The 'Other' in the HP books (was: Harry's Sexual Preference SHIP) - LONG

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 78043

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "psychic_serpent" 
<psychic_serpent at y...> wrote:
> Whether a family is Muggle, wizarding, or dark wizarding (okay, I 
> just made up that term <g>) in the HP series, someone who is not 
> considered to be 'normal' for his family is forcibly indoctrinated 
> to be 'normal,' and if the indoctrination fails, that person is 
> ostracized (although it's possible that if Neville HAD been a 
Squib 
> he would not have been rejected).  Across the board, no matter the 
> environment, she depicts this forced indoctrination as a bad 
thing.  

Not only that, but people who do fail to brake their indoctrination 
are portrayed as severely messed up, and tend to come to bad ends.  
Regulus Black buys into his family's pureblood propaganda, falls in 
with the Death Eaters, finds himself in over his head, and winds up 
murdered.  Draco, at present, appears to be headed down a scarily 
similar path.  Winky and Kreacher are far more twisted and unhappy 
than Dobby.  Dudley is completely unequipped to function as a human 
being in a world where Mummy and Daddy aren't there to take care of 
his every need.  And Snape appears to be spending his entire life 
paying for his youthful failure to resist indoctrination.


> On the other hand, we are also given depictions of Muggle-born 
> witches and wizards who are born into very loving, supportive, 
> accepting families.  Justin Finch-Fletchley is one such case, and 
it 
> is interesting that he is often depicted as gay in fanfiction.  
> Hermione is also born into a loving, accepting family, and  
> her activism seems to stem from a somewhat liberal upbringing--she 
> is the metaphorical accepted lesbian daughter.  The Evans family, 
> for that matter, also seemed to accept Lily without question, 

I think Lupin fits in here too, as a werewolf in a family 
of "normal" human wizards.  And Rowling's portrayal of the physical 
and social consequences of lycanthropy resonates very strongly as a 
metaphor for AIDS, which strengthens the "queer" metaphor.  Lupin 
doesn't appear to have been rejected by his family, even though he's 
been rejected by society at large.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com