In the novel Julie of the Woods, the title character, Julie, whose traditional name is Miyax, bounces back and forth between pursuing traditional and modern ways of life. When Miyax meets Atik and Uma, she is living in an ice house and practicing Eskimo traditions after having fled civilization. She hunts her food and crafts her tools and sews her clothes, and she is happy living this way. When she hears Atik and Uma approaching and realizes that they are also Eskimo, she gets excited to connect with "her own pack." She invites them inside to show them hospitality. In keeping with the traditional life ways that Miyax is trying to follow and which are a theme of the novel, Miyax refuses to speak English with her guests, forcing them to converse with her in her own dialect, Upik.