Nel Question #4: Class and Elitism

Mon Mar 7 21:23:44 UTC 2005

No: HPFGUIDX 125668

Yahoomort is at it again.  I sent this hours ago and it still didn't 
arrive on the list, so I'm resending.  

Here we are -- the first in a series of discussion questions raised 
by Dr. Philip Nel in his pre-OOP readers guide to the HP novels, 
discussed on-list in 2002.  Dr. Nel's question #4 asks:

"Do the novels critique or sustain a class system?  Are 'wizards,' as 
Pico Ayer suggests, 'only regular Muggles who've been to the right 
school'?  Because Hogwarts is only available only to those privileged 
enough to be wizards, is it an elitist school?  Or, because Malfoy's 
snobby attitude is not presented sympathetically, is Hogwarts 
actually anti-elitist?"

Porphyria's introduction to the 2002 discussion is at 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/41210

Here's link to the Pico Ayer article:
New York Times: "The Playing Fields of Hogwarts" by Pico Iyer (10 Oct.
1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/10/10/bookend/bookend.html

The author asserts that "there is a somewhat sinister clannishness 
that makes all these private academies seem like secret 
societies . . . designed to train the elite in a system that other 
mortals cannot follow." 

Porphyria also asked some excellent follow-up questions, to which I 
can add little except to point to elements of OOP that may be 
relevant to the questions:

1. What can we say about the Muggle/Wizard distinction? Is it
fundamentally elitist that Muggles are incapable of becoming Wizards?

2. Is there anything wrong with the books' depiction of Muggles? Do 
they
unfairly bear the brunt of hostility? The Dursleys are a satire of the
petit bourgeoisie -- social climbers. But isn't Harry a social 
climber? Is
Hermione? Do the books associate sadism and pettiness with the middle
class via the Dursleys? What about the books' attitude towards 
Squibs? Do we find Filch more or less sympathetic when we discover 
this about him?

OOP addition:  What about the revelation that Arabella Figg is a 
Squib and her experience at Harry's hearing?  Is there a distinction 
between the books' attitude toward Squibs and the Ministry's 
attitude?  Is JKR successful in making this distinction?  Do OOP's 
revelations about Petunia make her more than a satire of the upward 
climbing petit bourgeoisie?  And what about the Evans family?  Is 
their apparent favoritism toward Lily another example of elitism?

3. Is Hogwarts an elitist institution? Does its resemblance to Eton, 
with
its cliquish houses, weird sports, funny uniforms and symbolic,
honor-based competitions replicate the elitist values of the British
Empire, critique them, or even satirize them?

OOP Addition:  Does the Sorting Hat's new song, with its descriptions 
of what the founders were looking for in students, and its plea for 
house unity, refocus our attention on elitism?  What light, if any, 
does the new song shed on whether the Etonesque characteristics of 
Hogwarts are meant as approval, critique or satire? 

4. Is Harry a member of the elite, even among Wizards? In which ways 
is he privileged by birth, inheritance, exceptional 'natural' talent 
or special
treatment from powerful benefactors?

5. Is there an inconsistency in the way that the books treat the 
problem
of Blood vs. Choice? On the one hand, I think most of us would agree 
that
Dumbledore explains the moral of the books to Harry in CoS: "It is our
choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities."
Yet the text also stresses the power of blood relations in character
forming: both the Weasleys *and* the Malfoys mention that their entire
family was sorted into the same house and the books are rife with 
examples of students who take after their fathers, Harry included -- 
and he might even be the heir of Gryffindor. How do we resolve these 
contradictions, or can we?

OOP Addition:  What about Sirius, who rejected his blood relations?  
Is he merely the exception that proves the rule or a reaffirmation of 
the importance of choice?

6. How do the books explicitly explore the problem of bigotry and 
elitism?
I'm always amused at Draco's multifarious reasons for condemning his
opponents: Ron is poor, Hermione is Muggle-born, Hagrid is a servant, 
and
Harry, heaven forbid, keeps the wrong company. [snipped] Do the 
books' genuine
attempts at criticizing elitism confront or ironicize the ways that 
they
also support elitism? Or do the books' progressive views simply clash 
with
their conservative ones?

And a further question:

Much discussion pre-OOP focused on Stan Shunpike, his working-class 
accent, and whether Harry's failure to recognize him indicated that 
Hogwarts itself was reserved for elite wizards.  In OOP we learned 
more about the importance of OWLs to whether a wizard may continue in 
a particular subject, and JKR confirmed on her website that anyone 
with magical ability may attend Hogwarts.  Do these revelations 
impact the validity of those arguments?  Or do they point more 
strongly to a subconscious middle class bias on JKR's part?  

Porphyria's post includes links to early group discussions of class 
issues.  She also linked to this article:
Voice of the Turtle: "Harry Potter and the closet conservative" by 
Richard
Adams (31 May 2001)
http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/reviews/books/richard_potter.shtml

Unfortunately, the article appears to have been taken down (though 
I've left the link in case it was temporarily unavailable), but 
Elkins' response elaborated on the Adams' points:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/41399

And for a different POV, see Pip's response to Elkins:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/41407

There were many other good posts in this thread that are well worth 
rereading, too.

And, a couple of subsequent discussions on classism at Hogwarts and 
in the WW generally:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/45547
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/45548
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/45613
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/46018

Strangely, there seems to have been very little discussion of class 
issues since OOP was published.  Here are links to the few 
discussions I found:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/119793
David points out that JKR's website response to the Stan Shunpike 
question leaves open the question of class in the WW as a whole.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/63264
Milz comments on the elitism of the founders (except for Helga 
Hufflepuff)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/118178
JustCarol speculates on the education of Stan Shunpike and Tom (the 
Leaky Cauldron bartender).

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/114938
Eloise discusses the difficulty of sorting out the caricatures from 
the social commentary.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/120332
iris_ft compares the Dursley's and Voldemort's attitudes.

And on a somewhat related theme, Shaun Hately wrote an essay 
comparing and contrasting Hogwarts and English public schools.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/105610

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108762
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/124709
A thread discussing whether the WW, or just Voldemort, is fascist:

That should be more than enough reading to get started.  Have at it!

Debbie

For a complete list of the discussion questions, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/files/Discussion%
20Summaries/

For the schedule, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125653

And if you'd like to introduce a discussion topic, email me at 
elfundeb at comcast.net