The struggle of man versus animal is one that we have noted down in history as age long. We are constantly battling against our animalistic instincts in order to be classified as civilized human beings. Those who give in to their urges and instincts are often deemed as lesser humans. This is all clearly seen in the use of werewolves within Harry Potter’s world..
In Harry Potter werewolves are humans who turn into monsters when the full moon comes out. According to Eveline Brugger, “…the full moon is crucial for the transformation…” (301). Without the full moon, we wouldn’t see a transformation. This transition acts as a metaphor for giving in to human temptation. When the moon is full, it is like our urges and our instincts are at their peak. So the transformation from human to monster acts as a way to show what giving in to those instincts creates.
The way werewolves are treated in the Harry Potter world only solidifies this further. The wizarding world and werewolves don’t necessarily get along. Brugger talks about how “Werewolves are feared and shunned by Witches and Wizards” (299). This divide between werewolves and other magical folks, further supports the idea that they are seen as animalistic. They fear werewolves like they would other wild animals, seeing them as inherently violent and bad creatures. They shun them because they see them as lesser than humans. Brugger writes, “Even though they’re clearly humans by birth and live in human shape, except for the time of the full moon, werewolves are considered half-breeds or part-humans by most wizards” (299). This view that werewolves are lesser creatures stems from their animalistic parts, and the idea that humans are the dominant species. Anything that does not fit into the norm of human is then cast out and deemed bad.
The ideas of werewolves being bad and deeming them inherently less than humans stems from years of acting as though humans are the dominant species. The world of Harry Potter treats these views no differently than what we have seen in our own history. Those who act upon animalistic instincts or stray from what is considered the norm, even for a moment, are considered less than human. This creates a fear and hatred of anyone who acts in this manner, because we fear what is not us. The full moon acts as a metaphor for these instinctual behaviors and urges that we have no control over, and the disgust witches and wizards have for werewolves just proves further that anything related to animals is seen as bad when applied to what should be considered human.
(I’m gonna keep my comments separated by paragraph just so it’s easier to figure out where to look when you read this!)
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Paragraph One
Just a quick note for the first paragraph – you say, “age long” but I think you mean “ages long.” I also think it would be good to have an example of a “lesser human” who gave into their animalistic instincts, as I’m not sure what traits of people you are referring to.
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Paragraph Two
This is probably just a formatting issue when copying and pasting the material over to iblog, but Harry Potter should be italicized since you’re referring to the series and not the character. I think that your sentence after the quotation is a bit redundant, since it just rephrases what the quote says – I think that your sentence about the fullness of the moon equating to our urges and instincts being at their peak would be a better follow-up to the quote, as it indicates your opinion as to why the moon causes such a transformation.
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I think that your first quote in this section does not necessarily add to your point – you say that the fact that, “Werewolves are feared and shunned by Witches and Wizards,” means that they are seen as animalistic; perhaps a better quote would be about how Fenrir Greyback and Remus Lupin are both characterized as social “others” because of their lycanthropy? Alternatively, you could reference the fact that wizards separate themselves from other magical creatures in the statue in the Ministry, which includes a separation from werewolves. Your second quote in the paragraph is a more detailed re-iteration of the first, in my opinion, so it would be useful to have another quote to reference for variety.
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Again, it would be nice to have an example of people who are considered to be “less than human” and just what sort of actions it takes to be treated at that level.
This is an interesting read.
I think that you could add some more examples to improve it. Such as, are the werewolves comparable with a discriminated group today or in the past? Or do we have better view of werewolves, because of folk tales or the Harry Potter books?
Very interesting! I like what you had to say. Maybe add more in about werewolves in Harry Potter? I know you touched upon it but perhaps go into more detail. Good job!
You have a great take on this with a lot of information to back it up! One line you wrote, “…because we fear what is not us.”, makes me think about the ‘othering’ we talked about. If you wanted to, it might be an interesting aspect to incorporate.