The wolves act as a controlling metaphor in the novel, meaning that they provide the central theme, symbolism, and motif. When a novel has a controlling metaphor, that metaphor relates deeply to the protagonist’s character development, externalizing their internal conflicts and providing catalyzing moments in the plot for character growth.

The novel explores many dichotomies embodied in the wolves: wilderness versus civilization, morality versus amorality, cruelty versus kindness, predator versus prey. A dichotomy is black-and-white thinking about the world. Concepts like cruelty and kindness represent opposites that can never be reconciled. For much of the novel, this is how Inti sees the world, especially as it relates to human relationships.

As the wolves become increasingly linked to the Highlands, these dichotomies are proven to be dialectics. Dialectics are opposing concepts that are linked to and reliant upon one another. In a model of dialectical thinking, two opposing principles can be true. This is the basis of the belief that wolves, who are seen as vicious predators, are integral to the survival of the landscape and the people who depend on it. Nature is the greatest dialectic model because everything is linked.