[HPforGrownups] Re: Serpents and Parseltongue

[S]

No: HPFGUIDX 46885


>Julie wrote:

> > So -- Maybe Harry did get his Parselmouth fluency during
> > Voldemort's attack, but the fear it inspires among other wizards
> > seems based completely on prejudice due to the Slytherin crowd
> > having used it to control serpents and make weapons of them.

I am new here, so apologies if this has been brought up before, but that 
ties in with something I have been thinking about lately.

I recently started re-reading GoF, and it is glaringly obvious not only how 
much prejudice and bigotry there is in the wizarding world, but how 
completely accepted it seems to be. Almost every non-human race is put on a 
lower status than humans - non humans not being allowed to use wands, 
giants being so universally hated that even Maxime doesn't want to admit to 
herself that she is half-giant, many apparently sentient races being 
legally defined as magical *creatures*.

The house elves are a case in point - sentient, intelligent creatures who 
are legally enslaved. In my opinion, whether some of them like it or not 
(as with Hogwarts house elves) is a moot point - as the system itself makes 
no allowances whatsoever for house elves who are mistreated (Dobby and 
Winkie, for example). It is pure luck whether or not a house elf ends up 
with a decent employer, or someone who likes to torture him or her for fun. 
Hogwarts, which is otherwise depicted as one of the strongest refuges 
against evil, is totally complicit in this, and otherwise decent people 
(such as Percy Weasley) think it is reasonable to expect total obedience 
from a house elf.

On an even more sinister note, from what I can gather the Unforgivable 
Curses may not be performed on humans - but I don't recall any ban  on 
performing them on non-humans. A house elf (or goblin, or giant, or any one 
of a whole list of sentient beings who aren't human) annoys you, and you 
wave your wand and yell "Crucio"? To me, it is very disturbing if that is 
acceptable (or legal) behaviour . . .

IMO, it has the makings of being one of the main themes of HP. Death Eaters 
are the obvious fascists of the books, but at least they have a 
semi-reasonable and acknowledged motivation (personal worth being derived 
from magical ability and family history of the same), and they are open in 
their intentions, if not their member lists. The entire system, on the 
other hand, seems to quietly abuse and discount almost everyone who isn't 
human. It is much, much more insidious, and perhaps one of the main themes 
of HP is that not all evil carries an obvious Dark Mark.

Also, from Voldemort's point of view: he clearly derives much (all?) of his 
self-esteem from his magical abilities. If he looks around the supposedly 
nice and fair wizard world, and finds that the "good guys" will happily do 
whatever they like to anyone who isn't human, then it is not much of a leap 
for him to reduce the people he values to wizards . . . then pure-blood 
wizards. If you can do what you like to a magical house elf, why not do 
what you like to a non-magical muggle, as well?

Grey Wolf said:

 > I have from time to time heard of animals which will attack for "the
>pure pleasure of the hunt" (for example, velocirraptors in Jurasic
>Park), but I have never actually seen such animal in real life, nor (I
>think) have ever heard of such species. Maybe someone can enlighten me
>here.

Domestic cats pretty much fit the bill. They hunt for pleasure and to give 
presents to their humans, and they often play with trapped prey, making 
killing a long drawn out and painful business.

And GW continued:

>I think we can discount that one, except from a legal point of view:
>both mermaids and centaurs are technically animals, and you can speak
>to both, and at least the mermaids have their own language, which you
>can learn to speak, since Dumbledore knows it. Also, Fantastical Beasts
>tells us that other magical species have their own language (fairies
>spring to mind).

Ties in with what I was saying above - mermaids, centaurs, and fairies all 
seem sentient and have a language (centaurs in particular seem to have a 
sense of morality) - but they are classed as "animals".

~Say