Playing with Critical Theory in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series by J. Wallace and T. Pugh articulate the benefits of utilizing the works of J. K. Rowling within the classroom. Pulling from the works of their own peers, the continue the argument that the use of the Harry Potter books can be used as a tool in the teacher’s toolbox at the same level as any other classic literary piece. Furthermore, they argue that the use of the Harry Potter novels specifically can act as aid in teaching students critical thinking and reading skills in the topics of social class, gender, sexual orientation, and race.

The primary argument that Wallace and Pugh make, is that the joy and excitement that readers achieve from the Harry Potter novels can be directly used as fuel for the class room. “Students already enjoy these texts as a form of play, and teachers should help students engage with them in a spirit both playful and intellectual” (Wallace and Pugh 97). The opposing train of thought argues that the use of the novels is instead giving into the whims of the students, allowing them to indulge in guilty pleasures, and wasting ever-valuable instruct time.

Wallace and Pugh argue, to which I agree with, that engaging students with material that they are comfortable with and excited about provides a zone for creation that is unrivaled. It has been argued that the learning anxiety is one of the most effective ways at halting effective learning on the end of students. If the student is in a poor home or school environment, the pressure of a class pushes the student beyond their zone of comfort, or otherwise, if a student becomes uncomfortable in their own abilities and the process of learning, then the retention rate drops to nearly zero. Rather, effective use of popular culture material (eg Harry Potter) and its application, places students in a conducive environment for success.

Furthermore, Wallace and Pugh cite argue specific examples of critical applicatoin of Harry Potter. Notably, they bring up the usage of fan fiction, “readers of these books expend considerable energy debating plots, speculating about what will happen in the final installment, and revising the stories by writing their own.” (Wallace and Pugh 97). When compared to Harry Potter, this type of critical analysis is nearly absent in “classical” or “high” literature. Not only does the usage of fan fiction require the application of critical analysis, it requires the same amount of critical application; requiring students and fans to critical examine the plot for its themes and motifs, morph them to their own agenda, and to transplant them accordingly into their own story.

Ultimately, the most effective teachers are those who are able to motivate their students to become engaged with the material at a personal level. When students become agentive in their learning, they feel the results of their own failtures and take responsibility as well as being able to claim their successes as their own doing. The Harry Potter novels contain such a rich and engaging world that is ripe with pedagogical material. For a teacher to so quickly dismiss it, it only speaks as to the laziness of the instructor. The effective use of popular culture as literature has the ability to teach just as, if not more, effectively than the same novels that have been taught for the past 50 years, “Exposing the ideological weight of the texts in service of pedagogical goals enlightens the ways in which critical thinking and critical theory help readers to comprehend how texts – and society – function” (Wallace and Pugh 100).

What happen’s at Dumbledore’s Army (DA) isn’t actually real life. The kids here, they hardly know whats going on in the world. A red flash streaks across the room and Neville goes skidding across the floor, not really a surprise. They say they all want to help the cause, to stand up for whats good in the world. But this isn’t about good and evil.

I can’t remember anything about my father, he was supposedly a good guy.

The mirrored walls of the Room of Requirement twinkled from the ethereal lighting. Two dozen heads bobbed around. Some nervously, glistening with sweat-covered foreheads. Who someone is in DA is not who they are in Hogwarts. After a night at DA, the booming halls and corridors of Hogwarts seem to shrink. The world becomes tinier and you, personally, have leveled the playing.

The Chosen One tells me that he didn’t know his father either. He says that he was a great man who changed a lot of lives.

I used to be nervous and afraid, just like the people here. I’d lie awake, confused by my own life. I’d cry. I’d sit in the empty common room at some untold hour of the night and just stare into the ever-present fire, fueled by some charm which I could never hope to learn. But that was just it, every thing is empty. Everything is just a fuel for something else.

The first DA was just The Chosen One and I. I was telling him about 16th century potion preservation practices. We still go to DA but, now, its more than just the two of us. You see some poor second year who cant tie his robes right, he was a god for 10 minutes. After countering a jinx from a sixth year and sending him crashing through a training dummy, talking to Snape doesn’t scare you much any more. In six weeks, he looks like he brews Snape’s own stock of Veritaserum.

What you see in DA is a generation raised in fear and ignorance.

There are a dozen new faces tonight. The chosen one yells, “the first rule of DA is that you don’t talk about DA.” The Chosen One and I had to turn people away. Come back next week. If you really give a crap, be here when it matters. Clearing a space in the middle of the room, he continues, “the second rule of DA is that you do not talk about DA.”

The Chosen One steps into the middle of the Room of Requirement, under a magical orb. He walks up and down the line reciting, bellowing the rest of the rules: two wizards per duel, one duel at a time, no cloaks no uniforms, duels go on as long as they have to. The Chosen One stops in front of a girl I’ve never seen before, a Ravenclaw, and yells “and the sevenths rule of DA, is that if it’s your first time at DA, you have to duel.”

DA is not like listening to Quidditch on the radio. It’s not sitting idly by watching the world, in all its supposed extravegance, pass you by. You aren’t listening to the description of the pretty colors of the robes and flags, drinking pitcher after pitcher of butterbeer, listening to the same advertisements. After you’ve been to DA, watching Quidditch is like licking the crumbs off the floor when you have the seat at the head of the table with the entire pie waiting jsut for you.

Last week, a Hufflepuff tapped me on the shoulder and we got on the list for a duel. This guy must’ve had a bad week, blasting me through the air, having my wand launched to the opposite side of the room, bending me like a pretzel with a hex I’ve never heard of. The Chosen One walks over and says, “cool.” The Hufflepuff walks over and helps me up, shaking my hand. He starts fixing the dent in the wall from where I landed as The Chosen One and I make way towards the Hospital Wing. There, The Chosen One tells Madam Pomfrey that I fell down the stairs.
Sometimes, The Chosen One speaks for me.

In “Hairy Snout, Human Heart,” Eveline Brugger has no clear thesis. Her article is simply an examination and comparison of werewolves in the Harry Potter Universe and the concept of werewolves in the real world. Additionally, she provides an apt review of literature on the topic which themselves offer differing views on the matter and be used to justify my point: the use of werewolves in the Harry Potter universe can serve as an allegory to institutionalized bigotry towards the lower-class within the United States.

In her article, Brugger compares Remus Lupin and Fenrir Greyback’s outlooks on their shared condition. Lupin, who actively tries to succeed in regular wizarding society, is met with push-back and contempt each time his condition is made public. Greyback o the other hand embraces his outcast status and actively uses it to terrorize the inhabitants of his world. Despite the fact that the way they carry themselves and how they feel about their condition is vastly different, the world as a whole treats them nearly identically. Even though Lupin regularly follows his Wolfsbane regiment and takes the due caution during his time of the month, he is given the same amount of respect as the murderous Greyback, as Brugger puts it, “…he willingly gives up his humanity in favor of his nature as a monster…” (Brugger 305).

In many ways this mimics the way that poverty is seen in the United States. For the as long as this country has existed, it has been built off of the exploitation of those who are either not educated enough to know when they are being exploited or too dependent on the system to do anything about it. I will admit that this is very different from werewolves, however, it is how they are treated by the rest of their society that becomes almost identical. They are both pushed to the fringes of society, deemed unqualified for jobs, and their interaction with the mainstream is considered unacceptable socially. Burger describes it, “..he or she will undoubtably face social backlash in the form of fear and revulsion…” (Brugger 304).

In order to help “cure” people of their poverty, our government has devoted enormous resources into helping people get back on their feet. Whether it be income assistance, project housing, or food stamps, many times those who are in poverty become dependant on these resources and lack the knowledge to become self-sufficient. In many cases, the public admission of being the recipient of social welfare programs comes with an incredibly social stigma. Likewise, Brugger notes that several werewolf assistance programs exist as well, although these seem to be for the protection of the general public instead of werewolves themselves. Furthermore, it is incredibly difficult to change social class in the United States. One of the best indicators of one’s net worth is the net worth of their parents. In this way, a life of poverty becomes almost hereditary, just like Lycanthropy. Brugger tells us that “…Lupin worries that his unborn child will be affected because his ‘kind usually don’t breed,’…” Once inflicted, the cycle starts and it becomes a roll of the dice as to whether it’s possible to escape. One may have the greatest desire to break the stigma and climb the social ladder, but often times it is not up to their own choices.

Throughout her chapter “Was Voldemort a Nazi?,” Nancy Reagin makes stark comparisons to the reign of the wizarding world’s dark lord to our world’s closest equivalent. The two both had an insatiable thirst for power and if anyone got in their way of achieving that power, they very quickly and conveniently disappeared.  Additionally, the ways that their respective parties ruled and governed were similar as well; operating primarily through questionable means and oppressive policies. As such, the two could be considered almost cut/paste copies of one another that have nearly the same motivations, goals, friends, and personal backgrounds.

Of all Hitler’s nefarious wrongdoings, the most well-known is the institutionalization of anti-Semitism. This is similar to both Voldemort and Grindlewald’s view on muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards. Although how they came to power varied, once at the height of their power, they used it to systematically oppress those that they deemed inferior to themselves. As Reagin puts it, “While some extremists in the magical community campaigned to persuade the Ministry to classify mugggles as beasts rather than as human beings…[others] considered wizards to be an entirely separate race from humans.” As Voldemort was seizing power in the Ministry of Magic, he went so far as to replace the statue depicting wizards living peacefully with other races with one showcasing wizard superiority.  As far as I am aware of, Hitler did not go as far as to erect statues blatantly highlighting his views of jewish inferiority, however, he instead systematically committed genocide against non-aryans.

The primary difference between Hitler and Voldemort rests in how they governed their empires. Although they both retained absolute power and control, Hitler sat at the helm of his ship and was the energetic and charismatic leader. Conversely, Voldemort worked almost exclusively from the shadows typically allowing his higher ranking officers to lead while he attended to personal missions. Reagin addresses it herself, “…he [Voldemort] was certainly willing to let his followers pursue their vision of pureblood superiority while he was abroad.” The Death Eaters seem much more adept at acting on their own, without their leader, than the various branches of Hitler’s empire. Furthermore, Voldemort also seemed much more willing to allow his high-ranking officers to use their empire to pursue their own agendas as long as it did not act against Voldemort’s goals: absolute power and immortality.

Regardless of how they personally ruled, their respective parties maintained power in remarkable similar ways: rulings, edicts, and laws. Few people recognize that Hitler came to power through free and democratic elections. It was only after that when he re-shaped the system to ensure he remained in power indefinitely. And it was in that very way that made him so brilliantly manipulative: he used the system and played by the system’s own rules to change the system in his favor. it was only after he was at that point when the oppression of his enemies began. But even still, the oppression that he instituted was legal; he changed the law so that he was allowed to make laws that prevented Jews from succeeding in society. Voldemort work in the same way. After mobilizing his followers and seizing control of the ministry (although in a way rather different from Hitler), Voldemort began issues slews of new restrictions and false reports to suit his agenda. Reagin supports this claim by referring to the Deathly Hallows when Lupin tells Harry, “unless you can prove that you have at least one Wizarding relative, you are now deemed to have obtained your power illegally and must suffer the punishment.” When the level of government autocracy has been reached when they are permitted to freely publish oppressive decrees, such as Voldemort’s against muggle-borns or Hitler’s against Jews, a revolution and revolt is surely in order.

Although the two had vastly different personalities and styles of leadership, their main goals proved to be markedly similar: reshaping the world as they saw fit and achieving total authority. Even though Voldemort prized his own personal power and longevity before anything else compared to Hitler’s determination of establishing Aryans as the leading power of the world, they were both ruthless in their resolve to achieve their goals and commanded the unquestioned loyalty of their subordinates. Ultimately, they both succumbed to the powers of the greater good but their actions scarred their respective worlds and their inhabitants. In any case, comparing the two comes easy for their outlook on the world and their opponents was scarily similar.