JKR's Characterization

[eloise_herisson]

No: HPFGUIDX 114938


Ravenclaw Bookworm:

> > The magic of JKR's storytelling is that we have all come to love 
> > these characters (good and bad) and think of them as real.  

Matt: 
> Somewhere in the depths of Yahoo!, there's a post of mine suggesting
> that Rowling's most impressive gift is the ability to bring life to
> these impossibly caricatured stereotypes, and to turn them into
> characters who read as "real."  


I think you're quite correct in this. As others have said, JKR
makes use of a number of genres in her writing including satire and 
fairy tale, where abusive characters abound.  Many of her characters 
*are* exaggerated yet at the same time, entering into their world, we 
suspend disbelief and think of them as real. So we start making RL 
value judgements on fictional characters or about situations which 
show many of the signs of caricature.

And yet in many cases they are not complete caricatures. I actually 
think that Voldemort is the nearest that she gets to complete 
caricature, something that is perhaps inevitable when dealing with an 
Evil Overlord. Uncle Vernon's descent into near madness in PS/SS 
comes close as well as does the whole Umbridge situation. It is 
impossible for us to imagine such a situation taking place in a real 
school, as impossible a minor having to attend a hearing which 
amounts to a trial because of using magic out of school, as 
impossible as, well, having lessons taught by a centaur.

The situation is further complicated by JKR having created a 
wizarding world which is rather behind in its attitudes compared to 
those of what we like to think of as our enlightened society and 
even more complicated because it is presented as a world that for all 
its disadvantages would be the preferred one of anyone who was 
privileged enough to be allowed to become a part of it. Harry and 
Hermione are `normal' in wanting to embrace the WW; the Dursleys are 
clearly presented as `abnormal' in their exaggerated fear and 
loathing of the WW.

The Wizard World is Tough. They play Tough sport which as Del pointed 
out is much more dangerous than anything a British schoolchild would 
play in RL, where some schools have given up rugby because of the 
risk of injury, local authorities are cutting back conker trees and 
playing conkers banned. It is acceptable to ask young people only 
just of age to face dragons and all sorts of dangerous creatures in 
the course of a competition. Only under Dumbledore have the most 
extreme punishments been banned at Hogwarts.

The Wizarding justice system is questionable to say the least and 
children seem to be subject to its full force with no allowance made 
for age. Prejudice against other  sentient beings (including Muggles) 
is rife.  Belief in pure bloodedness is acceptable in the highest 
wizarding circles. Elfin slavery is accepted. As a school, Hogwarts 
is like a very old fashioned British school, with archaic customs and 
teaching methods and apparently unqualified teachers.

This is not our world. In some ways it is more akin to the world of 
Dickens, with his exaggerated characters and abusive adults. Now 
Dickens of course was a social commentator and did not merely 
caricature, but question and criticise some of the mores of the time. 
With the HP books I think we have a double problem sorting out the 
caricature from the social comment because of the  reference back to 
older genres. While Dickens was writing about his contemporary world, 
if using caricature, JKR is writing about an imagined world with many 
of the characteristics and accepted morality of an earlier age.  

With Snape, dare I utter the name, we are presented with a modern 
psychological view of an arguably abusive (certainly damaged) 
character emerging from what is hinted is an abusive or damaging 
background. So far so good. Where we have a problem is with him being 
let loose in a 20th century classroom, apparently with the 
headmaster's full knowledge of what he is like. In the real
world, ironically, although his behaviour would not be acceptable, it 
would probably be harder to get rid of him than in the WW, where 
Dumbledore (pre the Educational Decrees) apparently had complete 
freedom to hire and fire. You can argue that Snape is or isn't 
abusive, but in the fictional world he inhabits, his behaviour seems 
to be tolerated. 

JKR said in interview that Dumbledore tolerated Snape as he believed 
that the students should learn to deal with people like that (NB this 
is presented as *Dumbledore's* not the author's view) 


>>Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape to be so nasty 
to the students (especially to Harry, Hermione, and Neville)? 
Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life; horrible 
teachers like Snape are one of them! <<

(http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1000-livechat-
barnesnoble.html)

At the same time, as Neri pointed out, she herself believes that 
Snape's behaviour amounts to abuse of his position

"Snape is a very sadistic teacher, loosely based on a teacher I
myself had, I have to say. I think children are very aware and we are
kidding ourselves if we don't think that they are, that teachers do
sometimes abuse their power and this particular teacher does abuse
his power"

(http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-)

If Dumbledore is the embodiment of goodness in the narrative, his 
attitude is still consonant with the Tough attitudes of the WW, where 
children are not cosseted and protected from the nastiness of the 
life as many feel they should be in the real world (this seems to me 
also to be consistent with the criticism of a friend of mine who does 
not like the HP books because she feels the children are asked to 
face up to too much in them). It seems to me that the text on its own 
can tell us nothing of JKR's own attitudes  to abuse as to an extent
she is like an anthropologist reporting and describing the practices 
of another world in which things happen differently. There are and 
have been many societies which have operated with quite different 
ethical and moral frameworks from our own and in many of them 
children have not and do not enjoy the special position that they do 
in ours. 

While the interview material shows us definitely that JKR sees Snape 
as one who abuses his power, *within* the WW, there is a morality 
which seems to say it's OK for children to be exposed to this, to 
learn to deal with it. Within the confines of that imagined world, 
characters regard Snape as a nasty git, but don`t seem to think his 
behaviour merits particular censure. From the reader's perspective, 
there is another interpretation which says that real children are 
experienced in adult abuse of power and a fictionalised account like 
this is something that they can relate to and use to question what 
happens in RL, just as children relate to the constant themes of 
abuse and cruelty that permeate fairy tales.

Similarly, Dumbledore does not seem to question Elfin slavery. Our 
modern view is represented by Hermione and her well meaning but 
misguided attempts to liberate the Elves. I shall be very interested 
to see where JKR takes that storyline.  We know from her own human 
rights activities that slavery cannot be something that JKR would 
condone, but the Hermione storyline also indicates that we
shouldn't make assumptions that we always know what is best for 
people or try to solve their 'problems' without taking into account 
their views. Perhaps we should not be too quick to condemn from our 
Muggle viewpoint everything that we see in the WW that would not be 
tolerated in our world.

That doesn't meant that there is no social commentary going on,
that it is irrelevant or wrong to discuss the social issues that 
arise from the books; I'm sure that JKR wants her readers to think
about RL parallels, particularly the abuse of power, prejudice and 
exploitation of the weak which seem to be constant themes, but we see 
these themes through a glass, darkly, as the fictional world which is 
their vehicle is so different from ours and the writing permeated by 
influences from so many genres. 

~Eloise