[HPforGrownups] Nel Question #4: Class and Elitism

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 125731

>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,

Sadly I'm sure I'd get a swarm of Howlers if I was to suggest what this
guy's nickname might be...

>"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?"

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

What's the spell of the HP books? The fact that they depict a different
world to our own. A world that's run on different principles to our own.
Muggles and Wizards are subspecies of humans biologically but culturally
they could just as easily be lions and elephants. The entire concept of
"elitist" in this question really misses the point.

>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?

I think that Muggles are correctly identified by the WW as a threat. They
are a cultural threat, stemming from the steady influx of wizards from a
part Muggle background, and they are a physical threat, which is only
prevented by the fact that the WW lives in a constant state of emergency to
ensure that it's entirely hidden from view. The way the RW treats _any_
minority culture should warn us about the way that Muggledom would treat the
WW if wizards came out of hiding.

And, well, the petty bourgeoisie are quite often sadistic and petty.

>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?

I'd identify it as an _elite_ institution but not necessarily an _elitist_
one.

Three strands of children appear to go there: one of them are the "Etonian",
aristocratic, pureblood types for whom a "Hogwarts education" is something
that their parents regard as essential in the word, the second are the
Muggleborns who would be totally unable to function in the WW without some
sort of introduction and guide to survival in a world that runs on
principles that are totally alien to the ones they've grown up with, and the
third are the wizarding families for whom the _nature_ of a Hogwarts
education is what matters. It's a "school of witchcraft and wizardry": the
education children get there is what sets them up for a professional job
such as the Ministry.

>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?

Really, Harry is disadvantaged rather than privileged. He doesn't know the
ropes without being told. Each stage of his introduction to the WW needs a
guide, starting with Hagrid. He's got natural talent and will do well, but
without the help and support he's been given, he'd have fallen flat on his
face long ago.

>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."

I suspect that most wizards just don't care about this. Only a very few are
purebloods anyway, the rest have a muggle or two tucked away in the
bloodline but are more concerned with getting on with everyday life on the
eel farm without needing to sweat over the big issues.

>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?

I think that underlying the books (if you care to look hard enough for it)
is the message that our fears of "cultural contamination" and the like are
really unfounded, and that the "others" whom we fear are in reality very
few. There's enough Muggle influence coming in to present the WW with new
possibilities but not enough to threaten it. Similarly, the bigots are
presented as being few and diminishing in numbers.

There _are_ I think subtextual things that suggest that there are elements
of elitism in the WW (especially in looking at the Ministry) but they are
outwith the remit of the story.

>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?

By contrast, I'd stress that JKR accepts that not all children from the WW
necessarily attend Hogwarts. If the family don't feel there's a need for
formal qualifications in magic, or if they consider it to be a "snobby,
elite" place, or if they can't afford the clothing and books, or  all sorts
of other reasons, they don't have to take it up.

Cheers

Ffred

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