Mrs. Franklin Character Analysis

Mrs. Franklin is Miyax’s teacher. At the beginning of the book, Miyax recalls Mrs. Franklin’s explanation for the sudden absence of lemmings (a type of rodent) in Alaska. According to Mrs. Franklin, lemmings’ bloodstreams contain a chemical similar to antifreeze that keeps them active in the winter. When there are too many lemmings, they become anxious, which causes the chemical to build up, and the lemmings to die. Mrs. Franklin’s explanation for the lemmings’ disappearance is quite different from Kapugen’s, which simply offers that “the hour of the lemming is over for four years.” These opposing explanations—one desperate to explain the lemmings’ disappearance with science, and the other accepting of nature’s natural rhythm—represent the opposing cultures of the gussaks (non-indigenous people) and the Inuit.