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Reading some of my old Werewolf: The Apocalypse stuff made me think of a major convention in werewolf literature that should be broken.

It's the idea that werewolves who were wolves by birth (and who only discover their human side later on) find human behavior bizarre and incomprehensible. That they aren't comfortable using human tools, or living in human society, and that they generally loathe talking to or interacting with human beings at all. That they feel much more at home with "normal" wolves, and that they have a general disdain for all things hominid. (This convention typically makes a clear delineation between "nature" and "nurture" as well; even die hard city folk can learn to live in the country, so that's not the issue.)

Although this concept is an interesting tool for roleplaying wolf characters, beyond its meaning as a way to symbolize the separation of man with nature, it never made much sense to me.

One could argue that all the inherencies of being a human--abstract thought, introspection, and even tool innovation i.e. "technology"--are imprinted on an intrinsic, evolutionary level. Aspects of humanity should be passed on to a wolf-werewolf at least subconsciously... to have a human mind is to have a human mind, regardless of one's original form. On that assumption, such a werewolf should have little trouble understanding, integrating, and interacting with human beings, since the capacity for doing so is part of the total werewolf package. (Regardless of the fact that real wolves are very skittish with humans... in a fully sapient werewolf, one aspect of instinct shouldn't override all other predispositions of behavior, especially when things like self-consciousness and reasoning are thrown into the mix.)

Furthermore, even when discounting the above hypothesis, I don't see how human behavior would be fundamentally alien to a wolf anyway. I've read serious speculation that early human behavior was actually learned through the observation of wild animals, namely wolf packs, and that pack-oriented behavior in human beings may have developed less instinctually than observationally. Certainly we share many things in common with the wolf, at least on a basic cultural and emotional level. For Pete's sake, in real life we can teach canines how to mimic our speech, and they can teach us how to howl! (Of course wolves are different than dogs, but when talking about genetic memory, I believe some kind of fundamental species connection is still there, and that probably goes for any intelligent species with a long history of interaction with humanity.)

I think additional evidence against this convention would be to consider the opposite assumption: would a human-born werewolf find wolf behavior incomprehensible and strange, or would they loathe living around or spending time with the wolves who have suddenly become their family? Again, like the city-folk versus country-folk example, there might be an adaptation of preference, but the really important components of werewolf-wolf-human compatibility should already be hardwired in.

Before you respond, let me disclaim: I'm not one of those guys who thinks wolves are our "brothers," or who has a quasi-mystical interpretation of our post-modern view on them. (Or maybe I am, who knows? )

Just that if werewolves were real, between the two species who compose werewolf culture as a whole, culture shock would be far less intense than a lot of literature would have us believe.

hmm, you got a point their. if I'm hearing you right your basically saying that man and wolf in the mind, should be able to find it possible to connect with the opposite species in a more social enviornment.

Kind of... sorry my writing tends to be very wordy.

What I'm basically saying is that writers often show wolf-born werewolves to be totally at odds with humanity, and sometimes vice versa. My arguments try to show why that wouldn't be the case.

ah, now i sort of understand.

People have trouble understanding each other.

Each culture has it's own unique values, customs, traditions, and environment. The way life is lived up in my rural Massachusetts town is quite a bit different than it is in Beijing, China.

While it would not be impossible for a werewolf who was a wolf at birth to come to understand humans, it'd be really hard. Especially since wolves do not speak English, Russian, French, Spanish, or any other human language and because lots of things like reading, math, etc. are drilled into kids because developing skills is harder as life goes on. Acclimating to human life would be ten different pains in the a** at once.

And there would still be things they didn't get. Some people can't get how other people can believe in god(s) because there is no scientific proof of such. Others can't believe how others can't believe in god(s), because science has revealed the world to be so complex that they feel there must surely be god(s) out there who made it all. Can't expect our once-wolf to think certain things stupid or find them otherwise incomprehensible to him ("You trade paper for meat? Why not hunt it yourself? Why do they want your silly green paper anyways?")

I suppose it could vary: many wolf-born might actually find human culture to be exceedingly interesting, and be eager to learn everything they can about it; the "Enchanted" effect. (While others might indeed reject it outright.) My idea is that there shouldn't be anything inherent to a werewolf that would make them automatically detest said culture, and that they might be more comfortable with their human side than what might be presumed.

Human society and human ways are extraordinarily complex...SO complex, in fact, that if you aren't introduced to them by a certain age, you'll never really fit in, you'll never "be human". We aren't really "born human" in terms of our behavior and ways...we're made into humans by being socialized by our parents, friends, and society at large.

As an example of what I'm talking about, most feral children, upon being reintroduced to human society, are often unable to grasp even the most basic of human skills, like learning language and walking upright.

You can read about it more here:

http://www.feralchildren.com/en/index.php

Here are some that were raised by animals:

http://www.feralchildren.com/en/children.php?tp=0



If a human is born, but isn't socialized into human behaviors early enough in life, then it is generally too late for them to ever be human.


So, I can see why a wolf-born werewolf, who spent the earliest years of life as a wolf, might detest human ways and even find it possible to adjust.

It's racial/species supremacy. Pretty much affects any kind of race/species. Just look at how many humans deny the fact that we evolved from apes, and have the gall to throw away their sarcasm everytime they call other people animals.