Le Loupgarou Meaning

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The Loupgarou (also can be known as rougarou) is a French legend of a human who changes into a wolf at his/her own will. The word 'loup' is a French word that means wolf and 'garou' is an old Frankish word similar to 'werewolf'. The legend says that when a person comes into contact with a loup garou and sheds the blood of the beast, the Loupgarou will then changed to its human form and reveal their secret. The victim then becomes a Loupgarou for one hundred and one days. If the victim speak of the encounter to anyone, they become a loupgarou themselves. But if they remain quiet about it, they will return to their human form and continue on with their lives. In the legends, the loupgarou is said to be someone the victim knows, such as a jealous former lover. The legend was often used to scare children when misbehaving (ex: "make your bed or the loupgarou is gonna get ya'!" ) What makes them different from the common werewolf is that they don't change with the cycles of the moon and have complete change over their actions. So, what makes these creatures so dangerous and terrifying is the fact that while in their wolf form they are completely aware and as intelligent as they are in their human form. With their enhanced abilities and senses, it make them difficult to destroy. These are magnificent, intelligent and blessed creatures (in some tales), but beware Le Loupgarou. Derek Walcott’s poem talks about a man called Le Brun who has, due to greed, changed and become a dreadful and an ostracized person. A man that was rumoured by the townspeople to be a Loupgarou. One could interpret the poem as describing a drug dealer, perhaps located in the Caribbean, who has greedily dealt with some evil men and become ‘bankrupt’. This is expressed in the 8th line “Ruined by fiends with whom he’d made a bargain” and in the 3rd line “his greed has brought old Le Brun down”.

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