The secrecy motif/magic & muggles

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 179978


> 
> lizzyben: 
> 
> And why, why, why would JKR create such a world? 

Pippin:
Because fairness is the enemy of plot. If everything in life
was fair there'd be no stories. There'd be no need for
tolerance either. HP is not a story that shows us how wonderful
life would be if everyone was equal and we all treated each 
other fairly. It shows us that when people's abilities and
backgrounds  vary so drastically they are going to find it very 
hard to decide what is fair. Injustice is built into the world and only 
tolerance will give them some grace to survive while they try to
sort things out. 

The WW is not Oz, the "great good place." It's not a utopia. Unlike Middle 
Earth or Narnia, it's not supposed to be a newer world where men have not 
completely fallen. 

 The WW has slaves who are happy to be slaves because
if  human beings could create such a race we would probably do it. 
Heaven knows we've tried.

It is ethnocentric because all cultures are ethnocentric
and consider themselves the standard by which all others should
be judged. The wizards are obviously not superior in any ethical
or philosophical sense. They are not wiser or better than other
mortals. They are certainly not  more successful in a Darwinian sense. 
It's the purebloods who are dying out, not the Muggles. Magic
would not seem to be a genetic advantage, whatever the
purebloods think. 
 
The WW had to split from the Muggle world because so many Muggles
were frightened or offended by magic. But Muggles have invented 
technologies which are  independent of magic and in many ways superior
to it especially in weapons, communications and education. I think it could
be argued that Muggles gained more from the split than wizards
did. When they stopped being jealous of wizards and vainly
trying to steal their secrets, they discovered they too could
manipulate the natural world in wonderful and dangerous ways.

Pippin