Changing the WW (was Snape's abuse )

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 131733

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" <delwynmarch at y...> 
wrote:


> 
> Chris labmystc wrote:
> "And Harry and the other students have the right to not like it, and
> to do something about it according to human standards."
> 
> Del replies:
> Obviously, WW human standards allow for what Snape does. So Harry and
> the others won't get anywhere if they try to do something based on
> those standards. What they need to do is RAISE those standards, so
> that things like Snape's teaching methods and purebloodism become
> morally and legally unacceptable.
> 

Well, I don't want to get into an argument about whether human rights 
are inherent or conventional.  Coming as I do from a country founded 
on the philosophical principle that they are in fact and obviously 
inherent, I have strong opinions on that one.  

However, it seems clear that as a practical matter Del is quite 
correct, the exercise of human rights cannot be furthered in the WW 
without social change.  Which is what I sense Del would like to see -- 
a general change in the beliefs of the WW such that many practices -- 
purebloodism, Snape's attitudes, house-elf slavery, etc. are not only 
no longer extant but simply not acceptable on a moral level.

But is this the way JKR is going?  I don't think anyone would argue 
seriously that this ISN'T the way the WW needs to go, but is this 
something JKR is doing?

In a way clearly yes.  The SPEW subplot is obviously related to that.  
Also the Sorting Hat's weary suspicion of the House System in OOTP can 
be taken us a sign.  But what evidence do we have that real change is 
possible in the WW within the context of the story (as opposed to 
something we see at the very end in a "fifty years later" epilogue 
where she says something like "Hermione Granger was one of the 
greatest Headmistresses in Hogwarts History, and of course it goes 
without saying that Severus Snape would never be allowed to teach at 
the modern Hogwarts")?

I would say we don't have very much.  The corruption within the 
Wizarding government is so deep and pervasive that even Dumbledore 
finds it impossible to preserve his own position when he falls out of 
political favor, much less work for any significant change.  Malfoy 
and other DEs who many responsible citizens of the Wizarding World 
know very well are supporters of Voldemort and guilty of murder and 
other serious crimes walk free and the "good" people seem unable to do 
a thing about it.  Even the Weasleys accept house elf-enslavement, 
contempt of muggles (maybe not Arthur, but Molly) and cruel 
degradation of squibs (see the twins' attitude) as legitimate parts of 
their social order.  And one can argue that the worst attitudes of the 
Wizarding Social Order are permanently enshrined and honored at 
Hogwarts in the form of Slytherin House.

In a lot of ways the wizarding world seems analogous to the U.S. on 
the brink of the Civil War.  Although the war brought about many 
sweeping changes, it hardly eliminated many of the roots of the 
problems that caused the war to start with.  In order to see the 
Wizarding World move to an ideal where purebloodism, Snape, etc. 
aren't tolerated, they would have to move through a set of 
developments that in the real world U.S took more than a hundred years 
(remembering that given wizarding lifespans this would be more like 
two hundred in the WW to get an equivalent number of generations), and 
in some ways aren't done yet.

How could we see some of this play out?  To use the Civil War analogy, 
one thing that becomes obvious when studying that era is the "WAR 
CHANGES EVERYTHING."  The vast majority of the northern population 
could have cared less about slavery, for instance, when the war 
started.  They very much cared about it by the time it was over.

I think the effects of the war with Voldemort would be the only 
realistic catalyst for change in the WW.  Even Dumbledore, after all, 
seems to accept the corruption of his society as something he cannot 
change (witness his toleration of Snape).  Perhaps the war will force 
the WW to make new alliances and shift its attitudes in order to 
survive.  Perhaps the "anti-werewolf legislation" for instance, will 
become a point of contention, and the status of the House Elves be a 
major point.

But if that is the case, it seems awfully late in the day for JKR to 
get into all that.  Granted, she has laid some of the groundwork.  But 
in the last two books she has to continue Harry's saga, bring Ron and 
Hermione and Ginny and Neville along as well, answer the big riddles 
that have been hovering about various things, finish off Voldemort, 
bring Snape's arc to a close, deal with the Malfoys, show us the 
fallout of Sirius' death, and on and on and on.  To add a major saga 
of social change on top of that would be a staggering task, 
particularly since the social change hasn't even BEGUN.  If the 
changes had started way back about the second book, something might be 
worked out.  But to start a social revolution and bring it along in 
the last two books on top of everything else?

To tell the truth, I'm baffled by JKR's intentions in this regard.  I 
agree with Del that change would be a powerful storyline, but it seems 
a hard row to hoe in the last two books.  Which is why I hold out for 
more personal forms of justice and retribution.

Part of it may be a cultural thing.  The Potter books are set in the 
tradition of the British public school story.  There is no equivalent 
to that in the American literary tradition.  I suppose the Horatio 
Alger stories are similar in some ways, but they are much more 
positive and lighter in tone than the Potter saga has turned out to 
be.  To an American audience, portrayal of a world like the WW often 
is a signal that social change (or at least institutional change) will 
be a major theme of the story.  I don't know if that is the same in 
other countries.  Perhaps to JKR the social change theme doesn't seem 
as obviously inherent in the setting.  And maybe I'm just full of it.

In any case, what do other people think?  Is change of WW society a 
goal of JKR's?  If so, how is this going to play out?  Is it something 
we are going to actually see?  Will purebloodism still be acceptable 
by the last page?  Will someone like Snape still be able to teach at 
Hogwarts by the last page?  Will the house elves still be in bondage 
on the last page?  Will Slytherin House still be in existance on the 
last page?


Lupinlore