Official Philip Nel Question #10: Class

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 41466

Elkins:
Furthermore, we have never once heard even a first-year student 
at Hogwarts speak with the "wrong" sort of accent. The only 
Hogwarts-educated character we have ever heard speak 
"improperly" is Hagrid, who also, er, can't spell. I tend to agree 
with Eileen that this does not seem particularly believable, and 
that it can probably be read as comedic trope. If the children of 
the lower classes of the wizarding world are indeed 
assimilating, then either they're doing so awfully *quickly,* or 
JKR has simply never bothered to show us any evidence that 
they attend Hogwarts at all.<<<

Hagrid spoke in dialect even as a third year, on the evidence of 
The Diary, which rather pokes a hole in the idea that there must 
be a separate wizarding school for dialect-speakers. Too bad, 
really, as such an institution could also account for  the musically 
inclined,  the gay students, brainy girls who like girl-talk, people 
who want to play a sport other than Quidditch or practice a 
religion incompatible with Secular Christianity, and all other folk 
whose absence or at least invisibility has been duly noted by 
members of this list <g>

To say that the upper classes are admitted to Hogwarts and the 
lower classes are excluded is true only if we impose an 
American value system on a British milieu. *Mister* Lucius 
Malfoy is not a titled aristocrat, as I'm sure both the Bloody Baron 
and Sir Nicholas would be quick to point out. The only living titled 
personage in our tale is Lord Voldemort. Equally, we have met 
no tillers of the soil or even factory workers. By British standards, 
all modern wizards are middle class. Period. 

If there is a fault line in the series, it is between the artificially 
homogenous wizarding world and JKR's message that we 
should accept diversity. But this is a far broader issue than 
social class--all sorts of diversity goes ignored. I believe this is 
an artistic decision, made to emphasize that social ranking in 
the wizarding world is just as arbitrary as that in the Muggle 
world, but based on entirely different criteria. 

The point is, social differences other than those defined by 
magical ability, magical education and magical race are simply 
not depicted in any detail. That does not mean that we contradict 
the text if we supply those details ourselves. Must we imagine 
that  Lupin's eyes are colorless because we haven't been told 
what color they are? 

 Dialect does indicate humble origins, but humble in terms of the 
magical categories. Regional and economic class differences 
are not depicted through dialect, though realistically they would 
be. All sound the same on the page (though not on the Dale 
tapes.) 

Hagrid flaunts, or clings to, his dialect, perhaps as his father did. 
(Never be ashamed of what yeh are) Snape's style is 
suspiciously artificial, concealing who knows what mysterious 
past. Stan Shunpike is actually bilingual, which makes me think  
he did indeed attend Hogwarts. His  "Welcome to the Knight 
Bus..." speech is delivered in Received whatsit. It's only when he 
discovers that his passenger is a scruffy-looking kid that he 
reverts to his native manner. In fact, his familiarity is 
disrespectful, or would be if he was talking to the Great Harry 
Potter, which is part of the humor of the scene.  That could be the 
reason why, even though Stan obviously begins to have 
suspicions about who "Neville" might be, he doesn't voice them. 

Pippin