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Harry Potter is Oliver Twist

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meh
emilyroxx said:
Hate to break it to you kid, but this dude's a nutcase.

"But there are other stereotypes in the books far more offensive than these. The goblins are the most blatant example. They are physically small, dark of hair and eyes, clannish, and long-nosed; what's more, they control all the money. Worse yet, they have no compunction about "cheating" humans, and have, it seems, started several wars. This picture of the goblins combines several of the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes."
I don't think that this person has even read the books. If they had, they would know that they started the wars for EQUAL RIGHTS. The fact that they think that the goblins started several wars makes it looks like they think that the Jews started several wars (WWII?) therefore making him racist. Lord Voldemort is BASED off of Hitler, smart one. There's no way that JKR could be anti-semitic. But it's interesting that they think that Jews have no problem cheating people of other religions.

"As other commentators have pointed out, the giants and centaurs also fit a couple of typical 19th century stereotypes - those of "savage" or "natural" man."
Dolores Umbridge thought that Centaurs were savages too. Trust me, they aren't.

"Arthur routinely obliviates Muggles as part of his job, and Hermione alters her parents' memories and sends them to Australia to protect them from Voldemort - apparently without ever asking their opinions, although she is their child."
Yeah, "Mum, is it okay if I erase your memories of me? It would kind of help me out."
"Well of course sweetie, go right ahead."
You wish.

"Inferior races - like Muggles or house elves or goblins or giants - must be ruled for their own benefit, to protect them from themselves. If they object, they must be disciplined -- possibly by violence, or even by war."
NO NO NO NO NO. The book REPEATEDLY stresses the fact that this behavior is WRONG. How is that bad?

"This last point strikes me as particularly significant. The wife and mother of seven children gets to destroy the married woman who has refused motherhood. Similarly, Narcissa Malfoy finds the courage to first disobey and then lie to Voldemort in defense of her son. Even poor Merope Gaunt manages to get herself to an orphanage, get her child born, and name him, before she dies. In the Potterverse, mother love is always good and powerful, and nontraditional roles for women do not exist."
This doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Love is the theme of the BOOK. The fact that Bellatrix was killed by Molly shows that mothers have POWER, not that it's right to have kids. There's no mention of religion or God in the entire series, and no references to her religion in HP. (Unlike Twilight.)



It's somewhat obvious that this person has not read all of the Harry Potter series, (or at least that he misinterprets them)and I really didn't find many of his arguments THAT believable.
I also didn't see where he called Hermione Racist.
But I thought the connections were interesting.
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bri-marie said:
I have to admit, some of these points made me chuckle. I love it when people who haven't truly read the books try and point out flaws :)

"Slytherin is the house that produces Dark Wizards"
Yes. Along with Gryffindor. Remember Peter Pettigrew? He was from Gryffindor. Sirius Black was from Gryffindor and everyone thought he was a Death Eater.
Regulus, like Severus, ended up being a good guy (he stole the horcrux from Voldemort and attempted to destroy it). They both were from Slytherin.

"And a little social climber like Severus Snape, who aspires far beyond his station, must be put down. It is not insignificant, I think, that James Potter and Sirius Black are both members of the social elite - independently wealthy purebloods, and, in Black's case, from a very old family. And they, of course, are the "good guys".
Except, Severus did "climb the ladder" in a way, did he not? Did he not become Voldemort's right hand man, one of the very few people he trusted? Was he not one of the few people Dumbledore trusted? He became friends with the wealthy pure-bloods, good friends.
As I pointed out above, Sirius was accused of murder and sent to Azkaban without a trial. His name wasn't cleared until after he died. That being said, many people don't consider him to be a "good guy" do to his horrid treatment of Severus and Kreacher. I do seem to recall Sirius bodily throwing the elf from a room. Yes, "good guy" in deed. *snort*

"We do not, however, meet his [Severus Snape's] parents, so we can't tell what problems they might have bequeathed to him."
Except we are given a few subtle and not-so-subtle hints at what his home life was like. We know he struggled through poverty and his father was very temperamental and did not like magic. We also know that, despite Sirius being in the "social elite in the Wizarding World" that he had family issues at home. He was, after all, cast from his family tree for not being a Death Eater. Or, at least, not supporting Voldemort at all.

"For the first few books, readers tend to idolize James and Lily Potter, rather as Harry does himself."
Generalization and assumption. I never idolized James and Lily - I didn't know them enough to idolize them. Respect them, yes. But not idolize.
And of course Harry idolized them! They were his parents and they died to keep him safe. Why wouldn't he?

"The idea that a child is always a copy of his parents can also be found quite frequently in 19th century British literature."
Only three characters are shown to resemble their parents: Severus, Harry, and Voldemort. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny (the only resemblance is her mother's eyes), the rest of the Weasley's, Draco, Dumbledore, and Aberforth do not resemble their parents (at least, not the extent Voldemort, Sev, and Harry do - everyone looks like their parents in some way).

"The goblins are the most blatant example. They are physically small, dark of hair and eyes, clannish, and long-nosed; what's more, they control all the money. Worse yet, they have no compunction about "cheating" humans, and have, it seems, started several wars."
For their own rights and freedoms. emilyroxx said it perfectly.

"Arthur routinely obliviates Muggles as part of his job, and Hermione alters her parents' memories and sends them to Australia to protect them from Voldemort - apparently without ever asking their opinions, although she is their child."
The wizarding world has to be kept secret from the muggles - it's why everyone was so upset about the flying car and doing spells in front of them. Of course Arthur has to remove their memories of spells and wizards.
Hermione did it to protect them. Perhaps this person doesn't share the same feelings for their parents as I do mine, but I would do anything to protect my parents, even if it meant erasing their memory of me and sending them away.

"Inferior races - like Muggles or house elves or goblins or giants - must be ruled for their own benefit, to protect them from themselves."
Yes. That is exactly why Hermione, not only went to such great lengths in GoF, but went on to change those rules after book seven.

"Molly is quite intolerant of Muggles -- the first words we hear from her are a criticism of the number of Muggles at King's Cross,"
I say things about how packed places are all the time. Does that mean I'm "intolerant" of the human race? No, it means I'm frustrated with the amount of people in one place.

"she home schools all seven of them before they begin Hogwarts."
Most wizards are home-schooled before they begin Hogwarts.

"The wife and mother of seven children gets to destroy the married woman who has refused motherhood."
OR because Bellatrix killed her cousin, tortured her friends, and was trying to kill her daughter. Could that, maybe, be a reason?

"mother love is always good and powerful, and nontraditional roles for women do not exist."
Yeah . . . how many women work in the Ministry? And, depending on your definition of "non-traditional roles", how many women work at all?

"Women are always seen in relationship, never by themselves."
Hermione is only shown to ever have two real relationships throughout the series. One was with Krum and didn't last very long and she and Ron didn't get together until towards the end. Bellatrix is never said (in the books) to be married and we never see her with Rodolphus. We know nothing about McGonnagall, Hooch, Grubbly-Plank, Sprout, Madam Pompfrey, Trewlawny, or Rita Skeeter. They all play important parts, at one time or another. Were they married, divorced, dating, engaged, widowed? We don't know, but it doesn't make them any less of a character.
Also, Luna, a major character, isn't ever shown to be in a relationship.
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The section concerning women is just plain ridiculous. It's already been covered, though.

Most people comment on the lack of a safety net in the society. I hate to break this to you, but life isn't perfect. Society isn't flawless, so why is it so bad that a writer portrays as flawed? In the case of 'no help for Merope', Riddle was born in 1926, which was before the welfare state. There was no safety net for poor people.

Another comment addresses the 3 hallows, and says that the successful brother is the one who had no ambition. Despite the fact that that makes little sense, it is probably worth noting that the point of that story was 'don't be afraid of death, because it comes', not 'who can be the best'.

The same comment also says that Ron saying the moral is 'don't go looking for trouble, just keep your head down and you'll be ok' is saying 'know your place'. All I can is 'wow. Next time, read the book properly'.

Know, onto the comment that says Hermione is a racist.

"I think JKR is "liberal" in the same sense that Hermione is, with certain things so taken for granted that they're not even examined. For instance, you mention "The White Man's Burden," and I think she does try to critique it ... even while still displaying it. There are TWO angles to that paternalistic attitude. First, there is the obvious angle where those of "lesser" intelligence/non-European/lower class must be "ruled over" or "taken care of" by their (genetic) betters (an attitude that harks all the way back to the Greeks, perhaps best articulated by Aristotle in his Politics)."

I don't think that was the point of SPEW. I always thought Hermione was trying to help. Just that. The fact that she thought of them as equals was quite evident throughtout the books.

"But there is a more insidious version that we see Hermione display (and one that I suspect reflects Rowling's?) ... we need the white, cultured, educated European to "free" the disempowered because they obviously can't do it themselves ... as Hermione attempts to champion the house-elves. But here, the view is that "freeing" them really means "making them over in our image." It is to be preferred perhaps to the violence of outright rule, but the "kind" master is still a master, and the one who comes in to help while dictating what help is needed -- without consulting the people BEING helped -- is just as patronizing."

I don't see why there was a need to bring in Hermione's intelligence. Her cleverness was not the point, even she didn't see that as the most important thing. I always thought it odd that she never asked the house elves, but I think she was going off what Dobby was saying- he was a house elf that was much happier with his freedom.
Also, Hermione's moves to house elves are suppose to be seen as wrong.
Yet another comment says that the women who pursue 'unnatural' roles are seen as wrong. I disagree. What about Luna, Ginny, or Hermione? All three are seen as unnatural as they try to become more, but they aren't seen as wrong.

I'll leave this here, but I intend to add on as I read more of the comments.








P.S: Also, the writer seems to claim that all Slytherin's are evil. This is a view I never understood. It is never claimed that all Slytherin's are evil, just that (at the time of PS) Dark Wizards came from Slytherin. But to me, that makes sense. Dark Wizards follow Voldemort because they seek power- ambition. The Sorting Hat sees a person more than anything else, so of course he can tell exactly who has the ambition and drive to do such things. Slytherin is the house for people with ambition.
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meh
Are you just trying to compare Harry Potter to EVERYTHING now? This is getting veeeeeeeery ridiculous.
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Darkshine said:
This was moronic. Whoever wrote this must be out of their wits.
I agree with emilyroxx, bri-marie and MissKnowItAll.
Have you even read Harry Potter, KOF?
If you did, you would know that none of this is true.
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