Social Class in the Magical World VS. Muggle World; Same? Different?
Cassidy LeDonne
The magical world of Harry Potter sounds … magical … doesn’t it? It’s a world filled with wizards, witches and of course, no muggles. Here, in the muggle world, there’s people who were born into wealth, people who work hard for wealth, and people who just can’t ever become wealthy. In the magical world of Harry Potter, could that be the case as well? While reading “Marx, Magic, and Muggles: Class Conflict in Harry Potter’s World” in the book, Harry Potter and History, Susan Hall expresses the similarities between Great Britain’s muggle world of social class and the magical world during the early 18th century.
In the section of this chapter, “All Wizards Are Equal … but Some Are More Equal than Others”, Hall talks about how J. K. Rowling depicts wizards or witches as the lower class in the magical world. Hall states “The magical underclass certainly exists” (p 285). One of the ways Rowling portrays and labels wizards as the lower class is by having those characters, such as Stan Shunpike, have a strong accent. These characters lines are often hard to read, as Rowling clearly makes Stan have some type of poor English accent, which labels him as an “other” and allows readers to give him the label as uneducated. Stan is an example of those who don’t have wealth in the muggle world. “Stan’s life follows a depressing pattern, one that is familiar in the Muggle world. We first see him trapped in a dead-end job, limited by his class and educational disadvantages” (p 286). Later, Susan Hall states, “Joining Voldemort’s gang of extremist thugs offers a chance of excitement and glamour that his life lacks otherwise” (p 286). Hall is saying that in the magical world, Stan was trapped at a dead-end because he was uneducated and therefore wasn’t able to make any type of money which ultimately determined his social class as “other”. Since Stan’s social class was determined by the education he got, he wasn’t able to ‘climb’ the social ladder … until he turned to the ‘dark side’ or Voldemort’s gang. Thinking about the muggle world, people who don’t have a higher education, such as people who don’t attend college, aren’t able to make as much money. This ultimately does determines someone’s social class because they aren’t able to ‘climb’ the social ladder since they never got the education that the need. There are similarities in the social classes between the muggle world and the magical specifically having to do with education.
Susan Hall also talks about the importance of how much money you have both in the muggle world and magical world. If you aren’t born into wealth or work for wealth, then you’re labeled as an “other” and you’re stuck at a dead-end in your life, just like Stan. Social class in Great Britain is not all about relative wealth; the source of that wealth is important also. “The source of that wealth is important, with “old money” (inherited wealth) conferring more stats on its possessor than money acquired through business” (p 287). Social class isn’t just determined by your educational background, it’s also determined by the how your wealth became to be. If you inherited your money or were born into wealth, that’s known as “old money”; while earning your money is “new money”. According to Hall, in the magical world, “old money” versus “new money” doesn’t necessarily exist. A witches’ and wizards’ social class is more based on pure-blood families versus half-blood families, with the exception of the Weasley family. “The Weasley’s are poor, but their class status within the magical world is second to none. The Weasley’s are pure-blood” (p 287). Even though the Weasley family doesn’t have all the money in the world (probably because they have seven kids), they are still high in the social class because of their pure-blood status. It’s an easy comparison to the muggle world. It’s all about who you know. If you know the C.E.O. of a company versus some other person who knows a regular worker of that company, you would most likely get the job over that other person. In the magical world, Harry Potter gets out of a lot of trouble with nearly zero consequences because he is a pure-blood wizard and he knows higher end people in the Magical Ministries.
The magical world doesn’t seem so magical anymore, unless you were a pure-blood witch who has a decent social class and education. The magical world seems just like the muggle world. It’s all about who you know, where your money came from and how much education you have that ultimately determines your social class.
Work Cited
Reagin, Nancy Ruth. Harry Potter and History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. Print.
So far this is a pretty good journal! In your third paragraph be aware of using you and being stuck with using you. I understand your reasoning behind it however, try to switch it up and use a different approach.
This is beautifully written! I agree with Victoria; try to avoid using “you,” because it can sound a bit informal and be confusing. I enjoyed your point about connections, not money, being an important part of social movement in both the Muggle and the wizarding world.