On racism in the Potterverse-
Nov. 29th, 2011 12:02 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockThis quote was in our advent bulletin, and it struck me very strongly.
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.
That, of course, is C.S. Lewis. I believe the quote is taken from Mere Christianity. Once upon a time, when the Potter books were becoming enormously popular, Rowling gave an interview - I think in Time magazine. In this interview, she took some pains to distinguish herself from C.S. Lewis. One thing I remember her saying is that her books were different from his because, in hers, the children would be allowed to grow up. One can ask whether, in the end, the trio did grow up. I rather think not. But that's not the major difference I see in the two authors' works.
If you read the Narnia books attentively, you can see that Lewis really believed the extraordinary statement he made above. Yes, from a modern pov, one can read him as racist and sexist. But NO ONE in the Narnia books is condemned because of their birth, social status, or genetic heritage. Everyone has free will and everyone, in the end, can choose to come to Aslan's country. It's up to them whether they will so choose or not.
In the Potter books, there is a sort of Venn diagram of specialness. The vast majority of people are Muggles. They cannot even see Hogwarts, and the special people treat them, at best, with condescension. Inside this large circle is a tiny one, of all the Witches and Wizards. They are the real human beings, the people who matter. Inside this tiny circle, again, is another circle, consisting of perhaps 1/4 of the magical people. These are the Gryffindors, and they are the elect.*
Nobody can choose to be magical, as Calormenes like Emeth and Aravis, Dwarves like Poggin and Trumpkin, beasts like Reepicheep and Puzzle, and ordinary humans like the Pevensie parents can choose to love Aslan. If Muggles could choose magic, Petunia would surely have accompanied Lily to Hogwarts. She didn't. You are either born a Wizard, or you're nothing.
Nor, some fans to the contrary, do you get to choose whether you're a Gryffindor. We've all beaten this dead horse repeatedly, I know, but it's worth repeating. Dumbledore does not tell Harry that our choices make us what we are. He says our choices show what we are. If we choose to be in Gryffindor, that is because we are predestined to be among the elect. If we choose to be in Slytherin, then there is probably no help for us - at least, not as far as I can see.
Against this background of extreme privilege, Rowling attempts to tell a story in which racism is the primary evil. The fact that every Witch and Wizard we see is racist against Muggles simply doesn't matter - because Muggles don't matter. And there is no analysis, in the books, of how anti-Muggle racism leads naturally to anti-Muggleborn racism. It's perfectly okay to mock and torment the Dursleys. But it's not okay to mock and torment Hermione, who is a Witch. It's especially not okay to mock Harry, the hero.
Contrast this, again, with Lewis. He says, ...it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendours...Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.
Quite a contrast, isn't it? Whatever you think of Lewis, ask yourself this: what sort of boy would Harry have become if he had realized, even for one moment, that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were immortals?
Just a thought.
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.
That, of course, is C.S. Lewis. I believe the quote is taken from Mere Christianity. Once upon a time, when the Potter books were becoming enormously popular, Rowling gave an interview - I think in Time magazine. In this interview, she took some pains to distinguish herself from C.S. Lewis. One thing I remember her saying is that her books were different from his because, in hers, the children would be allowed to grow up. One can ask whether, in the end, the trio did grow up. I rather think not. But that's not the major difference I see in the two authors' works.
If you read the Narnia books attentively, you can see that Lewis really believed the extraordinary statement he made above. Yes, from a modern pov, one can read him as racist and sexist. But NO ONE in the Narnia books is condemned because of their birth, social status, or genetic heritage. Everyone has free will and everyone, in the end, can choose to come to Aslan's country. It's up to them whether they will so choose or not.
In the Potter books, there is a sort of Venn diagram of specialness. The vast majority of people are Muggles. They cannot even see Hogwarts, and the special people treat them, at best, with condescension. Inside this large circle is a tiny one, of all the Witches and Wizards. They are the real human beings, the people who matter. Inside this tiny circle, again, is another circle, consisting of perhaps 1/4 of the magical people. These are the Gryffindors, and they are the elect.*
Nobody can choose to be magical, as Calormenes like Emeth and Aravis, Dwarves like Poggin and Trumpkin, beasts like Reepicheep and Puzzle, and ordinary humans like the Pevensie parents can choose to love Aslan. If Muggles could choose magic, Petunia would surely have accompanied Lily to Hogwarts. She didn't. You are either born a Wizard, or you're nothing.
Nor, some fans to the contrary, do you get to choose whether you're a Gryffindor. We've all beaten this dead horse repeatedly, I know, but it's worth repeating. Dumbledore does not tell Harry that our choices make us what we are. He says our choices show what we are. If we choose to be in Gryffindor, that is because we are predestined to be among the elect. If we choose to be in Slytherin, then there is probably no help for us - at least, not as far as I can see.
Against this background of extreme privilege, Rowling attempts to tell a story in which racism is the primary evil. The fact that every Witch and Wizard we see is racist against Muggles simply doesn't matter - because Muggles don't matter. And there is no analysis, in the books, of how anti-Muggle racism leads naturally to anti-Muggleborn racism. It's perfectly okay to mock and torment the Dursleys. But it's not okay to mock and torment Hermione, who is a Witch. It's especially not okay to mock Harry, the hero.
Contrast this, again, with Lewis. He says, ...it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendours...Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.
Quite a contrast, isn't it? Whatever you think of Lewis, ask yourself this: what sort of boy would Harry have become if he had realized, even for one moment, that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were immortals?
Just a thought.
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Date: 2011-12-04 05:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's why many people have problems with that quote and find it patronizing and insulting. To use real-life names, it'd be like saying, "All good deeds are accepted by Jesus, no matter who does them, and all bad deeds are accepted by Muhammad." Ergo, Muhammad is evil and Jesus is good. The Muslims who think that they're being moral are really Christians deep-down but don't know it, and the Christians who are evil are No True Christians who are really following the corrupt teachings of Muhammad and don't know it. No Christian could ever be truly Christian and be evil and no Muslim could ever be truly Muslim and be good.
You could argue that Tash is supposed to stand in for the devil, not a god/prophet of another religion, so the quote is really meant to slam Christian hypocrites who claim to be holy and righteous, but do terrible things. But considering that the Calormenes, who follow Tash, live in the desert and are frequently described as having dark skin...yeah, people can get plenty of Unfortunate Implications from that.
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Date: 2011-12-04 06:15 pm (UTC)1. That Calormene and Calormenes are not "born evil", nor is their society wholly bad. We know this because
a. A glorified Calormene is part of Aslan's country, and
b. Emeth and Aravis, two noble-hearted people, learned their values in Calormene.
2. That the Calormenes are NOT stands-in for Muslims. Nor is the worship of Tash at all equated with Islam. Tash is a demon, and his worshippers are Pagans who practice human sacrifice. In the world of the books, their beliefs actually ARE wrong. But they are not entirely wrong. As I said above, Aravis and Emeth learned honor, courage, family love and loyalty from somewhere. See my statement above, about what Lewis and Tolkien hoped to imply about pre-Christian religions.
I'm sorry, but on this quote (which is actually several pages), I think you and Sharaz Jek and I really will have to agree to differ. I just don't see it as cruel and condescending at all. But then-
I do think my religion is true, but I also think it's a religion. Because they are, in part, human constructs, all religions also contain falsehoods. Not because people are bad, but because we're imperfect. People can also use religions as instruments of control and oppression, which is very wrong. Christians certainly do that, and have done that!
What I'm saying is that everybody who practices any religion, Christian or not, will at some point undergo Emeth's experience. All of us are wrong, at least occasionally. But we can learn! And there is hope and joy in that.
I just see (as does Horridporrid, on livejournal) much more hope, kindness and compassion in Lewis than I do in Rowling. Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes.
But we probably won't get any further discussing this. In the way of offering a hand of peace, one place where I think Lewis does fail is his sexism. I do agree (and I forget who said this) that I'd far rather my young cousins and any other girls I know model themselves on Aravis or Jill rather than Hermione or Ginny - or, heaven help us, Lily or Petunia. And Orual rocks SO HARD! That said, it is troubling to me that Lewis's scariest villains are powerful women.
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Date: 2011-12-07 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-07 01:05 pm (UTC)Jill is awesome - I think we can all agree on that. Aravis though - I cannot get over how at the end she goes off with Lucy to squee over wedding stereotypical girly stuff. So much awesome all through the book, her entire plotline so much better than Shasta's, and then suddenly Lewis sidelines her (and Lucy - she reads almost as out of character here as Aravis) in such a bizarre way.
In fact, I don't remember Lasaraleen as being that bad a character either - she may have been stereotypical-boarding-school-girly-girl, but she was loyal and brave and trustworthy as well. Something JKR could have learned from.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-08 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-07 06:04 pm (UTC)If Lewis had any real-life religion in mind when writing about Tash, I'd guess that it was Phoenecian/Canaanite paganism rather than Islam. I'm not sure if the Calormenes worship images of him, but he's definitely given some physical appearance, since the characters can recognise him when he shows up in TLB. He's also (IIRC) offered human sacrafices. In the Bible, Baal and other such gods were worshipped as graven images, given human sacrifices, and their priests were frequently opposed to the Israelite priests, just as Tash is opposed to Aslan in TLB. You could say that Christianity and Islam have often been opposed, but on the whole I think that Tash is more like the Canaanite gods than he is like Allah, for all the superficial Arabness of Calormene culture.