Boys and Girls

The events take place as autumn yields to early winter, a period when the father harvests fur from silver foxes and the family kills horses to sustain the fox business. Seasonal labor governs the rhythm of life, with busy fur-season activity giving way to tense, quiet winters. The girl’s perspective is shaped by the cyclical life-and-death cycle and the tightening grip of tradition.

The story unfolds on a fox farm enclosed by a high fence, turning the family land into a self-contained world. The farm functions as a small, closed town where fur production and animal husbandry dictate daily life. The isolation is reinforced by a lockable gate and the sense that danger lies beyond the enclosure.

🧒 Growing up

A young girl navigates a strict, male-dominated household where curiosity clashes with obedience. She witnesses violence and is pressured to perform ladylike behavior, masking her true feelings. Her moral awareness expands as she weighs loyalty to family against empathy for the animals and her own sense of justice.

🐾 Cruelty

The narrative centers on habitual animal slaughter—foxes shaved and killed for fur, horses killed to fuel the fur trade—exposing the emotional toll on those who witness it. The routine violence challenges the characters’ capacity for compassion and reveals the costs of profit-driven livelihoods. Cruelty is normalized by ritual and necessity, not by malice alone.

🔒 Confinement

The compound resembles a medieval town, fenced and locked at night, creating a claustrophobic world with little escape. The girl’s act of defiance—choosing not to close the door—exposes a breach in that confinement and hints at a possible break from an oppressive cycle.