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Something I noted about the Potterverse

posted 8 years ago by q_leo_rahman
9 replies | jump to latest

There is a strong element of bigotry existing in the magical community in the Potterverse; because of the way the wizards carried/wielded power it made them feel superior and they decide to use it for their own purposes. And beyond bigotry, there is a sense of inflexibility and intolerance; these are people with strong traditions that do not enjoy conventions being bent or broken, partly out of necessary secrecy and partly because of

The following examples are below (feel free to correct me if I am wrong):
- Gellert Grindelwald believed in the superiority of wizards and sought to make a takeover of the world.

- Salazar Slytherin believed in pure-blood and created the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts for his heirs to use to strike at Muggle-born children. This passed on to his heirs...

- Marvolo Gaunt, who believed in the purity of his bloodline and disowned his daughter Merope when she eloped with a handsome Muggle

- Tom Riddle, Merope’s son, believed at a young age that he was superior to others. He went on to become the dreaded Lord Voldemort and launched a takeover of the magical community where he instilled an atmosphere of fear and oppression over everyone, his followers included.

Thanks to Lord Voldemort, many wizards’ lives were ruined, but society made them pretty much a mess and without any option, and it was just a matter of getting a flame going.
- Barty Crouch and his son Jr were torn apart because Crouch never had time for his son and so drove him to become a fanatical supporter of Lord Voldemort. Crouch Jr killed his own father, and got his soul torn out of his body as a result.

- Dolores Umbridge was a pretty unpleasant character to all whether they were pure-blood or not, but putting her in power was the worst thing that could have happened because she made everyone’s lives a nightmare.

- Severus Snape led a tragic life: having lost the love of his life to his rival (admittedly his own fault, but he was provoked), he had nothing left but to join the Death Eaters. But when Voldemort killed them both, he repented and joined Dumbledore to stop him.

Even the fairly heroic characters displayed darkness in their pasts thanks to the magical culture:
- Albus Dumbledore joined Grendelwald and believed in his crusade of putting wizards in power, but it wasn’t until he got his own sister killed that he realized this was wrong.

- Minister Cornelius Fudge actually didn’t care about blood, but he was too frightened to imagine that Lord Voldemort was in power and launched a campaign, headed by Umbridge, to discredit Dumbledore. By the time he saw the error of his ways it was too late, he lost his job.

- Rufus Scrimgeour, Fudge’s replacement as Minister, went the opposite direction from Fudge: he arrested everyone who had a slight connection to the Death Eaters and tried to force Harry to be a Minister puppet to present a positive pro-active image.

- James Potter and Lily Evans, parents of the heroes, were seen as Hogwarts’ top students. But even they had dark pasts, with James being a bully to Severus and Lily breaking off relations with him (I would call this the most forgivable though, they were young and maybe reconciliation may have been possible if not for Voldemort)

- Kreacher and Dobby spent their whole lives in servitude to wizards, not knowing this was wrong. And only Hermione cared for elves enough to strive to give them a better life; before her no one else had really tried to do so.

- The Ravenclaw house is notable for only accepting exceptionally smarter students, and in this case founder Rowena Ravenclaw incurred the envy of her daughter. (Although I think this housing concept could have worked out better, maybe Hermione should have been in Ravenclaw and be a friend of the Gryffindors Harry and Ron or something)

Things only really changed after Harry Potter defeated Voldemort for the final time. The epilogue mentioned that the Sorting Hat now took mention of where the student wanted to be, rather than sorting him/her into a house based on their qualifications. This element of choice meant that they could go where they liked, and that they could be accepted for it. The element of tolerance was increased and things were less strict and easier now.

07/08/06... 786... the sentinel of Allah has arrived.

[–] Flibbetygiblet 8 years ago

1) Fudge believed that purebloods were better. He wasn't radically pro-pureblood and anti-muggleborn, but he still had the belief that being pureblooded somehow inherently made you more of a wizard. Dumbledore calls him out for this towards the end of Goblet of Fire.

"You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!"

2) The Sorting Hat always took a person's desire into account. That was established directly in the Chamber of Secrets and was set up indirectly in PS/SS. Harry chose Gryffindor over Slytherin, despite the Sorting Hat telling him that he'd do well in Slytherin (the Hat never said how well he'd do in Gryffindor, and it defended its position in CS).

3) House Elf servitude isn't necessarily wrong. Rather, the treatment that the wizards gave to the house elves was wrong. Rowling even makes it clear that Hermione's heavy-handed attempts to liberate house elves was doomed to failure both from the wizarding side and the house elf side.

The whole wizarding society is paralleled with muggle society. The idea is that just because something is traditional or the norm, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's right. All societies reject change, because changes are uncomfortable and the status quo enjoys being the status quo. We muggles are just as guilty and that's the point. It's a parable.

[–] LostKiera 8 years ago

You could actually accuse Arthur Weasley of being a bit prejudiced in a way. He sees Muggles as curiosities rather than people.

[–] niks_foonts 8 years ago

How is that prejudice? For him, niggles are like an alien species in behavior. Obviously he thinks the things they do are curious, but prejudice implies a superior demeanor which Arthur never had towards Muggles.

[–] q_leo_rahman 8 years ago

The whole wizarding society is paralleled with muggle society. The idea is that just because something is traditional or the norm, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's right. All societies reject change, because changes are uncomfortable and the status quo enjoys being the status quo. We muggles are just as guilty and that's the point. It's a parable.
I know it's an allegory to human society, but from my viewpoint it's also an allegory on how magic can prove to be destructive to society since it increases the chance of them going bad.

You could actually accuse Arthur Weasley of being a bit prejudiced in a way. He sees Muggles as curiosities rather than people.
Not really, he's just curious about how they live. He actually doesn't mind people the way they are.

07/08/06... 786... the sentinel of Allah has arrived.

[–] LostKiera 8 years ago

[–] furienna 8 years ago

You don't think you'd be patronised by Arthur Weasley's behaviour if you were a muggle? He means no harm, but he finds them quaint. He seems to me like some 18th Century European going on about noble savages.
Good point. But I guess that most readers never caught that. I know I didn't.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] Flibbetygiblet 8 years ago

Jesus Christ, there's always one. Like 16th to 20th century Western Civilization is the greatest evil or most irredeemable culture ever.

It's a series of books, intended for children and young adults. Take your 2 years of sociology elsewhere.

[–] furienna 8 years ago

James Potter and Lily Evans, parents of the heroes, were seen as Hogwarts’ top students. But even they had dark pasts, with James being a bully to Severus and Lily breaking off relations with him (I would call this the most forgivable though, they were young and maybe reconciliation may have been possible if not for Voldemort).
Please remember that Severus had openly called Lily a "mudblood", which is comparable to calling a black person the N word. Yes, maybe you can see that as a stupid mistake from his side. But I say that Lily had every damn right to be angry with him at the time, no matter how much he tried to apologize for it later. And even prior to all that, Lily knew that Severus was friends with some dubious people (who would become Death Eaters a few years later). But the slur incident was obviously the last straw for her, when she knew that she had to call it quits as far as he was concerned...

Intelligence and purity.