Werewolves and RL equivalents

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 170316

Alla wrote:
> 
> Yes, tricky, not sure about expensive, but hard to make indeed. That
all goes to what I mentioned before - I certainly believe JKR made it
hard for her werewolves to get by, especially those who want to be
society members. The difference is I believe that JKR IS putting the
burden on society eventually, not on werewolves. In a sense that of
course they have to want to get medication and be careful on full 
moon, but society will have to help them. Hopefully. <snip>
> 
Carol responds:
Your remark about JKR's putting the burden on society is interesting.
Can you clarify? Shouldn't part of the responsibility (for werewolves
who want to be part of society) be on the werewolves themselves? Are
you saying that "society" should educate both werewolves and the
general population and then provide both career opportunities and
Wolfsbane Potion to make them safe? But then wouldn't it still be the
werewolf's responsibility to take it, with employers and husbands or
wives stepping in as enforcers, to make sure that they took the potion
and were safe? Should there be a place for werewolves to go on
full-moon nights and any who don't go there would be considered
criminals because they're deliberately endangering society? And what
about those who refuse to take advantage of the potion, which I assume
should be made available free (werewolf socialism)? What is the ideal
solution, and why should the burden be on society and not on the
werewolves themselves when they're the ones who present the danger?
And by "society," do you mean the MoM? (If that's what JKR thinks,
she's certainly not an anarchist.) Or the general public, especially
parents who fear for their children's safety?

BTW, I keep forgetting to mention that we always think of werewolves
as transforming at night, but sometimes the full moon appears in the
daytime, so if a werewolf transforms the second the moon rises (PoA to
the contrary), they would sometimes be a danger in the daytime, too.
(I don't know how folklore deals with the astronomical fact of
daylight full moons, but maybe someone can enlighten me.)

> Alla:
> 
> I think it is hinted by Lupin's grey hair and shubby appearance that
it victimises his host as well, if not to the same degree and 
examples were given of people with RL who do seek out their victims.
<snip>

Carol:
Certainly, Lupin is a victim, too--a victim of Fenrir Greyback. But
it's a vicious circle since the victim becomes a predator unless he
(or "society") takes precautions. I think that Lupin's prematurely
grey hair and lined face are meant to show the intensity of his mental
and physical pain when he transforms without Wolfsbane Potion and is
not allowed to bite anybody. (He bites himself before the Marauders
"rescue" him, at which point the danger passes to the residents of
Hogsmeade and any student or staff member unfortunate enough to be on
Hogwarts grounds.) His shabbiness probably results from transforming
in a particular set of robes. Evidently, he's too poor to buy
self-mending robes or even a second set of clothes (and doesn't know
any "householdy" spells for repairing them).

> Alla:
> 
> Yeah, it does, but that is because even when werewolf non medicated,
I see hints of something in JKR world, like with Lupin, Sirius 
manages to restrain him even when he is not medicated. <snip>

Carol:
But Sirius Black doesn't restrain Lupin in PoA. He manages to drive
him off but he gets bitten in the process. "They were locked, jaw to
jaw, claws ripping at each other" (PoA Am. ed. 381) and after the
werewolf runs off, "Black [in Padfoot form] was bleeding; there were
gashes across his muzzle and back" (381). Evidently, it took both
Prongs and Padfoot (with Wormtail along for the ride) to restrain him,
and only running free (endangering the Hogsmeade populace) relieved
his suffering. Wolfsbane, however far from ideal, is much better, but
it's Lupin's responsibility to take it. (Snape, up until the Shrieking
Shack incident, acts as enforcer, apparently.) But no one, not even
Black, is 100 % safe from werewolf!Lupin--except that the Animagus
form protects him against contamination. 

Alla:
> 
> Hmmmm, I would like to make a bet that the guy whom JKR called the
founder of *pureblood supremacy*, was just that <g> and Voldemort did
not corrupt the Slytherin House but was the product of this ideology
<snip>

Carol:
How is Voldemort a product of Slytherin ideology? He was already
torturing children (and lying and stealing and controlling snakes)
before he even knew that he was a wizard, and, being a Half-Blood, he
can't really believe in pureblood supremacy, however much he hates his
Muggle heritage. Slytherin ideology may have given form and direction
to Tom Riddle's hatred, and being the Heir of Slytherin was a source
of pride to him, but surely he would have been a sociopath no matter
which hous e was Sorted into. He merely uses the pureblood supremacy
ethic to recruit Purebloods to become Death Eaters. Half-Bloods would,
I think require some other incentive. But in any case, he's using the
pureblood ideology for his own purposes, including but not restricted
to recruiting DEs and "carrying on Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

Carol, who thinks that "discrimination" against werewolves in the
sense of treating them differently from other wizards is inevitable
and necessary until a cure is found and the condition ceases to exist