Comments on: How the “Half-Blood Prince” relates to racial concepts

By: Millisent Fury Hopkins

Millisent Fury Hopkins — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:58:42 +0000

Well, nice to know there are adults in the conversation. I find the article and the way that Rowling handles all the diversity awesome. I think that most childrens book either ignore the issue by having characters of only one race or color or they do the complete opposite and have a book of mixed cultures, but don’t really explain, or discuss anything about it. I think her way was subtle in a way but not ignoring the issue wholey. I am definitely going to borrow “Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story Of Nazi Racial Laws And Men Of Jewish Descent In The German Military” from the library.

By: jason fuller

jason fuller — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:47:34 +0000

absolutly nothing to do with war or hitler or anything else remotley to do with past war events and who cares about Harry Potter u loser

By: MMB

MMB — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 18:25:40 +0000

I am the recent contributor to Mixed Media Watch concerning the inclusion of interracial relationships in the series without actual race or color being an issue. Many of us Harry Potter fans noticed the parallels between “pureblood” , “half-blood”, and “mudblood” wizards and witches.

For one, the followers of Voldemort, believe in blood purity due to being persecuted by muggles in the past. Witchcraft was considered evil and satanic, which is why the wizarding world separated itself from the muggle world. However, Voldemort is not a pureblood wizard. He is a half-blood wizard and chooses to side with his wizard heritage over his muggle heritage because he later learns that his father, who was a muggle, abandoned his mother, who was a witch and pregnant with Voldemort, because he did not like witchcraft. As a result, Voldemort embraced a sort of self-hatred for his muggle heritage and wished to hone his craft as a powerful wizard and denounce his muggle heritage.

There are also parallels between the Death Eaters and the Nazis. The Death Eaters, comprised of pureblood and half-blood wizards wishing to purge the wizarding world of muggleborn wizards (mudbloods), side with Voldemort. However, JK Rowling stated that a muggleborn could not become a Death Eater “except in rare circumstances.” This reminds me of a book by Bryan Mark Rigg, “Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers: he Untold Story Of Nazi Racial Laws And Men Of Jewish Descent In The German Military”, which speaks of Jewish and part Jewish soldiers fighting on the side of Hitler, wishing to prove themselves worthy.

However, it is not only muggleborns who are discriminated against. Giants, werewolves, centaurs, house-elves are also among the persecuted. JK Rowling does a wonderful job in linking this world to issues involved in today’s world and I greatly applaud her for that.

By: alexis

alexis — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:31:22 +0000

My ex’s nieces were mixed and he noticed that they paid extra close attention during the discussion of Mudbloods and PureBloods in the movie. I think it’s an interesting and good way to bring up discussion of mixed race and ethnicity.

By: Renu

Renu — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:40:12 +0000

The article is wonderful, and while I’m not one to look for the elephant in the room, I did find Rowling’s symbolism to be quite thought- and discussion-provoking.

Who says it’s just for kids! I’m glad that I can talk to an 8 year old about differences and tolerance, and if it’s in part because of these books, then it’s all icing on the cake.