How the “Half-Blood Prince” relates to racial concepts
CVK
Having never read a Harry Potter book in my life, most of this is totally going over my head. For those of you who have read Rowling’s books, I’d love to know what you think of this Tolerance.org article’s take on the “half-blood” terminology and how it relates to racial hierarchy:
In J.K. Rowling’s world, half-blood means “half magic.” But the term — reflecting a dichotomy between magic/powerful and mundane/helpless — implies a hierarchy. This “magic” hierarchy directly resembles racial hierarchies…
In terms of magical powers in Harry Potter, someone of “pure blood” is better than human. Non-magic people are mere “muggles,” completely oblivious to the world of wizards and spells. Pure blood, if you’re magic, also reigns above “half-blood” in the hierarchy of power and status.
But author Rowling lets us know that demands for “purity” in bloodlines come from evil people. Harry’s foe, Draco Malfoy of the Slytherin House at Hogwarts, has a great deal invested in policing “purity,” while Harry’s friend, Hermione, is the daughter of muggles. This works beautifully as a race metaphor; Hitler, after all, also advocated racial purity.
Rowling does children a favor by referring, metaphorically yet explicitly, to the hierarchies of human value that institutionalized racism conceals in the “real world.” The good characters, like Harry, reject this hierarchy.
Renu wrote:
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.
Posted 19 Jul 2005 at 2:40 pm ¶
alexis wrote:
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.
Posted 20 Jul 2005 at 1:31 pm ¶
MMB wrote:
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.
Posted 25 Jul 2005 at 1:25 pm ¶
jason fuller wrote:
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
Posted 09 Aug 2005 at 8:47 pm ¶
Millisent Fury Hopkins wrote:
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.
Posted 16 Aug 2005 at 3:58 pm ¶