Theme Of Discrimination In Harry Potter

For centuries, one of the most controversial aspects of society was racism. Minorities and ethnic groups are despised and viewed with abhorrence since the coming of the Industrial Revolution.

All throughout history, prejudice has been a part of society. Discrimination and intolerance are built into human nature. Less than 100 years ago, Blacks were still in the bonds of slavery. However, Blacks were not the only ethnical group that was ever mistreated. During the First World War, Germans in the United States were looked down upon by nearly all of the other citizens. Only a few years later, during World War II, the Japanese that happened to be in America were put into camps due to the incident at Pearl Harbor. During the mass immigration to the United States in the early 1900s, the Irish were met with signs in the workplace stating, "No Irish Need Apply." Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on two prejudices throughout

Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Racism is man’s gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, characters face many acts of racial discrimination growing up while living in the South during the 1930’s. In the novel Hurston shows how a racial caste system is formed. As the story progresses, the reader is able to see how the caste system affects different characters in different ways. This shows that even if people do not experience oppression in the same way as another, it doesn’t mean that they don’t bare the same weight, but might react to the weight differently.

Imagine living in barracks, starved, then gassed because of your religion. Getting accused of raping someone because of your skin tone, then getting put in prison. Or getting spat upon because you’re a Jew. All of these things occurred at some point in history, and we are shown what this is like through novels, plays and book such as; “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, “The Merchant of Venice”, and real world occurrences such as the Holocaust. Today I will be talking to you about the ways that prejudice is portrayed in all four of the novels, plays and historic time marks.

“Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.”(Marguerite Gardiner Blessington). Over the years, countless people have fallen in to the dark abyss of prejudice because they merely following the trend of society. Prejudice is exactly what it sounds like; its root words are firmly planted. Prejudice may be defined as the act of pre judging someone because of their race, religion, sex, ethnic background, or can be based solely on how they look. Prejudice is a flaw in society many have dealt with for centuries, but one race has suffered in the United States of America where “all men are equal”, more than any other race in history. If all men are created equal, how could we treat people of a different color so unjustly? It is a travesty that cannot be forgotten and that can not, must not, and shall not be repeated. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee states the truth behind a world with closed minds. She put the world into perspective through her commentary that is still relevant today. Through her writing, we see the compassion, sympathy, and tolerance, or the lack thereof, from all perspectives: a father, a racist man, a confused woman, children, negroes, and a dear lawyer named Atticus Finch.

People around the world face prejudice everyday. Prejudice has been around forever. They voice their opinions and through that comes with discrimination. They are criticized for their race, gender, or even how they act. They might not do anything wrong, but the way other societies and regions view them, they might have different opinions of how they act. Some people have dealt there way through prejudice, while others have to keep fighting for what they believe in or do. A single person might not even know who or for what they really think about someone or thing until they actually see it. In To Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Atticus Finch faced prejudice in their town for being ‘different’ or ‘weird’.

In the fictional world of Harry Potter Giants are vicious creatures that have killing in their nature, house-elves are born into slavery and compelled to serve a wizarding family until they die, and mudbloods (wizards born by non- magical parents) are untalented low class wizards, which are unworthy of representing the wizarding community. Now although all these statements might ring true in the ears of many wizards these statements are questioned and all proven unjust throughout the Harry Potter series. Throughout the Harry Potter novels J.K. Rowling presents discrimination as an ideology throughout the novels to show how discrimination is evident in the real world.

The rough but smooth texture of the newspaper is against my hand, I turn my head right and a feel water coming down from my eyes the sun has hit my eyes. The bus stops a woman a little darker than me sits down in the front, *gasp* " what is she doing, she is going to get in trouble" I whisper to myself. The movement of the bus made the hit my shoulder against the window, my lips move into a smile and my hand moves right to left, the woman replies with a smile in her face, I noticed two stops more and I am home the bus stops once again. Noises are in the background I look up and there is a white woman fighting with the lady I smiled to the bus driver was even in the white woman side.The bus driver kept repeating "Rosa, Rosa, Rosa" I am guessing that is her name she refused to give up her seat to the lady

While writing the bestseller Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J.K. Rowling was struggling on welfare in a coffee shop. Like Rowling, the heros in her novel are social outcasts. Harry is an orphan; Ron comes from poverty; and Hermione comes from a non-wizard family. Harry grows up in the non-magical world, raised by non-magical folk. He is maltreated because he is different, and to an extent an uninvited part of the family. The real world exhibits prejudice due to race, religion, gender and social class on an everyday basis. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone is set in a fantasy world that is far from the ordinary world readers are used to, however; prejudice is a theme that is dealt with throughout the whole story, much like

The impact that racism has on To Kill A Mockingbird creates several complications throughout the novel. Many of the characters experience being racially profiled, their self-esteem being lowered publically and having stereotypes put on them. The combination of these acts against the African Americans in this novel allows Scout and Jem to realize the effects of discrimination and allows them both to learn lessons. The morals that are taught from witnessing the opposing race being treated as less than human helps guide people in the right direction in the future using the knowledge gained from past experiences. Most of the characters witness unfairness throughout the novel, which contributes to them making brave decisions.

When people think of gender discrimination, they probably think of things like wage gaps or one gender believing they are better than the other. Compared to the gender discrimination in the past, however, the discrimination today is not nearly as bad. American women were not allowed to vote until 1920. Many places viewed women as property or less important than men. Pride and Prejudice is set in a time where the latter examples of gender discrimination were common. To fully understand the book’s examples of gender discrimination, one must know what the social standards of its time period were.

Throughout literature characters have faced oppression in many forms including racism and sexism. Twentieth century authors have successfully captured both hardships endured and the triumphs realized. Nelson Mandela once said “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Mandela professes that humans are not born to hate someone of a different color or to treat them differently. They are taught that people can survive, even flourish in the face of such adversity. The Younger family in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine

Prejudice is a topic of interest to social psychologists and society as a whole. Prejudice can be defined as ‘an attitude that predisposes a person to think, feel, perceive and act in a favourable or unfavourable way towards a group or its individual members’ (Secord and Backman, 1974, p). Prejudice is often the cause of negative behaviour such as bullying and aggression. Discrimination such as; racism, ageism, sexism, nationalism, classism may occur as a result. Jane Elliot’s study: A Class Divided (1968) attempts to highlight prejudicial behaviour in children. Elliot divided her class into groups of eye colour. She told the children that blue eye colour defined people to be more intelligent and superior to those with brown eyes.

Although our culture is said to be completely removed from the idea of racial discrimination, this sense of inequality can be seen occurring behind the scenes within our society. Within the subtopic of race, several areas including our current culture, social psychology and the current format of our social institutions allow for the production and often the reproduction of racial discrimination in our day and age. Throughout this course, the various readings and class lectures have been very beneficial when examining the impact that racial discrimination and inequality has on our society. In this paper, I will delve into the subtopic of race and ethnicity and expound on how it is greatly influenced by our culture, social psychology, and social institutions around us today.

The fantasy novels encompassing the adventures of the protagonist Harry Potter, written by JK Rowling revolve around the themes of love, loyalty and undying friendship. Although the book is laden with examples of the above, it is not only a story of the battle between good and evil, but is filled with social and political concerns of racism or caste discrimination and slavery. Although the novel is set in a magical world it still parallels the ethical issues present in todays world. Hence through this is essay I would like to argue that JK Rowling tries to bring to our attention the ethical issues of todays world through the infamous series Harry Potter by using examples of slavery caste/racial discrimination and gender equality throughout the series.