The uses of beast fable, was Hagrid the animal abuser

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 166189

Pippin:

> I think you've got the cart in front of the horse. 
> Ascribing agency and mind to animals, not to mention 
> inanimate and even incorporeal entities such as sticks 
> or ghosts, occurs universally across cultures. Children 
> don't have to be taught this; they learn it as naturally 
> as they learn to speak. That probably means it's an 
> evolved behavior which helped our ancestors make up 
> their minds quickly that the rustle in the bushes might 
> be a hyaena and predict what it might do next.

> By exaggerating the extent to which animals can be like 
> us, beast fable can actually educate children *away* 
> from this point of view. I think Rowling expects readers 
> to realize that Hagrid's desire to make a pet out of 
> Norbert is absurd and dangerous. She's satirizing Hagrid's 
> attitude, not promoting it. He's lovable, but he's not 
> always right.

> [...]

> As for Hedwig she comes from a magical creatures shop 
> -- she's clearly not supposed to be a real owl.

> [...]

> Another use of beast fable is to teach children about 
> human characteristics without frightening them unduly 
> or pointing a finger at the neighbors. 

houyhnhnm:

It is true that animation of inanimate objects is a 
behavior seen in young apes as well as in children, 
so it probably is an evolutionary adaptation.  And 
oral tradition, which includes beast fable, precedes 
literature of any kind by who know how many thousands 
of years.  I am assuming that is what you mean by 
putting the cart before the horse.  

A beast fable (I am thinking of Aesop's fables right 
now) uses animals to stand in for human beings in 
order to teach a moral lesson or to teach about human 
characteristics in a non-threatening way, as you say.  
But in such stories, the animals behave in ways that 
real animals clearly do not and that helps define the 
difference between fantasy and reality.  That seems 
like a different thing to me from showing animals 
behaving outwardly as ordinary animals, but 
attributing human motivations to them.

Hedwig and Pigwidgeon behave like normal owls in many 
ways.  They sleep during the day.  They go out hunting 
at night for mice and other small animals.  They 
regurgitate pellets.  They don't sit down at a table 
with knife and fork as they would in a fable.  But 
they also feel pride in carrying packages.  They show 
off.  They feel resentment when they are not chosen.

It had never occurred to me to think of the owls in HP 
as magical creatures.  Maybe they are;  I just never 
thought of it that way.  I assumed that Eeylops Owl 
Emporium was a different establishment from the magical 
creatures shop in which Hermione acquired Crookshanks.

Pippin:

> I think the movies blur this by often using real 
> trained owls to play her part, 

houyhnhnm:

Well, thank goodness!  A hundred mechanical Bubos 
streaming into the Great Hall would be a little hard to take.