Changes to the magical community (was Wizardesses (Witches?) and their working habits...)

[Jinx]

No: HPFGUIDX 3982


----- Original Message -----
From: storm stanford <msmacgoo at hotmail.com>
To: <HPforGrownups at egroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 12:09 PM
Subject: Re: [HPforGrownups]Wizardesses (Witches?) and their working
habits...


>   sometimes I think it's because JKR appears (to me) to have 'borrowed'
the structure from a type of novel written in the 50's and 40's - school and
kids adventure type books. goodness knows she has been so inventive in
almost every other area of the books I could understand her conforming to
'type' on this (if that is indeed what she is doing.) What other ideas do
ppl have?

Must be it.  I mean, I've been doing some thinking on this, and if JKR's as
leftwing as she's said to be, it's the only possible explanation...

Maybe the 50's atmosphere is there precisely to highlight how the wizarding
world needs to change.  I mean, one thing I've been thinking is that nothing
is ever completely independent of the society that produces it.  Meaning
that maybe Voldemort is not some evil aberration but a logical extension of
the society that spawned him.  Maybe the Magic Kingdom is deeply flawed in
some way, and needs to change.  And maybe the Voldemort conflict about to
erupt is the catalyst for that.

Compare it to WWI which came about because of European imperialist powers
quarrelling over land, and various oppressed peoples getting sick of it.  It
changed the balance of power, but didn't change society very much, and left
a lot of loose ends hanging, which came together to create WWII.  That war
completely changed the global political scene, and it's left us with a world
that is very different to what it was before.

The first Voldemort years (1970 - 1981) (Vold War One - not my phrase BTW so
thanks to whoever came up with it) changed wizard society somewhat but not
that much, and left a lot of loose ends.  Voldemort was still alive, and a
lot of his followers were left in positions of power (Malfoy Sr.), or in
hiding (Wormtail), ready to help him if he ever came back.

Maybe the forthcoming conflict, Vold War Two (I so love that phrase!), will
radically change the Magic World in some way.  Either there'll be so much
devastation, or the Ministry will be completely unable to cope and be
revealed as corrupt/incompetent, that there will be no choice but for new
leaders to emerge and new institutions to be created.

I'd like to see the veil of secrecy be lifted, and the wizards/witches
become part of Muggle society again.  It would be rather more difficult for
anti-muggle born prejudice to flourish in a situation where they all had to
integrate with Muggles regularly.  Also, it would be much harder for the
Dursleys of this world to treat their witch offspring as freaks if the
magical community was visible.  Finally, what is the point of having magic
if not to use it for the benefit of the rest of your species.  Even if
Muggles can't do magic themselves, there's no reason why they can't have
witches around to do it for them on occasions.

Jinx