Blogpost 3: The "Blood" Status Quo

Readers of Harry Potter should be well-informed about blood status in the wizarding world. It could be divided into three: the Purebloods, or those who have magical parents; the Half-bloods, those who have one magical parent and a non-magical parent; and down at the bottom is the Muggle-born or the Mudblood status, those who have non-magical parents. It is said in the book that the word 'mudblood' is the most derogatory term one could use in describing a witch or a wizard. There are, however, instances wherein both parents are of magical descent but the child does not have magical ability. They are called Squibs, and are treated very much the same as the Muggle-borns. 

Hermione Granger's arm, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The entire series revolve around this prejudice against one's purity of blood. Some witches and wizards are under the impression that Muggles are less valuable as human beings than wizards are. In the story, it is Voldemort's belief that the world should be purged of the unworthy, meaning the Muggle-borns and the Muggles themselves. To him, Purebloods are supreme beings and should be preserved. He murdered people and committed other atrocities in the name of blood purity. This racial ideology was first presented in the story by Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter's rival, when he introduced himself and offered Harry his friendship. Later on, Malfoy is also the first one to use 'mudblood' in insulting one of Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger.

Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Amy Green discussed exhaustively this issue in the article Revealing Discrimination: Social Hierarchy and the Exclusion/Enslavement of the Other in the Harry Potter Novels. Green cited examples from the books (all seven of them) that depicts racial discrimination, then further explained each. It was discussed in the article the role of Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore and Hermione Granger with regards to such issue. Green also pointed out the prejudicial views of the Ministry of Magic, the governing body of the Wizarding world. Under Cornelius Fudge's regime, there is an immense statue of the “Fountain of Magical Brethren” in the Ministry's main building, wherein a wizard inhabits the central place, with a witch, centaur, goblin, and house-elf surrounding him and smiling adoringly up at him. This very much illustrates how the female counterpart of a wizard and all other non-human magical creatures are inferior to the wizard. Another disturbing statue built within the main building of the Ministry is the "Magic is Might" monument. It shows a witch and a wizard sitting on carved thrones made of the naked bodies of Muggles twisted and pressed together to support the thrones of the witch and wizard. It was created under Pius Thicknesse's regime, which is the time when the Dark Lord has taken over the Ministry. This composition further proves Lord Voldemort's unwarranted hatred of Muggles.

Fountain of Magical Brethren

 

Magic is Might

Lisa Hopkins asserts, “One of the things Harry and his peers must evidently learn is tolerance of difference," potentially an admirable aim of the series should this have proven to be a lesson learned. 

When Harry Potter first received his Hogwarts letter, he saw it as an opportunity to be free from his obnoxious relatives. He thought that his life would be 'normal' for once because he belongs at Hogwarts. But ignorant as he was, he stepped into the wizarding community without knowledge about the social hierarchy and the blood purity status that will determine your worthiness as a wizard. Only when Malfoy offered his friendship to him, saying that Harry should be wise to choose whom to associate with, did Harry Potter caught a glimpse of the racial prejudice in the wizarding community. It is, in fact, longstanding, even before Lord Voldemort started his campaign of purifying the world of those unworthy of magic.

Saptarshi Ray saw the fictional world as a reflection of today's real world. In his article Harry Potter: The Spectre of Racial Allegory, he compared racial issues we see today with the Harry Potter story. It is to be noted how he described the world of Harry Potter as filled with multicultural race and yet divided into social hierarchy. Ray iterated how the Harry Potter story actually raises its readers' awareness on the social disparity happening in reality. Rowling raised themes on race, prejudice and discrimination and managed to embed them into a story that the generation today can relate to.

The wizarding community is multicultural yet divided along the lines of a poisoned ideology that warps the ancient teachings of magic to suit its violent bloodlust. The evil Lord Voldemort enjoys killing innocent Muggles and envisions a society consisting of pureblood wizards and witches, despite being half-Muggle himself. 

In the last book of Harry Potter series, it is quite evident that calling a wizard 'mudblood' isn't enough anymore. In order to satisfy Lord Voldemort's distorted belief that Purebloods are supreme beings, innocent Muggles are killed; Muggle-borns are subjected to questioning and if the answers did not reach a certain standard, they would then be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss. After reading all seven books, it became apparent to me what Rowling is trying to tell the readers. She wanted to show us that living in a world full of prejudicial views is difficult, being a victim of bullying herself. She wanted us to be aware that what seems to be innocent at first will later on take its toll on the victims, leading them to depression or even perhaps, death. Another thing is that in today's society, there is a certain hierarchy, though not visible, but it could be felt. Affluent people have far greater benefits in this society as compared to the poor and beggars. As in the case of Draco Malfoy, who grew up from a rich and Pureblood family. It's hard to break free from the status quo when one grew up with a distorted view of the world. Blame could be pointed to the environment where he grew up: a big, empty house with indifferent parents who have great expectations from him. On the other hand, Lord Voldemort's deep-seated hatred for Muggles stemmed from when he found out of his being a half-blood. He could, therefore be compared to those who originally came from nothing then later on became wealthy. They are hypocrites who couldn't bare to be seen as that same old poor person again and so, developed resentment towards the poor people. Nevertheless, no matter how much time and effort we spend on ending inequality in the society, they seem to be futile. Perhaps it's in our nature. Perhaps, it's what makes us human.