Werewolves and RL equivalents (was:Re: Snape - a werewolf bigot?...)

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 170343

Betsy Hp:
> So, running with the idea that the werewolf myth was the way people
got a handle on the above sort of phenomenon, and looking at how JKR
is sticking awfully close to that myth, pedophilia seems the closest
match to me. Not a perfect match by any means (as has been pointed
out, the moon has nothing to do with it in RL) but closer, IMO, than
a physical (rather than mental) disease or a disability.

Ceridwen:
Some people do say that pedophiles are mentally ill and can't control 
themselves.  I wish I could remember where I read it, but a very long 
time ago, I did read that mental illnesses had some sort of pattern 
and this was why people blamed the moon, calling insanity "lunacy".  
Another cyclical thing is in some forms of abuse, where there is a 
pattern: the act, contrition, a sort-of honeymoon phase, then 
escalation, again ending in the act.

I don't think lycanthropy is directly parallel to any real life 
debilitation.  But I think it's closer to mental illness than 
physical diseases.  Someone mentioned friends who were manic-
depressive.  That's the same thing as bipolar, before the name 
change.  Bipolar Disorder involves huge mood swings that don't happen 
all the time.  There is medication for it.  But, in real life cases, 
a person might feel that he or she doesn't need the medicine, 
especially when the symptoms of depression aren't there.  But the 
wild mood swings also include feeling extremely good, overspending, 
etc.

I'm not going to say that Lupin reminds me of someone who is bipolar, 
but the medication/potion flap does remind me of a bipolar friend's 
refusal to take her meds when she was feeling good, which of course 
led to some wild spending sprees and affairs, and feeling even worse 
when the depression hit.

Betsy Hp:
Though, hmmm... I do wonder now how specfic the werewolf is about
his human vicitms. While Fenrir has to position himself by a chosen
victim, how does the werewolf know to seek out the child in the
household rather than the parents? I can't imagine Fenrir being able
to creep into his chosen one's bedroom to await transformation. So
how did Fenrir arrange it that he struck young Lupin and not say,
Lupin's mother?

Ceridwen:
I don't know either, but I can think of possible ways offhand.  He 
might literally position himself near or beside the child, so that is 
the first victim he sees.  Even if the child runs at the 
transformation, the werewolf, having caught the child's scent, will 
run after him or her.

He might position himself near a child's home, then convince himself 
he's hungry for a tasty child rather than a stringy, tough adult.

I can't imagine Greyback doing this now since he is so creepy, but 
before he got too creepy, he might have made friends with the child, 
then called the child outside when he was due to transform.

I always had the idea that he knew where a certain child would be at 
a particular time.  He had time to watch the child's movements.  But, 
if a parent knew FG was after them, they would certainly keep their 
child in at full moon time, wouldn't they?  Oh, full moon time would 
probably take into account the nights of the entire full phase, which 
is two to three nights.  I think werewolves are supposed to be 
nocturnal.

Betsy Hp:
Ooh, which is interesting because Fenrir is obviously putting off his
creepy vibe in his human form. It's how Fenrir deals with his
werewolf-ism that makes him so repulsive. 

Ceridwen:
Fenrir is also savaging people while in human form, and his bites are 
still magical.  Wasn't it mentioned that Bill's wounds wouldn't heal, 
owing to that?  So, actually, werewolves pose a reduced threat, if 
they decide to bite you, all the time.  Greyback means to bite 
people, and he's gotten a taste for human flesh.  Yes, he's creepy!  
Self-aware, but creepy.

Ceridwen.