For this journal, I read: “The Travels of Harry: International Marketing and the Translation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Books” by Gillian Lathey. An article that illustrates how varied the Harry Potter book series is around the world, with cultural references, name changes, and even book covers to fit the needs of the countries they are sent and translated to. Given the massive popularity of the franchise it was essential to get all these aspects done in the best possible way, as Lathey says: “Never has the role of translators been so essential to publishers and keen readers alike.” (Lathey, page 142.)

When the Harry Potter books began to appear in different countries certain things that would be a given for it’s original audience was lost to those with extremely varied cultures who may have been reading these ideas or situations for the first time.

Understandably, this has an effect on the nuance and some of the charm of the books, as Lathey states and quotes: “Gaby’s verdict was that as a result of this and other changes “the flavor of the original is gone.” (Lathey, page 146.) Because of this, it’s fair to say that people from all across the world might have very slight, subtle differences that may lead to different opinions or conclusions about things. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if anything it’s an added point of interest, but sometimes it may go to extreme lengths, as Lathey notices: “The Russian translator of volumes two and three of the Harry Potter series, Maria Litvinova, had added new passages. “ (Lathey, page 145.) This can lead to bigger problems since not every word in every book was written or given canon’s consent by the original author.

Some Names that would have significance or connotations for the original British audience had to be changes when going across the world as well, either because the original English word meant something different in a different language or because the word associations would be lost. The first notable example of this is in the name of the street where Harry forcibly called home, privet drive. For someone born in England, a place like that is synonymous with a kind of suburban locale that would remind one of the 1940’s-1960’s, but in other countries it means very little if anything at all. Some countries retain the name and others translate the word, for example: ““Ligusterweg” (literally: “privet way”) in the German version.” (Lathey, page 147.) Unfortunately some countries have it worse than that, in Russia they made due with a transliteration since the closest thing they translated to “Privet” was their word for “Hello,” because of this they made it into: “Praivet Drive” (“Private Drive” in English).” (Lathey, page 147.) Doing this made the Dursley’s seem to be much more well off than they actually are, not that they wouldn’t appreciate that, but it takes away from a universal understanding of the Harry Potter series, which is both a compliment and a curse.

Even if it’s interesting to have a slightly different story so it isn’t all the same, either with different takes, names, and even front covers, it doesn’t take away from the universal popularity from the series. While it would probably be preferred for the entire world to have the same exact story, it’s a slightly beautiful thing that everyone has their own version, and it speaks miles about the overall majesty of the series that it still manages to be loved and understood by everyone who reads them no matter where they might be.

For this journal, I read: “Harry Potter and the Witch Hunters: A Social Context for the Attacks on Harry Potter” by Amanda Cockrell. An article that makes it a point that this reaction, to “…indoctrinate our children in witchcraft and Satanism…” (Cockrell, page 24) is one that is only found in the incredibly religious American audience. It’s a very interesting phenomenon, as such an absurd reaction is scarcely shared anywhere else in the world, even in other English speaking countries, such as it’s country of origin, England, and in other religious countries, even the ones that share America’s most popular belief, Christianity.

The notion that the Harry Potter series spreads the ideas of genuine witchcraft and that infects the youth with Satanism is one that only seems to exist in the country that takes Christianity seriously, the one that has some of its population under the spell that every word in their book is fact, fundamentalist Christians seem to be the only group of people who have actually managed to fool themselves into believing it could possibly be real, likely because they have not read or paid any attention to it, going off what they want to believe is in it, which strikes me as being painfully ironic. As stated: “This is more or less the image that many fundamentalist Christians also have of witchcraft that, like angels or the voice of Satan, it is out there, unseen but ready to swallow up the hapless child who can be turned toward its seductive allure, and that it actually works.” (Cockrell, page 26)

These American fundamentalist Christians don’t like the threat of them or their children believing in, or really even hearing of, any other popular form of reality than the one they’ve chosen to force upon themselves as the correct one. They have chosen to be closed-minded and take a great deal of personal offence when any other imaginary idea rivals their own, because to them it’s all real, if anything this effect makes an incredible thing to study, as it shows how resilient people are to creativity, especially in the written word, when it challenges their own, it’s a literal battle of imaginary friends where they believe both is real, it’s a remarkable achievement. The even more remarkable aspect is that it only happens when something is popular enough to become a threat, not only that, but when much like with their own beliefs, it starts off with a semi reasonable start that crumbles away from plausibility the moment it goes into detail. By this, of course I mean that they take place on the planet Earth. “Harry lives in our world, making him more of a threat. Rowling has abandoned the realm of high fantasy and laid her story in contemporary England, rather than in the imaginary and medievally flavored otherworld.” (Cockrell, page 25)

I’m astonished that such a reaction to the series could possibly exist in the 21^st or even 20^th century, or to be honest even the 17^th, but I don’t doubt for a single second that if such a thing were to genuinely exist it would only effect the one group that it did, I can’t say I’m surprised, but I do feel genuinely sorry for them, not because they won’t be able to enjoy such a great book series, but that they can’t see anything they don’t want to, that’s magic more dark than Voldemort could ever achieve.

I’ve decided to write an alternate turn of events where Slughorn had more of a sense of humor and Tom Riddle was a bit more naive. When approached about horcruxes for immortality, Slughorn, as a joke, tells him that vampires are immortal and that anything can be found in the forbidden forest. Tom Riddle is caught after-hours, gets detention, bitten as planned, and becomes an immortal vampire… until he’s reminded that a vampires weakness is a piece of wood through the heart which is something all wizards carry at all time.

This week I read “Safe As Houses: Sorting and School Houses At Hogwarts” by Chantel Lavoie and found very little, if any, substance other than one or two slight examples that peer into a bigger picture rather than simply school life squabbles. The vast majority of this text seems to rely solely on the presumption that the Slytherin house is almost strictly evil and has reason for being the most undesirable house, this foundation purposely has an antithesis in the form of pointing out on page seven that Snape is impressively courageous. He is and there is little doubt in it, but that isn’t really the point, the main point is that any notion for house placement is up for interpretation, so assuming that Snape is a special example of a brave Slytherin depends on ones own definition, while I’m not sure if this article came out before “Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.” If it was then it gravely forgets the bravery of Draco Malfoy or professor Horace Slughorn, and if this was written before “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows” then it forgets the bravery of the entire Malfoy family. While I’m sure this was written before at least the former of these two, I think it’s glaringly one-dimensional.

Above anything else though, the thing that sets the meaning of one’s house into nothingness is found on page 6 where it brings up that Peter Pettigrew only: “…turned Slythering after leaving Hogwarts.” With this idea on the tables in makes an sort of assertion of the importance of ones own house in their later years to be utterly meaningless, amounting to very little more than old school pride or heritage to ones own class, or family as this article makes clear on page eleven. The only lasting effect ones house has is to their selective options as friends rather than just peers since there’s much rivalry between the houses, notably even ambivalence towards Slytherin by the rest of the other houses. The main question though, is if it is all deserved, the article brings up reasons why it could be, mainly on the likability of the characters on page seven, but also brings up, on the previous page no less, that it wouldn’t matter in real life as sorting’s done here are unbelievably flawed, anyone could go anywhere based on what they have, Harry could have been in Slytherin due to his ambition, according to page five, and he were, certainly he wouldn’t be considered evil by default. It’s childish to even write up an article with this as the foundation instead of summarizing in a single sentence that they only seem bad due to perspective. On it’s fifth page, the article asks and fails to answer why a house so evil would even be allowed to be in Hogwarts, the answer is an incredibly simple one for someone willing to put things together rather than simply stick to one’s own ignorance. The answer is that they are not all bad, Gryffindor’s are not all good, Ravenclaw’s are not scholarly, and Hufflepuff’s are not all kind, they simply have characteristics that could be perceived as such, as we all do, the only difference is that some aspects shine a bit brighter.

For my first supplemental reading I read: “Were the Malfoys Aristocrats? The Decline and Fall of the Pure-Blooded.” By Laura Loiacono and Grace Loiacono from the book. I found it interesting on many levels and agreed on many of it’s ideas and learned from it’s viewpoints. I appreciated the historical context and to how it relates to British history and politics while remaining firmly rooted at the topic at hand. One of the most notable instances comes on page 177 when they bring to mention that the Malfoy Manor may have been in the family’s possession since either the medieval period or from before the seclusion of the wizardry world. The reason why it is significant to me at least comes from how far back the supposed aristocracy can be dated. As this chapter makes clear, the Malfoy’s seem to be the only family in the entire wizardry world to have a manor, the most recent of which in stated history was in the Tudor era in the 16^th century. This does a great deal to support the claim that they do indeed belong in the aristocratic classes.

The last two segments from this chapter were probably the most intriguing of all and the ones that made the parallels from the muggle and wizardry world the most clear. Starting from page 186, a question I had always wondered to myself was detailed brilliantly, this of course pertaining to the number of aristocrats or purebloods in the wizardry world. Much like in the muggle world during the 20^th century, the higher classes saw a great deal of decline from various acts of violence and bloodshed, the majority from the first world war, which saw a great number of purebloods die and families therefore becoming permanently affected by this loss go on to a steady decline, almost wiped out in the coming generations. As stated in page 187, only two great grandchildren of Pollux and Irma black remain, this makes sense to why the pure blood status in Harry’s time was as rare as it was. By the time of Voldemort’s final defeat the class system of the wizardry world had gone into a state of deep confusion. By the time 19 years had passed, being pure blood amounted to very little other than an anecdote, in the play: “Harry Potter And The Cursed Child,” it wasn’t relevant enough to mentioned more than a handful of times, if that.

If this chapter proves anything it is that the Malfoy family were indeed aristocrats for quite some time, potentially at a low estimate of half a millennium. By the end of the 20^th century however they were a family that were by little more than pure luck and chance decisions, barely scraped by past Azkaban, they became a family of resentment and of low whispers. As stated in page 191, the Malfoy’s, or at the very least Lucius, lost all political power, what remained however, was the ultimate symbol of what was, their large and spacious manor. A constant reminder of what was.