Muggles v wizards redux

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 183236

Alla:
> So I guess the question is what are the reasons for you to identify
> with muggles in Potterverse? See for me, I do not see anybody in
> muggle world whom I can like or sympathize with, therefore I just, I
> guess cannot care for them that much. I mean, we see Dursleys and
> whom else? 

Ceridwen:
As others have said, it's because I'm a Muggle.  I would naturally 
identify with my own group.  Not that I wouldn't like being a 
Potterverse-style witch, but I'm not.  The book presents the 
WW/Muggle divide less and less abstractly as the books wear on, 
otherwise, I might have continued to identify more with the 
characters we see the most.  The Dursleys are our only continuing 
intimate contact with Muggles.  They are not the only Muggles shown 
or mentioned in the books.

When unnamed Muggles drive cars, rent property for a weekend, ignore 
Petunia peering out her curtains at them, and so on, except for 
renting property (which I don't have), I might be those same 
Muggles.  When Dudley plays with his computer and his PlayStation or 
Gameboy or whichever it was he played with, my kids do the same thing.

When unnamed Muggles see a flying car and think it's unusual, I would 
think the same.  Should I have my memory altered by a covert bunch of 
MiBs for this?  It's the whole Government Conspiracy thing in robes.  
Should the government, WW or Muggle, have that sort of power over the 
powerless?  Maybe that's a part of it - Muggles are powerless, the 
true Underdogs of the Potterverse.  A lot of people feel sorry for, 
and even stand up for, the Underdogs.  Wizards always have the upper 
hand.  Even Harry, who is browbeaten and average, is worlds above the 
lowly Muggles.  Even Arthur, who is a Muggle Rights activist, is 
condescending toward the very people he tries to help.  It's 
insulting.  Muggles are non-magical people, people without power.  
Weak.  

As the series progressed, Muggles became less and less like cartoons 
and more and more like an underclass which was constantly being 
stepped on, and I have things in common with this class.  I can't 
fight someone stronger than me.  I can't compete with someone who has 
more native power than me.  A chilling image was the DEs violating 
Muggles at the QWC.  I couldn't fight them off, I couldn't hold my 
own enough to escape, I would have been up there, too.  Frank Bryce 
was just doing his job, and was killed for it.  I might be in the 
same position someday, and may have been in the past.  One of my 
worst memories is of working the overnight shift when some violence 
was being threatened over an upcoming court case.  Friends of mine 
from the group threatening the violence sat with me to ensure I 
wouldn't be harmed.  Yes, it was racial, and yes, these friends were 
not in on the threats.  Still, I would have been just like those 
helpless Muggles against wizards if it was me alone against an armed 
group.

I don't need a sympathetic character among Muggles to know I am one.  
I can see, by what makes the Dursleys Muggles, that I am one.  I 
don't identify with the Dursleys.  I do identify with their lack of 
magic.  After what I've seen of the Potterverse, I would not like to 
live there or be a part of it.  I wouldn't like it living side by 
side with me.  There are enough real-life victimizers among Muggles 
that I don't need the WW adding another layer.

Ceridwen.