The Eternal Struggle Between Innocence and Acceptance
             The desire to be accepted by others is sought by people all around the world. In "The Novitiate", a short story by Jean Howarth, the main character, a youthful girl, is faced with a choice about acceptance and personal beliefs. The story takes place in the Prairies in the 1940s, when money was rewarded for exterminating gophers. The girl faces a decision that requires her to give up her innocence and beliefs through the action of killing a gopher in order to gain acceptance by her older brother. Howarth believes that one would violate his or her own ethics in order to earn respect or to befriend someone.
             Initially, the main character is naive and totally innocent, having no idea of what a gopher hunt really is. As she sets out on the unfamiliar hunt, the girl "trot[s] at [her brother's] heels, as [is] respectful."(p. 35) She thinks of a gopher as a pet that "sits up and begs for nuts"(p. 35) with their "little hands"(p. 36). The child does not see any commercial value in them and does not care about the government's offer of money for gopher tails. She just considers them as an animal similar to "a little dog."(p. 36) The girl is very determined to get her older brother to accept her, who has a very different idea about what gophers are as compared to his younger sister. He thinks they are pests and getting rid of them will be beneficial to everyone and is also interested in the three-cent bounty for each tail. The main character holds back tears for her brother, obeys him and "trie[s] to imitate him"(p. 36), proving that she yearns to have his friendship.
             However, the girl soon finds out that her brother kills gophers on a gopher hunt, unlike Stewie Grant, a friend who only "takes their tails"(p. 37), then allows them to go. The girl is shocked and she "[stands] like a rock"
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