Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5 (A), University of Potsdam (American Studies), course: Proseminar: Animals in Contemporary U.S. Literature, language: English, abstract: Traditionally, man′s best friend is supposed to be a domestic animal like a cat or a dog. People are convinced that these animals can understand their feelings and can support them whenever help is needed. But most of these people would deny that such a relationship is possible to an animal like a killer whale. During the preparation of this seminar paper I have been asking some people what first comes to their minds when thinking of a whale. In general the answers can be summarised as follows: huge, dangerous, arouses fear, frightening and belong to a time that is long ago. But none of the people I have been speaking to so far could imagine that close contact to such a big mammal is possible. The film (and the book) Free Willy I ( in German: Free Willy: Ruf der Freiheit) describe(s) that the contrary can happen. In the story, the love and affection of a boy are won over by a killer whale, a fact of course, which does not happen too often but is worth being considered. [...]