Mary, let me say again, just in case I haven't been clear enough - I really appreciate this conversation. It's sharpening my thinking.
But she has been very consistent in showing Muggles as inferior to Wizards, so I'm not sure you can give her that leeway, really.
There are several important things to say about this. First, the overall perception of Muggles in the WW has to be set in its context, as does the entire Muggle/WW relationship: Wizards are the oppressed, subjugated group in the relationship, not Muggles. The WW's hiddenness, including memory charms, etc., all have to do with the simple fact that if Muggles discovered the WW, they'd obliterate it. That adds a lot of complexity to the discussion.
Given that, then, it should be no surprise that there is an overall widespread disdain for Muggles in the WW. The question we have to ask is whether Rowling herself intends us to see all Muggles as fools, or whether she's describing a prejudice in the WW, and I think it's most definitely the latter. Arthur Weasley (who has his own issues, of course) has the Muggle Protection Act, which is a gutsy move; what other witches and wizards, besides Dumbledore, would think it a good idea to protect the people who are responsible for the WW's having to hide and pretend not to exist in the first place? And this act is certainly portrayed as a good thing, despite widespread WW opposition.
Further, we learned in DH that there were, in the past, towns where Wizards and Muggles got along peaceably.
Finally, it's not a story about Muggles; it's a story about the hidden WW.
So I think there is ample space to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt on Hermione's very odd choice to give her parents new identities. I think your point about not rewriting would serve as a sufficient explanation there. She probably should have re-thought and re-written that part.
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Date: 2008-07-02 04:16 pm (UTC)But she has been very consistent in showing Muggles as inferior to Wizards, so I'm not sure you can give her that leeway, really.
There are several important things to say about this. First, the overall perception of Muggles in the WW has to be set in its context, as does the entire Muggle/WW relationship: Wizards are the oppressed, subjugated group in the relationship, not Muggles. The WW's hiddenness, including memory charms, etc., all have to do with the simple fact that if Muggles discovered the WW, they'd obliterate it. That adds a lot of complexity to the discussion.
Given that, then, it should be no surprise that there is an overall widespread disdain for Muggles in the WW. The question we have to ask is whether Rowling herself intends us to see all Muggles as fools, or whether she's describing a prejudice in the WW, and I think it's most definitely the latter. Arthur Weasley (who has his own issues, of course) has the Muggle Protection Act, which is a gutsy move; what other witches and wizards, besides Dumbledore, would think it a good idea to protect the people who are responsible for the WW's having to hide and pretend not to exist in the first place? And this act is certainly portrayed as a good thing, despite widespread WW opposition.
Further, we learned in DH that there were, in the past, towns where Wizards and Muggles got along peaceably.
Finally, it's not a story about Muggles; it's a story about the hidden WW.
So I think there is ample space to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt on Hermione's very odd choice to give her parents new identities. I think your point about not rewriting would serve as a sufficient explanation there. She probably should have re-thought and re-written that part.