Holly Batty’s analysis of Harry Potter primarily demonstrates that the main character of the book presents a fluid, posthumanist identity. Nevertheless, her reflections on animal metamorphoses in J. K. Rowling’s bestseller also shed light on people’s fascination for (fictional) protagonists who have non-human powers and, in particular, for those who are able to simultaneously have human and animal characteristics. Indeed, readers of fantasy novels seem to be eager to discover the adventures of characters who are able to transform and to overcome their limitations through their ability to mutate and to go through alternative embodied experiences, usually while preserving human intellectual capacities, such as reason and language (one can think of the range of animalistic super-heroes: Batman, Spiderman, Catwoman, etc.).
I believe that our strong interest for creatures who are both human and (non-human) animal, or for humans who are able to (temporarily) transform themselves into animals, unfolds from a deep connection that we feel between terrestrial, embodied species and, perhaps, from the muffled awareness that we are not in fact superior to animals, since we are aware that we do lack some skills they exclusively possess. As a matter of fact, we are a certain kind of animal ourselves and, therefore, it is not surprising that we do feel close to other animals: we share an embodied presence in the world, a sentient nature, and an experience of space and time. For instance, non-human animals are, just like us, mortals, that are subjected to finitude. Given our shared existential fragility, it is not far-fetched to assume that animals are confronted with some of the issues and anxieties humans face: they, too, have notions of time and space, experience pleasure and pain, age, fear for their lives, feel and care for others, etc. Our embodied experience of the world, that is our fragile, sentient, and mortal bodies, are the common grounds which explain why we can relate to them, try to become like them, empathize with their pain or pleasure, or even envy some of their physical abilities we lack.
As humans, we can hence understand and relate to other animals’ experiences and behaviors, even though we often read them through analogies with our own abilities and limitations. But these parallels we draw precisely prove that we feel close enough to them to find comparisons relevant. Indeed, we use categories that describe human attitudes to qualify animals: for instance, we see lions as “strong” and “fierce”, sloth as “lazy,” etc. Besides, this perhaps suggests that the heuristic and empathic value of anthropomorphism could be reassessed as a means of making us relate to and empathize with animals.
Moreover, we have also extensively used animals to describe our own world through fictions, myths and fables (from Aesop’s Fables and Ovid’s metamorphic poems to Orwell’s Animal Farm, through Jean de La Fontaine’s highly politicized bestiary). This literary trope emphasizes that we actually feel close enough to animals, and that we think they resemble us enough so that they can convincingly convey messages about social life. Indeed, this means that we are empathic enough with them that we can care about stories in which they play the lead roles.
Regardless of the impossible transformation of a human being into an animal in the real world, the implementation of this possibility in our imagination through fictions prompts us to reflect on our own animality. However, because we are highly intelligent creatures, it does not seem so far fetched nor out of reach to try to develop some animal abilities that we’d like to acquire. Indeed, many of the technological breakthroughs we have achieved over our history were inspired by animal abilities we wished to acquire (our planes are our way to fly, our boats our way to swim, our shoes our way to move swiftly on uneven grounds, our clothes our protective “furs”, our knives compensate for lack of sharper teeth, etc.). Similarly, we often challenge ourselves to emulate some of animals’ most impressive skills: running for long periods, swimming fast, or climbing trees, For instance, it is common today to see people trying to increase their competence to free dive, thus staying in the water without specific equipment for a great amount of time. Some free divers, such as Tom Sietas or Stig Severinsen, dive as deep as 250 meters while holding their breath for more than 20 minutes. This kind of feat can be seen as the result of a desire to experience other forms of embodiment, that of marine animals in this case, whose abilities inspire such challenging human practices.
Therefore, the creation of fictif creatures that have the ability to be both human annimals invites the reader to re evaluate the premise that, as a human being, he is utterly supperior to an animal. Perhaps, from the existence of those fictif creatures, the readers call into question the hyrachique order they have created, which is solely based on the values that are essentiel according to their perception.
Work cited
Batty, Holly. 2015. Harry Potter and the (Post)human Animal Body. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature 53(1):24-37.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm (Signet Classics). New York: Signet Classics, 2004. Print.