Fear

Fear, as defined by old man Webster, is an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. Basically, it is our body’s way of sensing danger. In primitive times, fear was an instinctive reaction to something dangerous that made the body change and enter fight or flight mode. Today, this instinct is still the same but presented in different ways. The human race faces new challenges, like bankruptcy or foreclosure, and even though they don’t have sharp teeth or claws, our fears today have a ferocious bite.

Even though it seems so, not everyone fears the truly terrifying stuff; it all depends on who you ask. For example, a child in elementary school isn’t going to worry about death or money loss; they fear creepy crawlies, spiders, bugs and the monsters under their beds. A socialite teenager may worry about her status in the class while her grade conscious counterpart fears failing grades and what her teacher may think of her. Then the adult, who has no family and only cares about their career, may not fear disease or war but failure in the fast paced job world. A soldier, perhaps, might not worry and fear war, but the downfall of their army and country. Finally, a family oriented person would fear for the well being of their spouse and family. Fear presents itself in different ways in different people and that it why it all depends on who you ask.

Fear is a major theme in the Harry Potter books because throughout the series, Harry has the prospect of facing Lord Voldemort looming over his shoulder. Another good example of the application of fear in books comes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Year Three. This is where Harry gets his first experience with dementors, dark creatures that thrive on taking peoples happy memories, leaving only the worst ones. When Harry is confronted with a boggart, a creature that assumes the form of what a person fears most, instead of his turning into something like the rest of the class had, (mummies, spiders and clowns to name a few), Harry’s turned into a dementor. This was because his fear was fear itself. This, as Professor Lupin stated, was a very wise and rational thing to fear and shows that he had a more mature and knowledgeable mind.

A mature and knowledgeable outlook on life gave Ralph Waldo Emerson his great quote, “knowledge is the antidote to fear.” To me this means that fear is something that you can overcome with a clear head. Some people are only fearful because of ignorance. They don’t see something for what it is because they have not learned; they only know what they have heard. So, for someone who has lived a long time and learned, they know what is a rational fear, and what they don’t need to fear. This greatly differs from someone who is young and has yet to experience life.

There are several causes to fear. Maybe someone had heard a rumor about something and said “it’s bad and I fear it” or maybe they head a bad experience. This could be as simple as a little girl being scared by her dad in the basement and never being able to go back, but for whatever reason, fear is not the same in everyone. It rears its ugly head in many types of situations and presents itself in different ways. Fear is nothing but the human instinct to protect us from danger.