Our Fear of Wolves
Wolf! What is the first thought that enters one’s mind upon the utterance of that word? More than likely it is the image of a hairy, razor-sharp toothed beast awaiting the thrill of its next merciless kill. Unfortunately, this stereotypical image has been embalmed within the human psyche of the Western civilization for hundreds of years. Most have never even seen a wolf, yet human’s fear of the animal is seemingly as natural as being afraid of the dark. Might these fears be caused by the mind’s interpretation of the literature and stories that have been told over the centuries? For hundreds of years, the wolf has been greatly mischaracterized and it is time to put these out-dated notions to rest.
Writings depicting wolves as evil
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R.D. Lawerence points out how Germanic Norse mythology tells the story an enormous wolf named Fenris, who was the first son of the satanic overlord Loki (122). The legend of Fenris states that, “[he] was so large that when he opened his mouth his jaws stretched from earth to heaven”(Todd 1). As the legend goes, he “devoured several hundred people before the gods were able to chain him.”(Lawerence 122) This 1000-year-old German legend tells us that the wolf eats people mercilessly and is a satanic offspring of the devil. Take also into consideration the widely popular fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” R.D. Lawerence states that, “The story of Little Red Riding Hood perpetuates a number of myths about wolves”(120). Palamar would agree with this statement about “Little Red Riding Hood” as she feels that in the popular fairy tale, “The wolf is portrayed as a tempting, greedy, deceptive killer and eater of small children and old women”(4). People that read these stories were entertained or got the point of the story but they were left with a completely inaccurate impression of the
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
The first representation of the beast that the author portrays is fear. In document A, “... Begin to people the darkness of night and forest with spirits and demons which had previously appeared only in their dreams or fairy tales”. To clarify, the children’s imagination runs rampant without their parents to banish their fears, so their imagination creates something of a beastie-thing. In document
The concept of the beast creates fear amongst the children. With their imagination children fear that the beast is out to get them, when in reality the beast is non-existent. This fear of the unknown
A wolf pack is, at its foundation, simply a family, with the parents (alphas) guiding the activities of the group. Hence, it is easy to believe that dogs are able to bond with human families, especially when the alphas are already parents. The parents view the dog as one of their children, one who remains dependent and will never leave or criticize them (Rogers 1), and in the same manner, the dog views the human parents as if they were his actual parents and as a result, loves and trusts them with his life gladly following them, not once questioning their decisions or actions. For these reasons, humans have found release in the company of dogs because dogs do not judge. By way of example, Sigmund Freud was notably a bad singer and as a result, never sang in public, however he often hummed an aria while petting his dog (Rogers 2). In the presence of dogs, our need to self-censor our words and actions vanishes (Rogers 2). Ultimately, dogs and human beings are able to form such strong emotional bonds through love and
When we hear the word “beast,” most of us will immediately think of some enormous hairy creature with razor sharp fangs and massive claws coming to kill and eat us. Although these types of beasts do exist, the boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, show that a different, much more sinister beast is present in all of our everyday lives, and, like the boys in the book, most of us don’t even know about it. Throughout the book, the existence and meaning of the beast go through significant changes. In the beginning, the boys believe the beast to be a substantive being. At first no one believes it, but later they begin to believe its existence. Later though, the beast reveals itself as an internal flaw within everyone on the island, and slowly begins to take over the children’s free will. As the belief in the beast goes up, its manifestation as the “typical beast” that we all think of goes down, which is ironic because they are creating the beast in their minds, while also living it out in their actions.
One example is Nag, the evil ruler of the garden. A quote from the story directly shows his nature; “We are very miserable,'' said Darzee. “One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday, and Nag ate him.'' In this part of the story, Darzee tells Rikki about Nag, the cobra that ate one of his babies. This expresses that Nag is a heartless evil-doer with no borderlines whatsoever. Normally, an animal would not have these attributes, but through the story, they translate into actual personality traits that fit the chaacter. Another quote from the end of the story that supports this is; “Evil that plagued us is slain, Death in the garden lies dead.” T his is from the song that Darzee sings in the end. He directly refers to Nag as “evil” and “death”. Another animal in the story is Chuchundra, the cowardly muskrat. This quote sh “ows his craven personality; “I am a very poor man,'' he sobbed. ``I never had spirit enough to run out into the middle of the room.” In that quote, he says he has never had the heart to just wander in the middle of the room, which is most cowardly. Usually, you would not think of a musk-rat as cowardly. However, the story gives him that human-like attribute that otherwise would not be there. This is a piece of dialogue in the story that infers Chuchundra to be timid; “Don't kill me,'' said Chuichundra, almost weeping. ``Rikki-tikki, don't kill
Asma, Stephen. On Monsters :An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
During 70 years of absence from the Rockies, the Grey Wolf had been protected under the Endangered Species Act that was passed in 1973. Since the wolf is under the protection of Endangered Species Act a person could be punished with up to a $100,000 fine and up to 1 year in jail for killing a wolf. Back in the 1850's there was a major population increase of the wolves in America, this was due to settlers moving west. These settlers killed more than 80 million bison, the wolves started to scavenge on the carcasses left behind.
A simple definition of the human psyche is the embodiment of the human spirit. However, when one takes a more in-depth look, it becomes much more complex than the tidy little package that the definition would infer. The psyche has a direct link to thoughts, emotions, reactions and consequences. Of these components, emotions have the most significant impact on the human essence. The way in which humans view and react to the world around them is directly linked to the conscious and subconscious feelings associated with a particular activating event. The human psyche is driven by a wide variety of emotions ranging from love, hate, anger, happiness, fear, and courage to name but only a few. Of these, fear has the power to disrupt the body and spirit in profound ways as it encompasses all emotions. Therefore, it is the strongest emotion associated with the human condition.
In The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “…fear is simply the consequence of every lie.” Dostoevsky is stating how people are afraid of what will happen when their lie(s) is/are put out in the open. Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined. This line suggests that people are afraid of the truth, which inevitably is the consequence of every lie. Even though this quote was written by a 19th century author it can still relate to texts that were made centuries prior. Both Sophocles and Shakespeare’s plays support Dostoevky because both plays deal with the act of lying and its consequences as a major motif.
However, the hunters would not keep all of the wolves that grew up from the cubs they had. Keeping a wolf that became overly aggressive towards them, or if it had little practical use, would have been both pointless and dangerous to their group. They most likely would have killed those types of wolves or left them behind to fend for themselves. The hunters would have chosen semi-tame wolves and those with the most desirable traits and abilities and bred the two together, repeating the process until what resembled a dog today. The first bones found which ...
Over the past several hundred years, werewolves have been an important part of Western Cultures. Werewolves have appeared in blockbuster movies and been the subject of countless books and stories. Werewolves are dark and powerful creatures that terrify us on multiple levels. While they are some of the most violent and merciless monsters that horror has to offer, there is something about the werewolf that we can identify with. Not only can we identify with the characters afflicted with the curse, but we can also identify that the werewolf is a beast and an evil force. The werewolf symbolizes the evil that is contained within us all. In this paper, I will explain the different evils that werewolves symbolize by taking a critical look at the real life history of the werewolf, the werewolf in literature and film, and the opinions of experts on the topic.
It’s no secret that monsters have always been incredibly popular in fiction. The question one must then ask is “Why are monsters so scary”? The answer is more scientific than social. Monsters are terrifying because our brains tell us that they are. Evolution has hardwired our brains to ...
Death it is something we all must face at one point in our lives or another. It is either a death of a loved one, friend or co-worker. Sometimes it’s the devastation from a natural disaster. No matter what makes us face the idea of death it is how we handle this realization that truly matters. When Gilgamesh is faced with the horrendous loss of his dear friend and comrade Enkidu he begins to fear death. In Gilgamesh’s youth he is proud without fear of death, it is not until he watches his friend die that his own mortality becomes a fear.
A little girl has went to bring her grandmother some cookies, as she walks through the woods she meets a wolf and tells the wolf where she is headed. The wolf then beats the girl to her house, eats the grandmother, and dresses up as her to trick Little Red Riding Hood before she arrives. When she gets there she notices her Grandmother looks different. When she is close enough to recognize it is no her grandmother, the wolf eats her. In reality we all know that wolves cannot speak and are not intelligent enough to trick a human, but the moral behind the story is where the facts come in. In reality we all know we should not talk to strangers, its very dangerous. The wolf represents people who may be charming, polite or, sweet but are still strangers but in real life these are the people children should watch out for the