JKR and the boys/ Dark Magic and Snape

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 161483

> > Sydney:
> > 
> > I think the 'racial' metaphor of magic/non-magic blood is 
entangled
> > with a class metaphor.  Class is still an amazingly bitter and
> > senstive subject in Britain and goes hand in hand with race
> > discussions in terms of 'otherness' and the establishment and
> > prejudice and resentment. Especially as the Wizarding World has a
> > distinctly 1920's between-the-wars vibe and at the same time 
draws a
> > lot of its atmosphere from Dickens.  The idea of the family trees
> and intermarriage is a lot more resonant of a class than a race 
thing.
> 
> Carol responds:
> I'm not British, of course, but I agree with both of you based on my
> knowledge of English literature and history (more interesting to me
> than the American equivalents). The "vibe" to me is almost medieval.
> Think of the lengths to which the Plantagenet monarchs went to get
> papal dispensations to marry their own cousins of varying degrees so
> that the "blood royal" wouldn't be polluted through marriage to
> commoners or outsiders. 
> 

a_svirn:
Well, that's hardly got anything to do with being British! For one 
thing the Plantagenets were anything but, for another the Habsburgs 
or, say, the Valois weren't any better!  

I agree that the pureblood oligarchy is a social thing in its heart. 
Yet their mythology and their system of values are somewhat "racist" 
in their outlook.  Of course, racial boundaries in the Potterverse 
are different from those in real life and have more to do with being 
or not being magical than with being white or black. Purebloods and 
mugglebornes belong to the same "race", or "breed" or whatever we'll 
agree to call it (which is why I think the pureblood prejudice 
against mugglebornes is mostly social), but wizards and muggles are 
two easily definable "races".  Which is why the prejudice against 
muggles is not exactly a prejudice. The way Rowling invented it 
wizards really *are* superior, simply because they are magical and 
muggles are not.