class and racism

[snuffles]

No: HPFGUIDX 5187

Hi Everyone - I've navigated my way around the webnanny (!) at work 
and found you all again (albiet it briefly!)

A friend and I discussed this aspect of HP, particually COS, a long 
time ago. I read the pure blood/'mud blood' conflict as about racisim 
rather then class. The finaincial stuff - sure is about class but the 
other I think is about race. for example - in Aust up unitl '67 
'good' Indiginous ppl could be given a 'dog licence' and made honoury 
whites with the entitlements of drinking alchoul and so on (Actually 
I don't know if this extended to voting - one suspects not) I think 
the pureblood stuff is more about that - Neivelle (self described 
'almost a squib') doesn't attracet the same level of hatered as 
Hermoine and his family doesn't seem terribly prominant or rich. I 
wonder if Hermoine was not very talented at Magic if she would 
attract the same level of ememity?

As always more questions and never any answers!

storm

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Elf and Orc <elfnorc at v...> wrote:
> Greetings;  I think class is an issue in the HP books.  Both in 
terms of
> financial class (all the Draco vs Ron comments) and wizard vs
> muggle-born and thus background.  In reading the books I keep 
wondering
> why there isn't (or doesn't seem to be) wizard colleges.  Percy 
leaving
> the equivelant of high school and going straight in to an executive
> government position seems strange.  
> 	I have also heard repeatedly that the internet was another 
large issue
> in the haves vs have nots in the US and it was making the gap 
wider. 
> For me and my friends the internet has become the standard for
> communication and information and it is easy to forget how many 
people
> in the US have never even owned a computer.  I think there are two
> factors going on though, the first being economic the second the
> reluctance to try new things.  I also know several people who could
> easily afford a computer and internet service and just haven't.   I
> wonder if the later (not trying it) is a function of education.  It 
is
> quite interesting how the internet has also opened up the world.  A 
few
> years ago conversing with others in "far away lands" seemed weird 
and
> now it just seems so normal.    
> Tina (BTW I have 2 bachelors and a masters degree)
> 
> Susan McGee wrote:
> > 
> > I think it might be interesting to discuss class issues here
> > and how they play out in the HP books, and how they are different
> > in the U.S. and the U.K. and anywhere else members are at...
> > 
> > It WOULD be interesting to know ses status, education status of 
the
> > members of this list. Could someone construct a poll? Add books
> > read in a year (BEFORE Harry Potter, since I am not reading too 
many
> > new books because I'm too busy REreading HP). Maybe add: 
newspapers
> > read, magazines read....Someone else interested in this, or 
should I
> > do it, or are we being elitist? Someone would have to construct 
the
> > U.K. and other country equivalent to U.S. bachelor's,
> > masters/law/medical, ph.d. etc.
> > 
> > Computers are still expensive in the U.S. More and more people 
have
> > them. But they are still far more expensive than a VCR. A lot of
> > people have email at work, but not a huge amount of time to devote
> > to list serves and egroups. In addition, a separate phone line 
costs
> > money, too.  (I'd be interested to hear what others think). Then,
> > there is some cost associated with internet access. It adds up.
> > Susan
> >