moves from wildness to devotion to a human master, a change that Muir sees happen to Stickeen in a single day on the glacier.

• Lassie Come-Home

  Both books celebrate a dog's loyalty and courage; Lassie's long journey home and Stickeen's crossing of the sliver-bridge are tests of a dog's heart.

• Travels in Alaska

  Muir's longer account of his Alaska journeys of 1879, 1880 and 1890 gives the setting for this story and refers to the minister's little dog on the stormy day at Taylor Bay.

• The Story of My Boyhood and Youth

  Muir's boyhood memoir shows the same love for the farm animals of Wisconsin and the same habit of reading character in a horse or a dog.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Muir's first opinion of Stickeen and how it changes.
• The signs of danger that build during the afternoon on the glacier.
• How Muir crosses the sliver-bridge, step by step.
• The way Stickeen shows fear and then joy, as if speaking.
• Muir's closing reflection on what the dog taught him.

Key terms and names

Glacier

A huge, slowly moving river of ice formed from packed snow.

Crevasse

A deep crack in a glacier, opened as the ice moves and bends.

Sliver-bridge

A thin strip of ice left spanning a crevasse when the crack opened, gradually melted to a knife edge.

Fort Wrangel

A small town in southeastern Alaska near the mouth of the Stikine River, where the journey began.

Moraine

A ridge of rock and gravel left at the edge or end of a glacier.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why did Muir not want Stickeen to come on the trip?
2. Comprehension How did Muir and Stickeen become trapped on the glacier?
3. Comprehension What finally made Stickeen cross the bridge?
4. Interpretation Why does Muir describe Stickeen's cries as if they were human words?
5. Interpretation Was Muir wise or foolish to explore the glacier in a storm? Use the text.
6. Interpretation Why does Muir call the crevasse an emblem of the valley of the shadow of death?
7. Big Question Can animals teach us real lessons about courage, love and trust?
8. Big Question What makes an act truly brave?

Faith Connections

• Psalm 23:4 (Scripture)

  Muir calls the crevasse an emblem of the valley of the shadow of death. The psalm promises the Lord's presence even there, and Stickeen's trust in his master on the bridge is a picture of that trust.

• Proverbs 12:10 (Scripture)

  On the ice bridge Muir cuts steps for the shaking little dog, coaxes him across rather than leaving him on the far side of the crevasse, and afterward says the dog became a window through which he looked with deeper sympathy into all his fellow mortals; the proverb's regard for a beast's life fits that storm-battle on the glacier.

• Exodus 15:1-2 (Scripture)

  Muir compares Stickeen's outburst of joy to Moses' song of triumph after crossing the Red Sea, the great song of deliverance in the Old Testament.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: An animal that seemed dull and worthless showed, in danger, fear, trust, courage and joy like a person's. If so small a creature has such a heart, then all living things deserve deeper sympathy. Therefore the day on the glacier taught Muir compassion for all his fellow mortals.

Rhetorical device: simile. Muir says that Stickeen became transparent, so that one could see the workings of his heart and mind like the movements of a clock out of its case.

Debate: Resolved: that Muir was to blame for leading Stickeen into danger.

Memory Work

Our storm-battle for life brought him to light, and through him as through a window I have ever since been looking with deeper sympathy into all my fellow mortals

But he will not be forgotten. To me Stickeen is immortal

Writing Prompts

Essay: Describe how Stickeen changes from the beginning of the story to the end, and explain what caused the change.

Comparison with The Call of the Wild: Compare Stickeen and Buck. How does each dog respond to danger and to the people he depends on?

Medical Lens

The story is a close lay description of acute fear and its release in an animal. Muir records Stickeen's trembling, moaning and refusal at the crevasse, then an outburst of running, rolling and crying so violent that he feared the dog might die of joy, followed by collapse into a troubled sleep. Muir himself crosses the bridge after a day on the ice with only a piece of bread, and describes the weakness that comes once danger has passed. These are observations of behavior, not clinical claims.

• The Story

  Stickeen's terror on the brink of the crevasse and his frantic, exhausting display of joy after crossing.

  Neurosis Anxiety
• The Story

  After the crossing, weakness overtakes man and dog; they reach camp about ten at night too tired to eat.

  Starvation Nutrition

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Draw a diagram of the sliver-bridge and the crevasse, labeling the steps Muir cut and the route Stickeen took.

• Fiction

  Retell the crossing of the sliver-bridge from Stickeen's point of view, including what he sees and fears.

• Essay

  Muir says Stickeen became a window into all his fellow mortals. Explain what he learned and why an animal could teach it.

• Poetry

  Write a short poem titled Stickeen that captures the dog's fear on the brink and his joy afterward.

• Dialogue

  Write the conversation between Muir and Mr. Young when Muir and Stickeen stagger into camp late at night.

Further Reading

• Travels in Alaska, John Muir

  The longer account of his Alaska journeys.

• Alaska Days with John Muir, S. Hall Young

  Stickeen's master tells his own story of the journeys and the dog.

• The Call of the Wild, Jack London

• Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir, Linnie Marsh Wolfe