It's "blood" that counts (Was: wizard geneology - Genius or Baloney?)

[kkersey_austin]

No: HPFGUIDX 148187

Carol, brilliant analysis - I think you are reight about the genetics
as a mechanism being irrelevant to the story, but that the idea of
"bloodlines" is of crucial importance to many characters and to some
degree drives the plot. (Did I get that right?)

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...>
wrote:
< snipping several paragraphs of brilliant stuff>
> I just want to point out the rather surprising views on blood of two
> characters, Hagrid and Phineas Black. Hagrid abuses Mr. Dursley for
> being a Muggle and Filch for being a Squib yet is himself a "half
> breed," only half human (but magical). He also refers to the centaurs
> as "nags" after an argument with them, surely no more respectful of
> them than Umbridge except that he's not insulting them to their faces,
> yet he's enraged when Draco calls Hermione a "mudblood" and gushes
> over the importance of "blood" and cries in his beer over his lost
> parents and the importance of "blood" when he's really thinking of
> "Grawpy," his nonmagical, nonhuman half-brother. Apparently nonmagical
> blood or nonmagical status is bad as long as it isn't his or his
> family's or a friend's. Is he a hypocrite or is there a logic to his
> prejudices and namecalling that I'm unable to find? Why is "Squib" or
> "nag" an acceptable insult when "Mudblood" isn't? 

Looking at the examples you cite, it has struck me that there is a
distinction between the terms like "muggle", "muggleborn", and 
"squib", which are based on fairly objective criteria having to do
with an individual's (in)ability to perform magic, and the "blood"
terms, which rely on an underlying definition of wizarding blood which
is, when it comes to it, a cultural construct. 

(The idea of "race" is a similar cultural construct; scientifically it
is pretty much meaningless, but culturally (and legally in many parts
of the world, even today) it has tremendous significance. I think
there has been discussion on this list in the past about various rules
or laws that determined whether or not an individual was considered a
member of this or that particular race; it doesn't matter what an
individual looks like, just whether or not their ancestors were
defined as members of a particular race.)

>From your list it seems that Hagrid's insults are never based on the
idea of "blood". He is contemptuous of muggles and squibs, who have no
magical ability, but makes no distinction among those who are magical.
Even the "nags" remark has to do with a rather obvious physical
characteristic, not with an artificially defined cultural one.

Not that I'm defending Hagrid, here, BTW! Just noting that the lines
that he has drawn between "us" and "others" are different than, say,
Mrs. Black's...

>If Draco had called her a "stupid Muggleborn" instead of a "filthy
>little Mudblood," would that have been okay?

... or for that matter, Draco's. 

And where does Harry draw the line? Maybe at the door to the Slytherin
common room? Hmmmm...

Carol continues:
> And Phineas Nigellus, proud great grandfather of both of Sirius
> Black's parents (second cousins, according to the recently published
> partial photograph of the Black family tree--which explains Mrs.
> Black's "blood of my fathers" rants) abuses Mundungus Fletcher as a
> "filthy half blood" yet strenuously objects whenever Harry shows
> disrespect for Severus Snape, whom we readers know to be the
> Half-Blood Prince. Would Phineas's view of Snape change if he knew
> Snape isn't a pureblood? Or is Phineas simply throwing out a term of
> abuse at an absent thief and pilferer which he wouldn't use toward a
> Slytherin HOH regardless of his bloodlines?

Oh, I don't think Phineas Nigellus would have the slightest
compunction with insulting or abusing Severus Snape, though I'll
concede that the question of whether or not he'd do it to his face is
up in the air. Don't think he would do it in front of a student, either.

What Phineas Nigellus objects to is Harry, a *student*, showing
disrespect for a *teacher*. PN was a headmaster, so I can't
imagine him doing otherwise. In fact, other than Sirius, is there any
adult who tolerates Harry speaking disrespectfully of *Professor*
Snape? PN to Mundungus, though, that's adult-to-adult, a different
matter entirely.

> Carol, who thinks that Muggle/Wizard genetics may be an interesting
> mental exercise but throws no light on the books
>
As I mentioned over on OT, yep. Totally agree with you there.

Elisabet