Character Analysis
You'll Find Him in da Club
Kotick, the protagonist of "The White Seal," is the seal version of Mowgli. Like Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves, Kotick is a unique figure. When he's born, we're told, "There never has been such a thing in the world as a white seal" (7.17)—until now, that is. Kotick is different from all the other seals, but this isn't a story about being different and being an outsider, like Mowgli's stories are. Unlike Mowgli, no one bullies or shuns Kotick, instead treating him just like any other old seal.
However, Kotick is treated differently by the seal hunters, but not how you might expect. You'd think they'd target him, a rare white seal to turn into a fashionable jacket, but they're actually freaked out by him. They're superstitious and think he's a ghost seal, which would be the cutest horror movie ever.
Seal Guard
This is when it becomes a problem that the seals treat him like everyone else. Kotick is different than all the other seals. Not because he's white, but because he has a brain.
This seal possesses intelligence—"[Kotick] was always learning" (7.28)—and an instinct for self-preservation that all the other seals lack. He says, "I am the only seal, black or white, who ever thought of looking for new islands" (7.69). The rest of the seals are fine getting clubbed to death every now and then—it's part of life—so when Kotick tries to lead them to salvation, they resist his guidance, preferring the status-quo, which includes a mass seal-clubbing massacre every now and then, instead of change.
To convince them to change their ways, Kotick has to speak the seals' language: brute strength. Only after he challenges them to a fight, and beats the stuffing out of most of them, do they decide to follow him to safety. Like Mowgli, Kotick gets to live happily ever after
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