Magical Minority. Social Class and Discrimination in the Harry Potter Novels

This essay explores the separation of people into different social classes in the Harry Potter novels and does as well give focus on the treatment of minority groups in the story. Dividing wizards and witches into upper, middle and lower class controls the wizard society and where the power lies. Those that form the upper class come from a long line of wizards and witches that are referred to as purebloods while those that form the lower class have parents who are Muggles, that is, possess no magical power. The essay explores the negative treatment of non-human beings and others that fall out of the norm in the wizard community and are placed as simple workers or even slaves since they are seen as inferior to wizards and witches. Authority and the upper class are portrayed in a very negative way since their sole interest seems to be on protecting their power and eliminating those that they deem unworthy of possessing magical power. The essay gives examples of characters that fall out of the norm and how they have accepted their place outside of the society. By applying Marxist theory focus is given on the class structure and shows how the upper class creates the superstructure while the lower class, formed by Muggleborn wizards and witches as well as the non-human beings, form the base of the society. Postcolonial criticism shows the minority groups that have been pushed out of the community and how they are seen as the Other, something that does not fit into the conventional society. It becomes evident that the story of Harry Potter is more than just a heroic story where good triumphs over evil but a firm social criticism as many of these groups mentioned can be associated with groups that have fought for human rights through history, for example African-American and Caribbean slaves