What Blood Status Have Harry's Parents? - Blood in the Eye

[anne_t_squires]

No: HPFGUIDX 180253


>
> bboyminn wrote:
> Ahhh, but this is were it gets tricky. What Harry is depends
> on the individual, and what the individual's definitions are.

Snip

> I would say Harry is a Full-Blood, but not a Pure-Blood.
> Others would say he is a half-blood. Some might take 'full-
> blood' and say that is the same as 'Pure-Blood' , others will
> not.
> <snip>
> <end quote>

 Dazz Arlonsy wrote:
> I also get so confused when I heard Bellatrix (in the movie) called
Harry half-blood. 

Anne Squires interjects:

Bellatrix also calls him a Half-Blood in the book.  This is something
the medium-that-we-used-to-not-name-on-this-forum got right, "Shut
your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your
unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you
dare---" (chapter 35, page 784)

Dazz Arlonsy continues:
I always consider Harry as pure-blood (because JKR only mentioned the
3 categories: pure, half, and mud-blood). Does the word 'HALF' means
'TWO EQUAL PARTS THAT COMPOSE SOMETHING'?

Anne Squires interjects again:

You are trying to impose some logic into a theory based on
irrationality.  Of course, the term half-blood doesn't make sense. 
That's something that underlines how stupid the whole matter of
classifying someone based on their blood is. 


Dazz Arlonsy again:

(Snippage of example of characters, their parentage, and their blood
status.)
> 
> James Potter: Wizard
> Lily Evans: Witch
> So Harry should be--------Pure-blood (because his parents are both
wizard, right? ok. Unless JKR considers half-blood as all magical
people whose magical parents' blood have been 'contaminated' along the
way by 'muggle-blood'????  But doesn't half mean fifty-fifty? LOL)
> 
> Dazz Arlonsy
>

Anne Squires now:

I think that Harry, according to canon, is a Half-Blood.  

IIRC, the first time Harry is referred to as a Half-Blood is in CoS by
Diary!Tom, "There are strange likenesses between us after all.  Even
you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles."
  (chapter 17, page 401) Of course, Tom/Voldemort is a lier; but I
think he is telling the truth here.  For those who care about blood
status in the Wizarding World, Harry is without a doubt, a Half-Blood.

Dumbledore also refers to Harry as a Half-Blood.  In OotP Dumbledore
explains to Harry why LV chose him instead of Neville, "And notice
this, Harry.  He chose not the pureblood (which, according to his
creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing), but the
half-blood, like himself."  (chapter 37, page 842) Dumbledore is also
a lier; but here, I think he's telling the truth about Harry's blood
status.

Harry also agrees with Bellatrix that he, himself, is a Half-Blood. 
(See earlier Bellatrix quote above)  Harry interrupts her rant against
him and says, "Did you know he's a half-blood too?"  The word "too"
means to me that Harry is agreeing with Bellatrix that he's a
Half-Blood and is pointing out that LV is also a Half-Blood.

In HBP one of the reasons that Harry first connects so strongly to the
Prince is that he identifies with his Half-Blood status.

Finally, on JKR's website she writes:

"Why are some people in the wizarding world (e.g., Harry) called
'half-blood' even though both their parents were magical?"

"The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have
been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express
their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy
is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle.
Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his
mother's grandparents."

"If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the
Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw
one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised
the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was
chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as
the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood,
according to their propaganda."
End JKR quote

Anne Squires continues:

Thus, it's one's grandparents that determines one's blood status.  If
any one of a wizard's grandparents are/were a Muggle then that person
is a Half-Blood.

I think a more interesting discussion than debating whether Harry is a
Half-Blood or not would be to discuss why JKR made him one.  Here are
my ideas:

1.  I think JKR didn't want her hero to be a pureblood.  I think she
wanted him to relate to the prejudice of the WW on a first hand basis.
When someone such as Snape or Malfoy put down another character
(Hermione, Lily) because of their blood status, Harry can empathize
instead of merely sympathize with the person being disparaged.
2. Furthermore, he is not in the elite class; this makes him more of
an "Everyman."  It makes him more "just Harry."
3. It makes him more like LV and Snape.  Harry, LV, and Snape, imho,
are the three main characters in the series.

Anne Squires (who can't decide if Half-Blood should be capitalized, or
not)