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Critical Analysis: Harry Potter

Marxism Approach

MHR SOLUTIONS
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Harry Potter novels were written by J.K Rowling and written seven books since 1997 to 2007.

This write up is based on the themes used in the novel with the Marxist approach and discusses

how the discrimination and suppression is working in the real world society.
Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Analysis

3. Discussion

4. Conclusion & Relation to Marxcism

Introduction

Marxcism was introduced by Karl Max. Karl Max visualizes the society structure on two

pendulums the powerful and the deprived groups of the society primarily based on the economic

power. Those who hold control over the society resources are considered more knowledgeable

more intelligent and keeps control of the deprived groups of the society.

Karl Marx's studies have provided a basis for much in socialist theory and research. Marxism

aims to revolutionize the concept of work through creating a classless society built on control

and ownership of the means of production. In such a society, the means of production (the base

in the architectural metaphor Marx uses to analyze and describe the structure of any given

society in written human history) are possessed in common by all people rather than being

owned by an elite ruling class. (Wikipedia)

Some Marxist theorists explain this theory as “getting and keeping economic power is the motive

behind all social and political education. n………” (Tyson). This criticism is based on the

hypothetical view that there are two classes of society. A high class called capitalist and a low

class called proletarians. Now one needs to visualize how capitalist suppress the proletarians.

Capitalist have the power and they use this power to control the working class called

proletarians. The two classes are differentiated on the basis of economic differences between

them.
 Tyson on the other hand does not restrict the description to economic difference only. He

considers power in a broader context and takes into account all powers not just economic power.

We can take example religious group who exert and maintain a specific power on their followers

and which is generally known as peer pressure.

Marxist approach is to engage all proletarians and group them together and fight against

the capitalist in order to keep a power balance in the society. This fight is in the shape of

rebellion. The aim is to make society more equal. The aim is to create more awareness among

the people about the society and the structure they live in.

Tyson describes further that classism should be abolished from society. This he refers to

as classism. Classism is defines as an ideology in which the humans belongs and is equal to

human beings value. The higher the social class the higher the value is because according to this

phenomena a person is considered more intelligent, ethical, trustworthy and responsible.

Whereas on the other hand people are classed as lazy and irresponsible. Class distinction is an

important part of Marxist theory.

Harry Potter is a series of novel written by J.k Rowling. He gave the first novel in 1997

and throughout till 2007 came up with seven series titled Harry Potter. It’s a fiction where there

is real world and as well as magical world. This has been analyzed from different perspectives
and is so complex that new findings can be found continuously. This analysis is used to show

how some occurrences in the novel can be used to elaborate Marxist theories and can be used to

discuss discriminatory issues that can appear in the society. The analysis and conclusion is used

to visualize and connect the fictional world and provides and broader result to its readers. More

than one novels are taken into consideration for this analysis to show the general tendencies of

the theories, used by Marxism, that are repeating throughout the series. This gives multiple

dimensions to critically analyze the novel with Marxist approach. A brief about Harry Potter is

given below for the readers to make our analysis meaningful at the end.

ANALYSIS:

In this analysis we will try to establish the links between Marxist theory of suppression and

discrimination in the Harry Potter novels series. The aim is to find the different occurrences

taken place in the novel regarding classism etc. We have grouped together such occurrences

from establishing a link for our critical analysis.

 Muggles and Wizards

In the novel described two humans living in magical and non-magical world and they

look at each other with different perspectives. A certain hierarchy is visible in two human

world and people in magical world are considered superior to non-magical world. The

wizards are Harry is a nasty boy and treat him as he is not present there. This was
 repeated in the novel many times and we have seen Harry getting angry due to this

behavior and his anger brings problem for the family. When Harry receives admission

letter from wizard school his uncle was trying to convince him that the people in that

school is not like us. This divide was continuous throughout the early part of the series.

The word used “we” is to establish a class as explained earlier in the introduction. Even

Hagrid in its meeting with Harry used the words like “our world “your world” "my

world” etc. again establishing that there are two worlds to live in. Hagrid also warned that

Muggers cannot be trusted as they want everything to be done through magic. This

implies that muggles are dependent on the powers of the magical world. Muggels and

Wizards keep this type of differentiation which is evident at numerous places in the

novel. All Wizards treat Muggels as inferior beings and thinks they are the only one who

can control magic and can have better lives. The Muggels are unaware of the magic

existence just like proletariats are unaware of the capitalism in the society.

 Mudblood and Pureblood Wizards

Now we will discuss that how the difference in the wizards is described in the novel as

pure bloods and Muggels/Mud bloods. Muggels are those wizards whose parents are not

wizards and do not know that there exists a magical world. Muggels are not considered

good in magic and not suitable for the magical world. And hence considered impure. This

discrimination led to the word Mudblood. On multiple occasions throughout the series

the hatred towards Muggle-borns shows amongst dark wizards. Hagrid explains it as the

following: “there are some wizards – like Malfoy’s family – who think they’re better than

everyone else because they’re what people call pure-blood” (Chamber 121). The Lord

Voldemort was fighting against muggles and he hates them throughout the series. He
 himself was half-blood child raised by a witch mother. This hatred can be traced back to

the houses created in the school. Slytherin house was based on the combination of

Muggels with wizard blood. This was a thousand year old house. It was known for the

dark wizards and named after its founder. The Lord disliked the Muggels and those

chosen for this house at the beginning of the school shares and holds the same opinion

against the Muggels. In this way discrimination is shown in the novel. This is used as

multicultural racism in today’s world. The Pureblood believed they have the right to

study and practice the magic and all others be thrown out of the school. The Pureblood

can go to any length or behavior to gain control over others and trying to prove

themselves as the rightful owners of the magic world.

 Malfoys and Weasleys

The Weasleys are shown as the proletarians in the novel. The family head Mr. Arthur

works in ministry of magic. The mother is a house wife. On many occasions it is

described that Weasleys cannot afford a robe for their children. Malfoys are described as

capitalists in the novel. Lucius is a man of great influence over the people in the Ministry

of Magic, which in a Classist perspective shows that with money, comes power and

control over those with less money. The Malfoys enjoys more political power in the

ministry of magic than Weasleys. Malfoys are shown to be of superior class and they also

tease Weasleys that they are not as good as them. Draco Malfoy harasses Ron throughout

all of the novels for not being rich and being a part of the proletariat. Malfoys always

used their position of wealth and power to suppress Weasleys and show them that are

from the superior class. This resulted in bullying during school that Weasleys do not

afford new robes and are very poor. Thus Malfoys are presented in novel as evil and the
 Weasleys as good and loving people. Rowling’s puts Malfoys in the upper class of the

society and can be seen as capitalists. Whereas Weasleys are portrayed as proletarians in

the novel.

 House Elves Discrimination:

In this section we will discuss the role of house elves in the novel. House elves are small

creatures with big bat like ears and eyes. There are owned by families and their role to

help the family in all tasks whether legal or illegal. The family member whom they serve

is called masters. They served their masters until their death without any payment. Else

they can be freed only if they gave them a piece of cloth. The first elve was Dobby.

Dobby says that if he has done something wrong or disobeys he must punish himself.

Dobby is shown as the poorest creation in the novel which shows suppression in Marxist

approach to different classes in the society. On the other hand there is another house elf

called Winky. And who dislikes Dobby for he is demanding compensation for his work.

Winky has a total dedication towards her master. Even though she is afraid of heights she

will do what is told to her. She is afraid to be free. This fact of her fear is not highlighted

much in the novel but it is considered that she is afraid that what she will do after being

free or have been brainwashed by their masters and hence cannot think of taking liberty.

Hermonie had a strong feeling for the house elves. She can be seen as the strong

representative of the multicultural antiracism against the house elves. Her feel for house

elves where she tried to collect money for them shows a political will to do something for

the most deprived class of that society.

DISCUSSION:

We have seen in the analysis section how the division in the society is reflected in a

fictional world. This division can be observed in the real world. This is the classic example of

Marxist approach where one can think of a world with imbalances in its power and control

structure. We can relate these things to all society and can easily understand its pressure

In the first two section of the analysis we have seen how the differentiation is created

between Muggels and Wizards. Although both can practice magic but the Wizards required their

own world which is hidden from the real world. They have initialized this concept by

establishing a ministry of magic and regularly issues laws to protect the rights of Wizards. . The

hatred is shown by the Lord Voldemort and his followers towards Muggels and is seen

throughout the series.

The word Mudblood is used to give them an inferior status in that society. It is similar to

a situation when in the real world a word is used to express a particular race on the basis of color,

education, religion, awareness etc. In our real world we often came across the word “nigger” to

describe a race which is black in color and often their behavior is not accepted by the society at

large.

Another aspect which is evident in analysis is the hatred shown towards Muggels.

Malfoys use suppression techniques to outperform them by hook or by crook. This fight is

visible throughout the series and the fight between good and evil become more and more evident

as you pass through different series of the novel.

Wizards keep an upper hand on house elves and thus allowed to keep them slaves to such

an extent that they serve the masters till their death or they can only be set free by a very naïve
rule of giving them clothes. It is shown in the novel that they are worst creatures of the society

and the wizards can treat them with their animal wish. The house elves don’t have their own

wish.

CONCLUSION & RELATION TO MARXCISM:

We have seen how the aspects of discrimination and suppression are shown throughout

the novel. Other aspects can also be observed such as the gender bias which can form a new

dimension of analyzing this novel. The novel can be approached with different angles for

analysis and matching it with the real world situation.

The theme created in the novel can be related to the real world. This fictional novel can

be used to elaborate the Marxist theory in real life. The analysis presented above how the

discrimination and suppression of minorities is done in a society and is main subject of the

Marxist theory.

Marxism also focuses on the society with a view that how the power structure is made in

any society and visualizes that society into different aspects of power houses. The theorists see

society under pressure of one group over other. The novel itself shows how this division is

created and used by one group for their benefit. Some theorists believe that a society should be

viewed with the perspective of economic power where one group has the power to control others.

We can observe in this real world where developed nations make laws without recourse to the

under developed nations and the problems they have in their own society. We have observed this

in numerous wars where one group tries to overcome the other through various reasons that

could range from economic issues to religion race etc.

 Domination can take place in many forms depending on the resources one class has. If

one has economic resources it can dominate others. The resources are the one which has a value.

The one who has control over these scarce resources can dominate others extensively and thus

create disharmony in the society. If the resources have no or poor value that one group cannot

dominate others. We can take example Colonialism in the last century the effects of which can

still be observed in our society. Although many African countries are rich in minerals and

resources they are far from the developed nation and the same can be observed in different parts

of the world globally.

Marxism applies this theory to any group of society in smaller steps. It can be applied in

communities which is part of the society. The society is a part of whole state and state itself is

part of the global environment. Marxism highlights this class difference in the society which

creates injustice and emphasizes to remove it from the society.

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