F
Fone_Bone_2001
Guest
Racism and Bigotry: The Harry Potter novels are a great way to introduce kids to the evils of racism and the fact that every person has inherent human rights.
In the Harry Potter world, sometimes children born to Muggle (non-magical) parents turn out to be magical themselves. These people are known as Muggle-born witches or wizards, and they often face prejudice and exclusion at the hands of those witches and wizards who come from old wizarding families (purebloods). Bigotry against Muggle-borns on the part of pureblood wizards, and how awful that is, is an important theme of the books. Especially bigoted purebloods even sometimes refer to Muggle-borns as “Mudbloods,” an extremely derogatory and inflammatory term.
Here’s an example from book seven:
SPOILER ALERT FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS!
Voldemort succeeds in taking over the lawful Wizarding world through a vicious coup near the beginning of book seven; he institutes a Muggle-born Registration Commission and deprives Muggle-born wizards of their rights, even having anti-Muggle bigotry taught in schools. This chilling transformation of society reflects the evils of bigoted, totalitarian regimes throughout history (Voldemort’s policies against Muggle-borns remind me of how Jews were treated in Nazi Germany even before the Holocaust began).
END SPOILER
Finally, this isn’t a theme, but a fact from the books that all orthodox Catholics should be celebrating:
The Size of the Weasley Family: In the Harry Potter series, Harry’s best friend is named Ron Weasley, and he has six siblings (five brothers, one sister). His family is also rather poor.
Now, popular society scorns large families and expects people to use contraception. But in the Harry Potter books, the Weasleys - some of Harry’s only true friends - are presented as a large, loving, warm, close-knit family who are living the way families truly should.
Indeed, it is the people in the books who are presented as bad and mean, like Harry’s rich classmate Draco Malfoy, who mock the Weasleys for having too many children. By having the bad guys take up the attitude that our society has for large families, Rowling makes a good point about the value of such families.
If you’re willing to overlook all that simply because the fictional “magic” in the series makes you irrationally uncomfortable, then it is absolutely true that you’re being hypocritical not to be bothered by the fact that, for example, the Holy Spirit is referred to in The Chronicles of Narnia as “Deep Magic from Before the Dawn of Time.”
In the Harry Potter world, sometimes children born to Muggle (non-magical) parents turn out to be magical themselves. These people are known as Muggle-born witches or wizards, and they often face prejudice and exclusion at the hands of those witches and wizards who come from old wizarding families (purebloods). Bigotry against Muggle-borns on the part of pureblood wizards, and how awful that is, is an important theme of the books. Especially bigoted purebloods even sometimes refer to Muggle-borns as “Mudbloods,” an extremely derogatory and inflammatory term.
Here’s an example from book seven:
SPOILER ALERT FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS!
Voldemort succeeds in taking over the lawful Wizarding world through a vicious coup near the beginning of book seven; he institutes a Muggle-born Registration Commission and deprives Muggle-born wizards of their rights, even having anti-Muggle bigotry taught in schools. This chilling transformation of society reflects the evils of bigoted, totalitarian regimes throughout history (Voldemort’s policies against Muggle-borns remind me of how Jews were treated in Nazi Germany even before the Holocaust began).
END SPOILER
Finally, this isn’t a theme, but a fact from the books that all orthodox Catholics should be celebrating:
The Size of the Weasley Family: In the Harry Potter series, Harry’s best friend is named Ron Weasley, and he has six siblings (five brothers, one sister). His family is also rather poor.
Now, popular society scorns large families and expects people to use contraception. But in the Harry Potter books, the Weasleys - some of Harry’s only true friends - are presented as a large, loving, warm, close-knit family who are living the way families truly should.
Indeed, it is the people in the books who are presented as bad and mean, like Harry’s rich classmate Draco Malfoy, who mock the Weasleys for having too many children. By having the bad guys take up the attitude that our society has for large families, Rowling makes a good point about the value of such families.
If you’re willing to overlook all that simply because the fictional “magic” in the series makes you irrationally uncomfortable, then it is absolutely true that you’re being hypocritical not to be bothered by the fact that, for example, the Holy Spirit is referred to in The Chronicles of Narnia as “Deep Magic from Before the Dawn of Time.”
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