The world of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the world of C.S Lewis’ Narnia are both filled with an immense number of fantastic creatures. In case of Rowling, many of these creatures are mythical animals-- centaurs, hippogriffs, goblins and unicorns to name a few- while Lewis mainly chooses to add mythical abilities to every-day animals. His Narnia consists of talking beavers, lions, and of course a few mythical animals such as fauns. Both worlds involve interaction between the non-human animals and the humans, as well as the non-human animals amongst themselves. Rowling’s human characters openly display a divide between the humans and the animals, Lewis’ humans hold great respect for all the creatures presented. However, there is still a caste
…show more content…
They simply make a statement- in colloquial terms, the non-human animals are not “being nasty” towards one another. They simply present an order, or way of being. This can be seen through the fact that although the Beavers’ establish a hierarchy by stating the value of goodness being equivalent to human characteristics, the tone of their speech is not hostile, nor does it influence the manner in which the Pevensie children view other animals within the world. This notion is furthered by the fact that Aslan scolds the Beaver for his harsh tone against the white witch (142), and the manner in which Aslan himself speaks towards all animals in the land- showing the children the value of respect- and thus discouraging hostility towards any of the creatures in …show more content…
While Rowling’s humans are more demeaning and autocratic, Lucy and her siblings are gentle, curious and kind. The differences may be due to the manner in which the animals are presented in each world- for example, in the world of Harry, the norm is introduced by the autocratic descriptions of the owl, and subsequently enforced by the ridicule of Hagrid for his kind treatment of the animals while in Narnia the children are new and thus do not know the “norm” for the treatment of animals, and are not influenced negatively by outside actions. The magical world of Harry Potter is not isolated from muggle world, in fact it is more of an extension of the latter- the norms of animal treatment may be carried through between the two “worlds” as both muggles and wizards/witches interact presumably on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Narnia is fully isolated and remote, thus the norms of animal treatment from the ordinary world is not carried through. For this latter world, the hierarchal order is enforced not by the naive children, but by other non-human animals within this
They simply make a statement- in colloquial terms, the non-human animals are not “being nasty” towards one another. They simply present an order, or way of being. This can be seen through the fact that although the Beavers’ establish a hierarchy by stating the value of goodness being equivalent to human characteristics, the tone of their speech is not hostile, nor does it influence the manner in which the Pevensie children view other animals within the world. This notion is furthered by the fact that Aslan scolds the Beaver for his harsh tone against the white witch (142), and the manner in which Aslan himself speaks towards all animals in the land- showing the children the value of respect- and thus discouraging hostility towards any of the creatures in …show more content…
While Rowling’s humans are more demeaning and autocratic, Lucy and her siblings are gentle, curious and kind. The differences may be due to the manner in which the animals are presented in each world- for example, in the world of Harry, the norm is introduced by the autocratic descriptions of the owl, and subsequently enforced by the ridicule of Hagrid for his kind treatment of the animals while in Narnia the children are new and thus do not know the “norm” for the treatment of animals, and are not influenced negatively by outside actions. The magical world of Harry Potter is not isolated from muggle world, in fact it is more of an extension of the latter- the norms of animal treatment may be carried through between the two “worlds” as both muggles and wizards/witches interact presumably on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Narnia is fully isolated and remote, thus the norms of animal treatment from the ordinary world is not carried through. For this latter world, the hierarchal order is enforced not by the naive children, but by other non-human animals within this