Ravenclaw House

My reading journal is on “Marx, Magic, and Muggles: Class Conflict in Harry Potter’s World.” I use it to discuss the issues the magical world’s economy poses in regards to new innovations.

Krista Shellhammer

Dr. Powers

English 281

In the chapter, “Marx, Magic, and Muggles: Class Conflict in Harry Potter’s World,” Susan Hall utilizes the Hogwarts Express to show how it is representative of the change brought about by steam trains in 19^th century Britain. The significance of railroad travel in particular is emphasized when Hall points out that they “were the Great Pyramids of their day” (275). Also significantly, the reading says that the creation of the railroads was tied to conflict theory because it relied heavily on “a three-legged stool of labor, technology and capital” (276). The intriguing idea behind this is just how Hogwarts obtained its own railway to take students to its school; Hall argues that the wizarding world either stole the train or simply made one with magic, but struggles to rationalize why pureblood families would put up with such an out of date method of travel (279). Focusing on the branches of technology and capital, I believe it can be argued that the Hogwarts Express is a product of the magical world’s stagnant economy, and shows more of a class struggle in the magical world than Hall implied.

The magical world is a bit stagnant when it comes to the invention of anything new – most of the technology we see throughout the series is either an ancient magical item, or a modified Muggle creation, and even those are a few decades old in Muggle time (such as the Ford Anglia or the Knight Bus). Therefore, it is possible that the magical world possesses few inventors, and most ‘new technology’ is simply modified from what Muggle creations can be stolen. Whereas Hall claims this usage could be an “implied assertion of the magical world’s technological superiority,” (279) I see it as more of a complete failure on the magical world’s part to try and create something new. The magical world has individuals in it that are incapable of using magic themselves, so there should be people who can practice magic looking into ways to accommodate them. For example, Squibs need a way to travel aside from Portkeys and somewhere connected to the Floo Network, but even the Knight Bus requires a wand to be summoned. Hall goes on to discuss the incredibly small group of individuals she refers to as “research wizards,” and emphasizes the lack of a framework to showcase wizards who create something new (281). The lack of new creations in the magical world is likely directly linked to Gringotts Bank and its primary function as a “glorified safety deposit box” (276).

The magical world has its own form of printed money – Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons are presumably made somewhere, but their actual value is never outright stated and it is unknown how this system works in tandem with the Ministry of Magic. Hall suggests that the magical world may be running on “inherited capital” because it hires graverobbers (277), and given the fact that the vaults under Gringotts themselves simply sit there full of whatever treasures are inside them, I can be inclined to agree with that statement. Given that Gringotts holds items of personal and familial value in addition to monetary wealth, however, it is difficult to imagine how they would loan any money out to potential investors, and Fred and George Weasley only get their chance to start because Harry gifts them his prize money from the Triwizard Tournament. As a further testament to my claim that the magical world is in need of new innovators, Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes is a huge success, even when other shops on Diagon Alley shut down; new creations are highly valued in the magical world, because they come about sparingly.

Overall, Hall believes that the lack of innovation in the magical world is primarily rooted in the idea that if the old magical solution works, why make a new one – this is shown by comparing Madam Pomfrey’s potions with old Muggle potions, with the one difference being that the potions in the magical world actually work (279). In my opinion, however, the magical world simply does not create anything new because rather than investing their wealth in new ideas, magical citizens keep most of their wealth locked in Gringotts, which stifles any potential growth the magical community could go through.