Sunday 30 September 2007

Harry Potter and the Egalitarian Spirit

One of the little discussed aspects of the Harry Potter books is also one of the main keys to their success: the basic equality of the characters.

This is no mean achievement in that the main setting for the series is an English boarding school. However, Hogwarts is no ordinary boarding school, nor are the students in any real sense ‘ordinary.’ However, apart from some very basic distinctions, the world of the Potter chronicles is very much a meritocracy.

We know only a few things about the families of the children at the school: Hermione’s completely muggle. Her parents are dentists, and can be assumed to have a comfortable, but not extravagant living – they are British dentists, not American ones, and could even be employed by the National Health Service.

The Weasleys are certainly not wealthy, and there are many cruel remarks made about their “poverty” though they cannot be in any way said to be living in poverty. They have to work hard and make do, but they are still surviving on the salary of Mr Weasley alone – something that may not be true of Hermione’s family, both of whom work. The Weasleys are also pure-bloods.

Harry Potter himself has a muggle mother and wizard father, so in the three main characters, we have all the combinations. Harry does have a great deal of money and earns more from his achievement in the tri-wizard tournament, but he has little regard for money apart from the good it can do for other people. His experiences at the hands of the Dursleys means that he knows just how much generosity and kindness can mean to people who need it.

Of the other student families, we know very little. We know that Neville Longbottom comes from a well-respected family, but there is no evidence of wealth, and Neville is unprepossessing and often a source of good-natured amusement.

We suspect that the Malfoys are wealthy, and see that Lucius Malfoy buys the latest broomstick for the Slitherin quidditch team, but the Malfoys’s brand of snobbery is not based on money, but on power. The source of that power – apart from associations with you know who – is unclear, though Lucius seems to spend a lot of time at the Ministry of Magic.

Apart from these very sketchy inferences, the position of the students and other characters are largely based on ability and moral courage, rather than on inherited position or wealth. J K Rowling’s position appears to be that she considers character to be of more importance than either position or wealth, and we, as readers, respond to that attitude, finding ourselves admiring the virtues of honesty, loyalty, courage, friendship, dedication to duty, and love in the various characters, regardless how eccentric.

Just how J K Rowling gets us to admire and like characters as curious as Lupin, Tonks, Hagrid, Luna Lovegrove and others is part of her art.

No comments: