Prejudice and non-preudice in the WW

[ClareWashbrook at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 153165

 
Nikkalmati:

JKR  doesn't even make a point of showing us this  harmony.  It 
just  exists.  In this regard the WW is an ideal society  and I'm sure JKR  
wants her readers to absorb this easy acceptance as a contrast  to  the 
prejudice 
she also shows us. Thoughts?


Clare:
 
I think the mixture is part of how she shows things as they are.   England is 
a mongrel nation and anyone with half a brain knows that there hasn't  been 
anything "pure" in the gene pool (even the excessively inbred Royals came  from 
elsewhere) for well over a thousand years.  Perhaps it is a picture of  the 
acceptance of what "is" but it also shows that prejudice will find somewhere  
to direct itself.  The WW might ethnically co-exist harmoniously but they  find 
a locus for that particular outlet in the muggles.  
 
I do not simply mean the DEs anti-muggle attitude either.  The fact  that the 
WW trusts the muggle government above all muggles is bizarre, since we  
certainly don't trust them.  ALL of the WW accepts that muggles cannot know  about 
the WW and have entire departments devoted to ensuring that.  These  
departments think that they have the right to modify memory and alter aspects of  the 
world in order to assure that - not a way to treat an equal.  Then we  have the 
counter side of the coin, where AD accepts them (within the parameters  of 
them not knowing about the WW and thinking that it is fine and dandy to mess  
with their heads) to such a degree that he doesn't think that Muggle families  
and muggleborn witches need any kind of acclimatisation.  
 
Acceptance vs. prejudice - It is definitely a contrast.  I am not  convinced 
that it was a deliberate one though.  I think it more likely that  JKR already 
had her prejudice focus and it just didn't occur to her to deal with  the 
other aspects of prejudice.  Which would explain why she didn't make a  point of 
pointing it out.  
 
One area where she does deal with an existing prejudice is with Seamus, but  
it doesn't show her in a positive light because she uses the old cliche as the 
 basis of character.  She makes him come across a bit thick and overly  
jolly, which plays to a rather worn-out prejudice that I would rather not have  
seen included.  The time for the death of Irish jokes and their character  
counterparts is long long overdue.
 
Ultimately her writing shows that prejudice is always present in one form  or 
another and that even those who think that they are above it fall foul of an  
accepted way of thinking sometimes.  I don't believe these representations  
to be particularly deliberate.  I can't decide whether I find that  depressing 
or refreshing.  It is a depressing feature of life but it  is unlikely to 
change; it is refreshing that that is represented in a way that  has nothing to do 
with PC, PR, fluff-bunny-"so open minded my brain fell out" or  political 
spin.  
 
smiles,
Clare x


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