While I was reading the chapter “Marx, Magic, and Muggles: Class Conflict in Harry Potter’s World,” I found it interesting that while the amount of money and property a person has was important it seemed much less important than having the desired blood-status. Those who were pure-bloods had the most prestige, then those who were half-bloods with only one magical parent and lastly Muggle-borns who had little to no prestige and were often ridiculed and looked down upon despite their own personal achievements. Though it is true that society as a whole seems to look down on those people it can still be up to individuals to make their own opinions about the people they encounter.

The way I see it someone who is pure-blood but has next to no money, like the Weasleys, can have more prestige than someone who is a half-blood who has a lot of money. “The Weasleys are poor (in comparative terms), but their class status within the magical world is second to none” (Hall 287). The same would follow for half-bloods having more prestige than Muggle-borns. Under that logic, it would be next to impossible for anyone to rise out of the class that they were born into. As Susan Hall states “any outsider to the magical world, such a Tom Riddle, is immediately placed at a profound disadvantage” (274). Without the advantage of having the right class within the Wizarding world or at the very least knowing the right people, as Harry did to get out of trouble in the Order of the Phoenix, “[he] is saved only by his personal reputation and but the intervention of Dumbledore” (Hall 274), one has little hope of gaining any really stature in the Wizarding world.

But for some people money and prestige isn’t everything. The most obvious example being Harry. Since he grew up in a household with no love and seemingly no money problems, despite the fact that he didn’t reap the benefits of the Dursley’s apparent wealth, Harry valued the good company and the love he received from the Wesley family over wealth. It is true that Harry didn’t have to worry about money in the Wizarding world as his parents had left him a great deal of money; he still sometimes felt guilty about his abundance of galleons when the Weasleys mentioned their money problems, “Harry felt even worse when they reached his vault. He tried to block the contents from view as he hastily shoved handfuls of coins into a leather bag” (COS 57). Harry also didn’t care about the blood-status of the people he hung out with as it became apparent when he snubbed Malfoy for Ron. “Harry rejects Draco’s overture of friendship with outright scorn and sides with Ron Weasley, whose large, loving family he envies and whose money troubles he has nothing but sympathy for” (Hall 273).  The Malfoys have a lot of power and prestige in the Wizarding world but Harry doesn’t really care for Draco and how he treated other and so sided with Ron. Likewise, whenever anyone even seems to insult Muggle-borns Harry is fast to rely that “’one of my best friends is Muggle-born,’ said Harry, ‘and she’s the best in our year’” (HBP 70). Harry only seeks to fill his life with good natured people and seems to be a good judge of character in that respect.

So it would seem that in order to get ahead in the Wizarding world one has to be from a good family with a good blood-status. Money doesn’t really factor into a person’s class as it does in American society where money seems to be the root of a person’s class. So, in the Wizarding world it’s more about where you come from than what you make that gets you ahead in society. Though, money and power don’t matter to everyone and those people have got it right.