In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling, we discover a rich and well-developed world in which humans, monsters and wonders of all kinds live together, in a place linked by magic. There are seemingly ordinary people, wizards, witches, ghosts, goblins, snakes, dark lords and much more. Harry is brought into the world as an eleven year old boy with no experience in this world, which gives the reader someone to relate to - which is a nice way of saying that it is him through whom we receive all our obvious exposure. The monsters in the text are represented in a very roundabout and creative way in this work, in the sense that everyone has a different reaction to them - rather than universally feared monsters, as in Beowulf or Bisclavret, some characters who are monstrous for Harry, or his friends, or his family, or even for us, are not considered monstrous in the eyes of others. This relates to Jeffrey Cohen's fourth thesis in his essay Monster Culture: (Seven Theses), an excerpt from Monster Theory: Reading Culture, in which he theorizes that monsters thrive on the edge of difference; that monsters are created in the gray area between the familiar and the alien. In Rowling's first Harry Potter novel, the monstrousness of certain characters is defined by their familiarity with the characters with whom they interact: this is seen in the characters of Hagrid, Fluffy and the Dursleys. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The first example can be shown in one of the first monsters Harry interacts with: Hagrid. Most readers of the book would not consider Hagrid to be very monstrous. After all, Harry thinks he's fine, as do most people at Hogwarts, but the Dursleys would disagree. During their first meeting, Harry's uncle, Vernon Dursley, responds by grabbing a rifle and demanding that he leave: "'I demand that you leave immediately, sir!' he said. “You’re breaking and entering!” » ». Hagrid easily overpowers him, knocks the gun out of his hands and “bends it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber” (Rowling 30). Vernon Dursley's reaction contrasts with Harry's. Although Harry's immediate reaction is not written, he listens patiently to what he has to say and very gratefully accepts the gifts he brings. Vernon does not calm down; he continues to berate Hagrid throughout the chapter, however briefly: “Uncle Vernon seemed to have regained his courage. He was looking at Hagrid and his fists were clenched” (Rowling 35). Here he directly confronts Hagrid, threatening him with physical violence. Hagrid bluffs, threatening him with the pointy end of a large umbrella, and Vernon retreats once more. Although Vernon's attempts to threaten Hagrid fail, it is evident that he views Hagrid as a threat. Hagrid tries to introduce magic into Harry's life, and Vernon sees magic as a threat. This is what killed Harry's parents and forced Harry back to his normal, boring life. Vernon is afraid of magic, because it is out of the ordinary, and he hates things that are unfamiliar to him. This ties in very directly with Cohen's fourth theory of the monster, where he writes: "The monster is a difference made of flesh, come to live among us, the monster is an incorporation of the Outside, of the Beyond." This line from Cohen's essay literally sums up Vernon Dursley's situation. Harry is a physical, real-life manifestation of the magical world that actually camelive and dwell among them, which frightens him. Thus, while Hagrid is viewed favorably by Harry, whom he befriends throughout the novel, Hagrid is viewed as monstrous by Vernon Dursley, who views all magic as a threat to his way of life. Another monster we see in the text presented to us. much later, and it's Fluffy, the three-headed dog. Fluffy is the first of many monsters and carefully steps into a secret chamber that contains the Sorcerer's Stone. When Harry, Ron and Hermione first meet Fluffy, they are visibly scared to death: they were not in a room, as he had assumed. They were in a hallway. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. They were staring straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled all the space between the ceiling and the floor. It stood still, its six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was because their sudden appearance had taken him by surprise. (Rowling 96) They are terrified of the monster for obvious reasons. Dogs are generally not large enough to fill an entire hallway and usually only have one head. And this comes after many of the Hogwarts staff repeatedly told them that if they entered the forbidden corridor, they would "die a very painful death" (Rowling 76). So, not only are they terrified of the monstrous spectacle before them, but they are also terrified of knowing that Fluffy is just as deadly as he looks, which will later be confirmed to them personally. Harry searches for Professor Snape, and he finds him in the staff room, nursing a leg wound. This comes shortly after seeing Rogue walking towards the Forbidden Chamber during a lockdown and Rogue complaining, "Damn thing, how are you supposed to do it?" Keep your eyes on all three heads at once? » (Rowling 108). This directly shows Harry and his friends how real the threat created by the three-headed dog is. However, Fluffy is not monstrous to Hagrid. Fluffy is one of the pets that Hagrid keeps during the novel. When Harry tells Hagrid about it, Hagrid unknowingly responds, "Yes, it's mine, I bought it from a Greek guy I met at the pub last year" (Rowling 113). He describes Fluffy as if he were just an ordinary guard dog, like a pit bull. He knows Fluffy's Achilles heel, so he doesn't scare him. To Hagrid, Fluffy is not a monster at all. So while the three-headed dog is monstrous to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Professor Snape, Fluffy is just a big dog to Hagrid. A third example of a monster in the text is Harry's foster family, the Dursleys. They don't treat Harry like a family member, or even a human in many cases, blaming him for events he has no control over. During their visit to the zoo for Dudley's birthday, a boa constrictor mysteriously escapes from its cage when the protective glass disappears, for which Vernon blames Harry: "Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before attacking Harry. He was so angry he could barely speak. He managed to say, "Go to the cupboard, stay without meals" before collapsing into a chair. With little context or explanation, Vernon assumes that Harry intentionally let the boa constrictor run wild and cancels his dinner indefinitely. Other characters also have a strong negative reaction towards the Dursleys. Towards the end of the text, as everyone is leaving the station after the school year, Hermione Granger notices the.