Power politics

     " Discourse of Power and politics in Harry Potter"

'Harry Potter' is popular. But where is the politics? At the most explicit levels Rowling provides the readers with a outline of a political system: the ministry of magic. This parallel political system is kept secret from the ―nonmagic people the ―Muggle. Harry
Potter presents at multiple levels the different manifestations of power. There is the struggle between power and ethics showed through the war between the death eaters and the wizardingcommunity. There are other structures of power like the headmaster Dumbledore and professorslike Snape, Umbridge enforcing disciplinary methods like detention and other punishments.
In his ―History of Sexuality Foucault approaches the concept of power in this manner:

“ power is everywhere, not because it embraces everything but because itcomes from everywhere. And power insofar is repetitious, inert and self-reproducing…power is not an institution, not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with it; it is the name of a complex strategical situation in a particular society.” (Bhattacharya)

Politics and children’s literature appear to be incompatible, for politics is essentially an adult area of experience concerning the acquisition, maintenance, control, and manipulation of power whereas children’s literature is generally characterized by innocence, entertainment, and fantasy. However, since children’s literature is largely written, produced, and consumed by adults, it is believed that an author may advance some political message under the guise of children’s literature. Of late, there has been a trend to find out the political ideologies and affiliations of popular fiction writers such as J. K. Rowling, who have been very successful in the genre of children’s literature. As the popularity of the Harry Potter series of novels transcends national frontiers and cultural and linguistic barriers, a not-so-unfamiliar question keeps raising its head from time to time: ‘Are the Harry Potter novels politically motivated?’

Rowling has faced criticism from some quarters on grounds of packaging and promoting racism, subversion, homosexuality, black magic, and anti-government, anti-globalist, anti-capitalist, pro-Third World sentiments in the Harry Potter novels.

Almost everyone in the wizarding world, and most of JK Rowling’s readers, agree that Dumbledore would have made an infinitely better Minister for Magic than Cornelius Fudge. After the mistake of appointing Fudge, you would hope that choosing the new Minister would be done carefully and by at least consulting the wizarding community – after all, Voldemort is back. And yet we are simply introduced to Scrimgeour, and equally to Thicknesse when Voldemort manages to infiltrate the Ministry. As there had never been an open election or even discussion about a new Minister it’s easy enough for Thicknesse simply to be presented as the new Minister without anyone daring to speak out. There seem to be enough Muggle-born wizards and witches that the Muggle-Born Registration Committee would not have come into place so very easily if there had been a way to oppose or block the initiative publicly.

“‘Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard — like an equal –‘”

The wizarding world is not a good place to be different. Giants, centaurs, house elves, werewolves, goblins and Muggle-borns are just some of the groups we see are treated as second-class citizens or even slaves by at least some of the wizarding community. What cannot however be argued with is the fact that laws can protect minorities, and can start the process of changing people’s attitudes. In contrast however, the Ministry bans non-human magic creatures from carrying wands, permits house elves to be enslaved for generations at a time.
The lack of support from the Ministry for any sort of rights for non-human magical creatures stands in contrast to really quite progressive equality laws we see worldwide now. (Samantha) #An Analysis of the Apprehensions Regarding Politics in the Harry Potter Series:Rowling has been accused of doing ‘politics’ in the Harry Potter novels largely due to the lifelike character of Lord Voldemort, the villain of the fantasy series. He is chiefly concerned with the acquisition of power and growing more and more powerful even at the cost of himself. Voldemort, the dark lord of the underworld, believes that “There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those too weak to seek it”.

We may benefit from what Rowling has herself to say about any political message she had in mind while writing the books. When asked about the politics and message in Harry Potter, Rowling explained: “I wanted Harry to leave our world and find exactly the same problems in the wizarding world. So you have the intent to impose a hierarchy, you have bigotry, and this notion of purity, which is this great fallacy, but it crops up all over the world. People like to think themselves superior and that if they can pride themselves in nothing else they can pride themselves on perceived purity. So yeah that follows a parallel [to Nazism]. It wasn’t really exclusively that. I think you can see in the Ministry even before it's taken over, there are parallels to regimes we all know and love.” She also said, “You should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.”  Rowling wants to say that politics has become a part of modern life, but it is the root of all problems, not solutions.
(Dash)

Works Cited

Bhattacharya, Paramita. Harry Potter through the Foucauldian lens: Exploring beyond the fantasy fiction:The magical world in new dimension. 15 February 2018 

<http://www.academia.edu/8572152/Foucauldian_Lens_Harry_Potter>.

Dash, Rajendra Kumar. "Chasing the Shadow:Is the Harry Potter Series a Political Discourse?" LANGUAGE IN INDIA 12 (2012).

 Love,Samantha. The Politics of Harry Potter: Corrupt Law and Totalitarian Government. 23 May 2014. 14 February 2018 <https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/harry-potter-law.html>.