WOMBATS Part Deux: Muggleborns

[Judy]

I sent this in via email last night, and it hasn't shown up.  So, I'm 
posting it again -- which probably means that the email version will 
show up any minute now, in duplicate.

I haven't taken the WOMBAT test, but I wanted to comment on the 
following question:

16. The following beliefs are widely held in the wizarding world,
but only ONE is actually TRUE. (According to the latest research
from the Institute of Muggle Studies) Which is it?
Choice #1 -Muggleborn witches/wizards are more likely to produce Squib
children than those who have one or more wizarding parents.
Choice #2 -Muggleborn witches/wizards usually have a witch or wizard 
ancestor somewhere in their family tree, though s/he may be 
generations back.
Choice #3 -Muggleborn witches/wizards are generally less prone to 
certain magical ilnesses than those who have one or more wizarding 
parent.
Choice #4 -Muggleborn witches/wizards are generally slower to show 
signs of magic in childhood than those who have one or more wizarding 
parents.
Choice #5 -Muggleborn witches/wizards have great natural rhythm.

In order for a Muggleborn witch or wizard to have a witch or wizard 
ancestor somewhere in their family tree, the Muggleborn witch or 
wizard would also have to have a Squib in their family tree.  The 
only way to have two Muggle parents, if you have a magical ancestor, 
would be for magic to have dropped out of your family tree at some 
point.  This would require that a magical ancestor produced a non-
magical child – that is, a Squib. (Actually, JKR never clearly says 
if a non-magical person born to only ONE magical parent is considered 
a Squib, but she does imply that people with one magical parent are 
almost always magical themselves, so I suspect that non-magical 
people with one magical parent would, in fact, be thought of as 
Squibs.)  

We know that Squibs are ordinarily quite rare, according to Ron in 
Book 2, which suggests that for Muggleborns to have a Squib ancestor, 
Squibs would need to be more common in lineages producing both Squibs 
and magic users than they are in regular wizarding families.  So, it 
seems to me unlikely that Choice #2 can be true, unless Choice #1 is 
also true.  But since only one choice can be correct, they can't both 
be true, which would eliminate Choice #2.

I would go with Choice #3.  JKR has said that magical powers are 
genetic.  In that case, muggleborns presumably are magical because 
they have a spontaneous mutation in the gene that causes magical 
powers, and the rest of their genes would be typical of muggles. 
Since muggleborns don't come from magical families, they would be 
less likely to have the genetic illnesses that tend to run in 
wizarding families.  On the other hand, purebloods, being rather 
inbred, would quite likely to have magical illnesses caused by 
recessive genes (that is, illnesses that are caused by having two 
copies of a defective gene, with one copy inherited from each 
parent.) 

I agree with David that JKR wants us to examine these beliefs for 
evidence of anti-muggle bias.  The question never actually says  
this, but the fact that Choice #5 is clearly a parody of racial 
stereotypes in the real world makes me think that this question 
is "really" about anti-muggle racism.  Choices 1, 2, and 3 all sound 
like rationalizations which a pure-blood fanatic would use to feel 
better about the existence of muggleborns.  Choice #1 implies that 
the magic of muggleborns is a fluke which will soon go away in 
subsequent generations, removing the muggleborns' descendents from 
the wizarding world.  Choice #2 suggests that muggleborns aren't 
REALLY born to all-muggle families, that only magical blood can give 
rise to magical children.  Choice #4 suggests that muggleborns are 
less magical that those with non-magical parentage, which is 
definitely not true in the case of Hermione or Lily.   Choice #3 is 
the only one that says muggleborns are, in a sense, superior to half-
bloods and pure-bloods, so the wizarding world would have to believe 
it DESPITE the fact that it doesn't agree with their chauvinistic 
attitudes.  The only way this would happen, I believe, is if it were 
true.  
 

-- Judy, who notes that JKR has told us at least twice that 
werewolves' snouts differ from that of true wolves, but doesn't think 
JKR ever said which has a shorter snout.