Södertörns University | The Institution for Culture & Learning

C-Essay 15 hp | The Department of English | Autumn 2015

Using Selected Novels of

Harry Potter as a Tool for
Discussion in the English as a
Foreign Language Classroom
with Postcolonial and Marxist
Perspectives

By: Sophia Fransson

Supervisor: Ebere Nweze
 

Table of Conten a
Abstract
The Harry Potter novels written by J.K Rowling have been popular since the first book was
released in 1997. Rowling has written seven books about Harry and the first four together
with the Swedish National Agency for Education constitute the primary sources of this essay.
The essay discusses how these supposed children’s’ novels can be used to construct a lesson
for students in the Swedish upper secondary classroom. The lesson plan created is based on
the analysis of the possible themes of the novels using Postcolonial and Marxist critical
perspectives. The theories are used to show how discrimination and suppression can be seen
in the Harry Potter novels. Previous research has shown that the occurrences in Harry Potter is
similar to the occurrences happening in the real world and the lesson plan is created to
compare these fictional happenings with the ones happening in our real society. The lesson
plan constructed consequently focuses on how the Harry Potter novels can be used to discuss
discrimination and suppression takes place in English speaking societies as required by the
rules and guidelines provided by the Swedish National Agency for Education.

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Table of Content
1.Introduction   4  
1.2 Aim, Background and Method   5  

2.Previous  research   8  
2.1 Casting Lumos on Critical Cultural studies: Gender, Hegemony and other social stereotypes.   9  
2.2 From Hogwarts Academy to the Hero’s Journey   10  
2.3 Harry And the Other: Answering the Race Question in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter   11  
2.4 Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry Potter: Inclusion/Exclusion and Discriminatory
Policies in Fiction and Practice.   13  

3.  Theoretical  approach   15  
3.1 Marxist criticism   16  
3.2 Postcolonial Criticism   17  

4.  Analysis   19  
4.1 Muggles and Wizards   19  
4.2 Mudblood and Pureblood wizards   21  
4.3 The Malfoy’s and The Weasley’s   23  
4.4 The Discrimination of House-elves   24  

5.    Discussion   27  
6.  Conclusion   30  
7.  Works  Cited   32  

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1.Introduction
One can look at children’s novels and say that they are just children’s novels
without a deeper reflection. This essay does not want to do that, but instead take the supposed
children’s novels of Harry Potter and analyse them in order to find a deeper message. This
essay will do that by taking the four first novels about Harry potter and analyse them to find
evidence that support the theory that these novels can be used to explain more complex issues
for upper secondary students around the age of 18. The goal is, not only to construct a
hypothetical lesson plan that can be used by the author of this essay, but also to give
inspiration and show that even though it might not seem like some novels are aimed to be
read by students a certain age or used in classroom contexts, they can be. There are plenty of
contemporary children’s novels, like these about Harry Potter that are popular amongst youth
and can be used in a similar way. This essay will demonstrate one of the ways in which these
novels can be used to try to encourage youth to view literature from a different perspective
and at the same time inspire others to find new perspectives in already popular novels and use
them in classroom contexts.
The events in the first four books of Harry Potter take place in Great Britain
during the 1990’s in both a magical and a non-magical society. The protagonist of the story is
Harry Potter who is a famous teenage wizard. Harry is in the first novel not aware of his
magical abilities and lives with his non-magical aunt and uncle in a London suburb. Over the
duration of the novels Harry shifts from belonging to the non-magical world, to belonging to
the magical world and the reader gets to know the magical world and all its contents through
Harry’s own transitioning. The occurrences in the fictional world are analysed in this essay
with the aim of seeing how the fictional occurrences can be used to create a lesson plan aimed
towards English as a foreign language learners in upper secondary education in Sweden.
The fictional world of Harry Potter is a magical world. However, that fictional
world presents many common societal occurrences, which are comparable and similar to
occurrences in the non-fictional or real world. An author named Luisa Grijalva Maza writes in
her article on inclusion and exclusion in Harry Potter that “despite its wondrous
characteristics, the magical world of Harry Potter fiction is not so dissimilar from the real
world” (432) and another author named Nicolas Sheltrown notes that: “The fictional world of
Harry Potter is one that presents multiple occurrences, which are relatable to non-fictional
world.” (47). Both of these quotes show that the Harry Potter series is portraying somewhat
real world situations and the goal in this essay is to use these fictional examples to be able to
discuss real life situations with the students at the upper secondary school level.

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 When teaching in the Swedish Upper Secondary classrooms, to be adaptable is
vital. To teach ‘heavy’1 subjects, one might need to find ways to teach without getting out of
hand or too difficult for the students. The connection between a fictional and supposed
children’s novel like Harry Potter in relation to the serious subjects of suppression and
discrimination makes it possible for teachers to bring these serious subjects down to a level
that can be easier for the students to comprehend. Harry Potter can therefore not only show
how to construct a fictional analysis but also exemplify how suppression and discrimination
through class struggle or other complex societal situations can be manifested. These fictional
examples of real societal issues can then be used as a springboard for the students to conduct
a deeper analysis of society, in the English subject, as well as in other subjects the might have
in school.

1.2 Aim, Background and Method

The Harry Potter Novels have on several previous occasions been analysed with
the use of different theories and objectives. As the previous research will show later on in this
essay, the Harry Potter novels have been used to discuss gender, hegemony, feminism and so
on, both in traditional literature analyses as well as in classroom contexts. To show an
example of how one of these theories could be applied to the Harry Potter novels in classroom
a hypothetical example using the gender perspective is here shown. This hypothetical lesson
could be to provide the students with an assignment that makes them discuss Hermione’s
position as a girl and her good girl behaviour. With the help of a discussion about Hermione
students could be introduced to talk about gender-normative behaviour within their own
school environment and further on develop towards discussing about norms in general. This
would give the students a possibility to show skills in several of the criteria provided by the
Swedish National Agency for Education which will be described more thoroughly further
down in this essay.
Even though the Harry Potter novels have been analysed from multiple
perspectives previously they are so complex that new things always can be found. What
makes this essay relevant is the connection between traditional literary analysis and
education. This to show how an analysis on an academic level can be performed on a novel
aimed towards children and is applied to a hypothetical classroom context on youth. This

                                                                                                               
1  The  word  ’heavy’  is  used  in  this  case  to  symbolise  subjects  which  can  be  hard  to  

discuss  or  that  can  conjure  strong  emotions.    

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essay will with reference to terms in both Postcolonial and Marxist theories, to show how
some occurrences in the first four novels of the Harry Potter series can be used to discuss
discriminatory issues that can appear in society. Discrimination is discussed in the analysis
through the Postcolonial terms Othering and Orientalism, as well as through the Marxist term
Classism. The Postcolonial terms will be connected to, for instance, Franz Fanon who in his
text The Fact of Blackness exemplifies how it is to be the victim of Othering. Examples are
used in the analysis and conclusion to visualise and connect the fictional world to the real
world through the aforementioned theories. Marxist theory was a critical influence to Franz
Fanon’s texts about postcolonial and race issues (258).
Using the four first novels to make these theoretical tendencies visual provides
a broader result than using only one of the novels. Moreover, using more than one novel
makes it possible for the analysis to show general tendencies that are recurring throughout the
series. It also gives opportunity to find multiple examples that might be suitable to use in the
lesson plan in the appendix. The novels chosen are: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. To fully comprehend the analysis conducted
in this essay one needs to have a basic knowledge of the Harry Potter novels and their
contents. Although, most of the terms are described in the analysis, some background is
important to explain before reading the essay.
Harry Potter attends a school called “Hogwarts school of Wizardry” and this is
also the scenery in which where the majority of the events in novels take place. This magical
world is a world that exist parallel to a non-magical human world, without the non-magical
humans knowing about its existence. Harry Potter is a boy chosen to save the world from bad
people who try to segregate the society even more than it is already segregated. These bad
people try to segregate and create races within the magical society as well as segregate the
non-magical society from the magical society. All inclusion and exclusion are by the bad
wizards motivated with the reason being that they believe that they are the best kind of
wizards in the top of the hierarchal ladder.
The Harry Potter series is written by J.K Rowling and the first book was
published in 1997 (Philosopher’s Stone cover page). A lot of the content in the series is
inspired by the Rowling’s life and the characters are inspired by people she has heard about or
know (Telegraph, 20060110). The novels about Harry Potter became, after a few rejections by
different publishers, a huge success and the novels have at the time of this essay been sold in
“over 450 million copies” and “translated into 77 languages” (Philosopher’s Stone cover

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page). J.K Rowling has a background in human rights after working at Amnesty. Her inner
drive to change the world for the better did not disappear after the success with Harry Potter
and she is now the founder of multiple charities and support many more (Philosopher’s Stones
coverpage).
This essay intends to combine the analysis with the core content provided by the
Swedish National Agency of Education with the aim of constructing a lesson plan. This
lesson plan is created to show how the literary analysis could be used to conduct a lesson in
an English classroom for upper secondary school. However, to understand how the Harry
Potter novels could be used in the classroom one must first understand how teachers in
Sweden are regulated and what goals and guidelines they need to follow. Swedish teachers
are regulated by The Swedish National Agency for Education, which is a government lead
institute that, amongst other things, develops the guidelines and requirements for Swedish
pre-schools and other levels up until the upper secondary school level. They do this by setting
national goals and objectives that all pre-schools and other levels in Swedish schools need to
follow (Skolverket). These goals are divided into different sections depending on what grade
is involved. The goals aimed towards the grades in upper secondary school are relevant to use
in this essay and will consequently be the only mentioned. The Swedish National Agency for
Education has chosen to create two different documents of objectives and goals. One of these
is about the general objectives that all teachers in upper secondary school must aim to follow,
no matter what grade or subject one is teaching. Then there are subject and level specific
goals and demands that the teachers need to follow when planning their lessons for the year.
The first document with general goals and guidelines is named: “Curriculum for
the Upper Secondary school”. The Curriculum contains guidelines for all teachers in upper
secondary schools and some examples of what it covers are: Fundamental values,
understanding and compassion for others, objectivity and open approaches, rights and
obligations, an equivalent education etc. (Skolverket, Curriculum). The second document
contains the specific course plans concerning the different subjects and the different grades.
The second document which contains the aims, core content and grading criteria used in
English 7 (Skolverket, Core) and is particularly relevant for this essay. However, references to
both of these documents will be used when proving that the Harry Potter novels can be used
to construct a lesson plan about societal occurrences from primarily English speaking
cultures.
In these documents it is clearly stated that the students need to be taught about
different occurrences in English speaking societies (Skolverket, Core). This essay choose to

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construct a lesson plan in which English speaking societies is the focus in order to link this
goal of learning about English speaking societies around the world. Most of the occurrences
mentioned are not limited to only English speaking societies but they are occurring or have
occurred in English speaking societies. The main goal of the lesson created is to provide an
easier way of understanding how suppression and discrimination is or have been executed in
English Speaking societies with reference the Harry Potter series.
In the Swedish National Agency of Education the definition of pupils studying
in grades 10-12 is “Upper Secondary School”. This is the definition used throughout this
essay, even though it is acknowledged that other definitions exist. These grades are made up
of teenagers and young adults within the age range of 15-19. However, in this essay the focus
will be to argue how these books can be used as a tool of discussion for pupils in the age
range of 18-19, which generally is equivalent to year 12. In this grade pupils study English 7,
which is the highest level of English possible to study during Upper Secondary School
(Skolverket, Curriculum).
In the course plan created by the Swedish National Agency for Education aimed
towards English 7, it is stated that students, after participating in English should have: “The
ability to discuss and reflect on living conditions, social issues and cultural features in
different contexts and parts of the world where English is used” (Skolverket, Core). One can
argue that this novel can be used to start discussions to help fill these criteria by showing how
suppression and discrimination are portrayed in a fictional setting. This will help the students
understand how these ideologies work and it will help them recognise patterns of the
ideologies that work in real societies. This essay therefore discusses how the Harry Potter
series can be used to explain different social situations and problems in society by analysing
how race and socio-economical class are portrayed. Further criteria from the Swedish
National Agency for Education are placed in the lesson plan in the appendix to show what
specific aims and goals are used for that specific plan.
As a conclusion, the aim of this essay is to find Postcolonial and Marxist
evidence within the first four books in the Harry Potter series and uses that evidence to create
a lesson, which is possible to execute in an English 7 classroom in Sweden.

2.Previous research
Many scholarly articles on the Harry Potter series exist that underscores the
importance of using fiction and fictional characters to mirror ‘real’ societal issues. The
articles and essays presented in this section are presented separately in order to minimize

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confusion and because the whole content of these articles are considered to be relevant for the
analysis and lesson plan constructed. There are two different types of previous research
presented and the different types of research included in this essay are chosen for two reasons:
Firstly, to find examples of how the Harry Potter novels have been used in classroom context
since this is the main objective of this essay. They are included to show that constructing a
lesson with the Harry Potter novels is possible and has been done before. Secondly, evidence
that show how the Harry Potter novels previously have been analysed with theories similar to
the theories used in this essay are presented to show how an analysis similar to this one has
been conducted previously. This is important because the analysis conducted is the foundation
on which the lesson plan presented in the appendix is based, without it, the lesson plan would
not have be able to be constructed.

2.1 Casting Lumos on Critical Cultural studies: Gender, Hegemony and other social
stereotypes.
This essay is an example of how the Harry Potter series can be used in the
classroom with the help of gender theory and hegemony. The author, Amanda Firestone,
motivates her usage of the novels by stating that they facilitates her relationship with the
students as well as helps them to understand common problems occurring in ‘real’ society.
The author is a teacher in Communication at collage level and mostly teaches
“Communication courses related to women, gender and identity in terms of communication
tactics and discourses that construct our cultural ideas and beliefs about these categories”
(Firestone, 179).
Firestone explains that her focus in her communication class is on critical
cultural studies and defines it as a discipline that has its foundation in traditional literary
criticism that wants to analyse “the everyday and the ordinary” (180). This criticism is further
explained as being about looking at phenomena in everyday life that people do not notice
because they are taken for granted. She describes, amongst other methods, that textual
analysis can help find these cultural patterns in for example, novels. When these patterns are
found, they can be used to illustrate gender, sexuality, race and class in the classroom to give
students a clear example of how these norms are embedded in their everyday life without their
realising it (Firestone 180).
In the subsequent part of the essay, she gives some examples of how she uses
Cultural Criticism to analyse Harry Potter and uses these results in her teaching. Firstly, she
explains how she uses gender and sexuality and in this section. Hermione is the character in

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focus. Hermione is in one part of the fourth book, Goblet of Fire dressing up to participate in
a Yule Ball on Hogwarts, this is the first time in the novels where she dresses up with a gown
and combs her hair. She is described as a “sleek and shiny” and Harry calls her a “pretty girl”.
This contrasts with her usual appearance with her classic robe and messy hair. This is one of
the parts Firestone uses to exemplify how gender norms are constructed and expressed in
everyday life. She expresses that this is one of the most giving sections to use, “I can see the
light bulbs come on above their head” (182-3).
Secondly, Firestone shows how she uses hegemony to teach. Hegemony is
according to the author the power of the “big five” and the big five being: Gender, race, class,
sexuality, and religion. She exemplifies hegemony with the following quote “In the western
world, the ideal representation of hegemony is a straight white man who ascribes to
Christianity and who was born into or achieves upper-middle class or high class status” (183).
When using hegemony in her communication classes, the author highlights the
difference in class between two families of the series, the Weasleys and the Malfoys. This is
because both families are white, pure-blood wizards, but the Malfoys represents a richer
social class while the Weasleys, on the contrary, represents the proletariat. So even though
they both represent the same part of the big five, the power relationship between these two
families varies. The author continues to explain that it does not matter if the reader perceives
the Malfoys as the bad guys, when fulfilling these hegemonic criteria; the Malfoys have
access and power in more social circles (Firestone 184).
By these examples Firestone shows the reader that the story of Harry Potter can
be used to show students different cultural patterns. She uses this as a way to introduce
cultural studies and she states that as a teacher Harry Potter helps her build an important
relationship with her students (Firestone 186).

2.2 From Hogwarts Academy to the Hero’s Journey

In this text, two examples of how the Harry Potter novels have been and are
used in the classroom is presented. The Author Lana A. Whited has used Harry Potter with
students of varying ages and presents how she has succeeded in doing this. In the first
example, she describes how she taught during a “Ferrum College Enrichment Camp Class
called Hogwarts academy” (4) and the children participating are in the ages between 10-13
years old. In the second example she describes how she has used Harry Potter in a class of
undergraduates with the majority of the participants being sophomore students (4).

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 In Hogwarts academy Whited describes a playful approach to teach the students
about the different subjects in middle school. To teach religion, more specifically pagan
symbolism, the wand-making process from the novels was used. In this case the students were
supposed to choose the wood-type their wands were supposed to have and then discuss what
the wood type represented as a pagan symbol (6). Another example is when the students
participating in Hogwarts Academy had ‘potions class’ and the teacher chose to interpret is as
an opportunity to teach chemistry. The specific teacher showed how liquids could switch
colour, or how to “[Freeze] marshmallows in liquid nitrogen” (7). This shows how one can
take an ordinary subject and bring it down to the level of the students, and that teaching can
be made to be fun by mixing playfulness with education.
When using Harry Potter in another grade than middle school, Whited uses it on
a sophomore student who takes classes in English literature (13). The aim in this class is to
write a critical analysis on the “Hero Myth in Western culture” (14). Whited starts her course
by conducting lessons about the Hero Myth in other English literature than Harry Potter,
discussing the words “fantasy, myth, and the hero” (14). She makes her students participate
in the decision-making process by making them contribute to the materials they use. Students
choose what literary works they are going to use in the course and in combination with these,
whited provides additional theoretical texts to use as framework during the students’
construction of analysis (15). The content used from Harry Potter novels were in these cases
adapted to fit to the level of the students participating in the class, and this shows how these
novels are versatile and by switching focus from the more playful informative to the deeper
analysis it shows that the novels are applicable for students in all ages (18).

2.3 Harry And the Other: Answering the Race Question in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
This essay, written by Jackie C. Horne, the race question is discussed with a
particular focus on antiracism. She explores how race is portrayed with the motivation that the
Harry Potter series is educating the protagonist of the story as well as the reader at the same
time. Her two approaches to antiracism are: multicultural antiracism and social justice
antiracism. The approaches are used to highlight how J.K Rowling portrays anti-racist
tendencies through her novels (76).
Firstly, the author chooses to define the word “antiracism” by discussing the
wide use and interpretation of the word to state how it can be interpreted (77). The two main
differences in interpretation are, according to Horne, between a Universalist perspective and a

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relativist perspective. The Universalist perspective is closely related to colonialism and seeks
to emancipate everyone from racism. The other approach, the Relativist perspective seeks to
improve the problem of racism while honouring differences. These two primary examples
show that one can “do” antiracism in a number of different ways (78).
The author presents six different ways one can do antiracism and notes that two
of these are most used, ‘multicultural antiracism’ and ‘radical antiracism’. Of these two ways
to construct antiracism multicultural antiracism is described as the one in which the value of
diversity is a method to fight racial oppression. By this description the author means that one
should not only know about other cultural traditions but should as well more explicitly feel
empathy for other cultures. The other approach: radical antiracism, Horne also referrers to as
social justice antiracism. This approach focuses on teaching students to “examine the social,
political, and economic structures in which they live” (79).
Further throughout the essay, the author explains that one can find both
multicultural and social justice approaches in the Harry Potter novels. She narrows her race
research down to focus on two of the “races” in the series: house-elves and goblins. When
choosing these ‘races’ Horne acknowledges that these exist different opinions about J.K
Rowling’s motive to include these in the series. One of these opinions is stated by Elaine
Ostry who says that Rowling “means to help young readers understand the stereotypes about
slaves when (or if) they learn about them in school” (81). By this quote, Ostry means that the
enslaved race of house-elves can symbolise and show how slavery has taken place in the
history of different cultures. Another opinion on the reason that house-elves exists in
Rowling’s novels is that they are created to show the character Hermione’s political antiracist
campaign to support house-elves and fight for equal rights between them and wizards (81).
This represents according to Horne a social justice antiracist approach, when Hermione uses
politics to perform antiracism.
Later on, Horne herself mentions a quote written in the novel from the
headmaster of Hogwarts to show how her antiracist theories are visual. The headmaster,
named Dumbledore, tells Harry that he “must learn to see elves as ‘beings with feelings as
actuate as a human’s’” (82). This proves, in addition to Ostry’s statement that a multicultural
antiracist approach is visible. These are some of the examples mentioned in the essay that
show how Rowling presents antiracism with the help of house-elves.
On the other hand, when goblins are mentioned in the novels they are, according
to Horne not described as slaves like house-elves. Opposed to house-elves the author
mentions that goblins are allowed to interact with wizards in another way and are therefore

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higher up in the hierarchy. However, goblins are in other ways subordinated to wizards
through wizardry government control. Horne shows and example of this is when mentioning
that Goblins are regulated under the “Goblin liaison office” in the wizard government. This is
a subcategory to the “Department for the regulation and Control of Magical Creatures” in
which all creatures who are not wizards are regulated and controlled. This shows that the
goblins are separated from the wizards (89). This department is according to Horne one of
many examples of how Rowling shows social justice antiracism.
This article is focused on researching the different ways antiracism shows in the
Harry Potter novels, and through that analyse how racism shows. For example, when
mentioning that Hermione is pursuing her belief that house-elves should have the same rights
as wizards, J.K Rowling at the same time describes that those creatures are supressed. The
text also shows that there are political structures (Ministry of Magic), which segregates
different races in the Harry Potter novels.

2.4 Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry Potter: Inclusion/Exclusion and

Discriminatory Policies in Fiction and Practice.
“Despite its wondrous characteristics, the magical world of Harry Potter fiction
is not so dissimilar from the real world” (Grijalva Maza 432). This quote exemplifies how the
author of this article presents the fact that inclusion and exclusion in the Harry Potter series
and that these are something that can be compared to situations happening in the real world.
The author of the article analyses this through looking at the representation of the grand
narrative, or as she also calls it, grand récit. She claims in her thesis that the Harry Potter
novels contain a colonial discourse hidden in the liberal grand narrative (426).
The article is divided into three sections. The first section exemplifies where
inclusion and exclusion take place within the magical grand narrative in the Harry Potter
novels. The author states that magic is considered: ‘a tool of power’, ‘knowledge’, and
‘wisdom’ as well as a trait that most people in the Harry Potter novels want to acquire. The
author describes that there is a clear superiority when having the ability to practice magic
versus not having magical abilities. This shows a strong magical narrative in the novels,
which is exemplified by the representation of the non-magical and magical perspectives. The
non-magical world is according to Grijalva Maza partly represented by Harry potter’s aunt
Petunia’s and uncle Dudley’s through their conservative characters who do not accept people
who are different. This while the magical world is represented multiple times through
different characters with Harry being the primary one. He is portrayed as “honest, brave and a

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good-natured child” (428). The author mention that the hierarchical values between non-
magical and magical people are shown in the dialogue between Harry and Hagrid, who is
Harry’s friend and the gatekeeper at Hogwarts.

‘I’d like ter see a great Muggle like you [Dudley] stop him,’ he said
‘A what?’ Said Harry, interested.
‘A Muggle’ said Hagrid, ‘it’s what we call nonmagic folk like them. An’ it’s
your bad luck you grew up in a family o’ the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes
on.’ (428).

In this dialogue Hagrid is clearly degrading Muggles, more specifically uncle Dudley who he
does not see as a threat. Furthermore, this first section of the article continues to enlighten its
reader about where inclusion and exclusion take place in the Harry Potter novels in order to
prove that postcolonial tendencies can be found (430).
In the second section, the author “outline the theoretical reasons underpinning
the constant reproduction of the inherent contradictions in Harry Potter…” (427). This
section interrogates how the liberal values in Harry Potter can result in its opposite:
discrimination and exclusion. This is analysed with two perspectives, Derridean
deconstruction and colonialist discourse (432). Derrida’s criticism on the western society
“concerns its deep obsession with discovering transcendental truths that could not be
questioned” (433). To discover these truths, it is explained that Derrida needs the exclusion
and discrimination of the Other in order to gain identity. The Other is shown when looking in
to a binary couple and seeing what, the two dichotomies. We know what something is by
knowing what it is not. In Harry Potter we mostly define what is non magical by analysing
what is Magical and looking at the opposite (433). In the colonialist discourse the author
looks at Orientalism by Edward Said and his view on the Other, which is based on defining
western society in contrast to other cultures. The dichotomy becomes western/native and
further: good/evil, dominator/dominated, superior/inferior etc.
In the third section the author “look at how recent practical policies reflect the
same tension” (427) as the tension analysed in the two previous sections. Here connections to
the real world are shown. The first practical example is the international institution the ‘World
Bank’ whose goal is to reduce poverty. The author claims with the help of her theories that
the people in power are the ones who decide what actions to take to reduce poverty, and
thereby excluding the Other (436). Further, the author give other examples to show how these

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fictional occurrences can be applied and one of these is the contrast between Hermione and
Voldemort. Voldemort represents an ideology in which only pureblood magicians are
considered worthy, and Hermione is according to him the “filthiest” kind, since she does not
have any magical parents at all, she is a Muggle-born. His goal is to erase all magicians who
are not purebloods and hunts them down (431). The author of the article connects this to the
Arizona immigration law, in which the state of Arizona wants to hunt down everyone not
legally in the country based on an increase of violence since the immigration of Mexicans
increased even though, the state does not have any scientific background to prove that
Mexicans are behind the increased violence (437).
This article’s three sections show how it is possible to start with an analysis of a
fictional book and relate it to real world situations.
The previous research presented in all of these sections show the variety of ways
in which the Harry Potter novels can be analysed as well as used in the classroom. The last
two articles presented shows how discrimination, inclusion and exclusion can be seen in
Harry Potter; the first two show how, amongst other things, these discriminatory practises can
be used in the classroom context. The analysis presented in this essay can be seen as an
extension of previous research to construct something new. The previous research presented
by Grijalva Maza and Horne shows how discrimination can be seen in Harry Potter, and the
previous research constructed by Firestone and Whited shows- how Harry Potter can be used
in a classroom context. In this essay a lesson plan is added as an appendix. This lesson plan
shows how one can use discrimination in the form of racism and classism to create a lesson in
the English as foreign language classroom and using the previous research as proof that this is
possible and viable.

3. Theoretical approach
The theories used in this essay are Marxist and Postcolonial critical theories.
The decision to use both of these is motivated by the fact that Marxist and Postcolonial
theories both show how suppression and discrimination can be expressed. Moreover, one can
argue that patterns of these theories can be found in the event occurring in the Harry Potter
novels. One can also state that both of these theories can be used to support the thesis
statement of this essay. The following section will now turn to a discussion of these theories
and some of the terminologies associated with them. Further reason to use both theories is that

  15  
they complement each other in a way that will make it easier to find tendencies that will be
possible to use in the classroom. 2

3.1 Marxist criticism

Marxist literary theory claims that literature is the construction of social forces
and ideology (Castle 108). Further, some Marxists theorists describe Marxism as when
“getting and keeping economic power is the motive behind all social and political education
including education, […] government and so on.” (Tyson 53). Marxist criticism is based on
the assumption that there are two basic social classes in society, a high class called aristocrats
or capitalists and a low class called the proletarians. Within Marxist criticism different
approaches are used to visualise how the aristocrats supress the proletarians. Aristocrats are
the people who have power, and these people use the proletarians who belong to the working
class (Tyson 54). However, other interpretations of Marxist theory describe the powerful
people as ‘capitalists’ instead of ‘aristocrats’. The use of capitalist instead of aristocrat is to
express the economic differences between the two social classes (Castle 108). On the other
hand, Tyson’s definition of aristocrat is used as a more general term to describe the overall
power differences between aristocrats and proletarians (54), which for example, could be
differences in institutional influence. According to Castle’s interpretation of Marxism, as long
as the proletarians work for the capitalists they will work to sustain the economic power the
capitalist have over them (Castle 110). Marxist analysis aims to explain the action of humans
in relation to economic power and in the analysis visualise the different social classes that are
present (Tyson, 54).
The goal Karl Marx originally imagined when formulating the Marxist theory
was to get all the proletarians, despite their differences to unite to overthrow the Aristocrats in
a rebellion in order to make society more equal. This is not the current aim within Marxism;
the current aim is to make as many people as possible aware of the society and the structure in
which they live (Tyson, 57). Tyson describes several ideologies and terms that can be used to
accomplish a Marxist analysis; one of these terms is used in this essay. This term is later used
in the analysis and discussion to exemplify how lessons about discrimination through class
differences can be performed in the English classroom (Tyson, 59-60).

                                                                                                               
2    The  result  of  how  these  tendencies  can  be  used  in  the  classroom  will  show  in  the  

discussion  and  appendix.    

  16  
 Classism is defined as an ideology in which the social class a human being
belongs to is equal to the human being’s value. The higher the social class, the higher the
value of the person because according to classism, the social class is something that is
biological and inherited. When belonging to the higher social class, the person is considered
“more intelligent, more responsible, more trustworthy, more ethical, and so on.” (Tyson 59).
On the opposite, we have the people positioned lower on the social scale who in classism are
considered: “naturally shiftless, lazy, and irresponsible.” (Tyson, 59)

3.2 Postcolonial Criticism

Postcolonial Criticism was originally created to analyse how colonisers affected
the postcolonial countries. Some of the theories used in postcolonial criticism will be used to
identify how discrimination is portrayed in the novels. The most relevant for this essay are the
theories about Othering and Orientalism, which are chosen for the fact that in the majority of
times it is hard to distinguish between these two theories since Orientalism, “is a specific form
of Othering” (420). Further, quotes and thoughts by Franz Fanon translated by, Charles Lam
Markmann, will be added to the theories to exemplify Othering and Orientalism and give a
perspective from one who has experienced some of these occurrences (Solomon 13).
Tyson defines Othering as when a group of people from the same culture and
who share the same values consider other people who in anyway differ from their culture and
values as inferior. “The Other” is often described as inhuman and strange. When a hegemonic
culture as such defines the Other, they the majority of the time construct a “us” in contrast to
a “them” (433). Frantz Fanon describes it as the following “the black man among his own in
the twentieth century does not know at what moment his inferiority comes into being through
the other” (258). Tyson uses the suppression of the Native Americans in the United states as
an example to show how Othering can be executed in a context:

In our own country [United States of America], for example, the justification for
exterminating some Native American nations and assimilating others through
compulsory colonialist education was that Native Americans were “savages”,
literally inhuman.” (Tyson, 433)

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This quote shows how the people presenting themselves as superiors push the constructed
inferior people away with the sole reason being that they were not considered as human as the
superiors.
Edward Said constructed the theory about Orientalism in which he states that
people from the western part of the world are portrayed in a positive way in popular culture
whilst people from the eastern part of the world are portrayed in a negative way in popular
culture. In literature, the Western culture defines their characters with the help of its opposite,
and in this binary opposition East is the opposite to West. The Eastern people were defined as
“cruel, sneaky, evil, cunning, dishonest, given to sexual promiscuity and perversion […]”
whilst the Western people on the contrary were “kind, straightforward, good, upright, honest
and moral.” (Tyson 421).
Frantz Fanon also notes in his text on Blackness: “For not only must the black
man be black; He must be black in relation to the white man.” (Solomos 257). This shows
orientalism combined with Othering, where Fanon becomes the Other, in relation to what he
is not. When reading the text by Fanon, the connection between postcolonial theory and race
theory becomes obvious. In his text, he describes how he became black, for the sole reason
that he was not white (257). In addition, Fanon also mentions how he was objectified and
perceived as frightening as well as being described as uncivilized by Western people (259).
These examples by Fanon can be used to relate the fictional occurrences in the novels through
the theories to real world events.
The parts of the two theories mentioned in this section are relevant to prove how
discrimination can be seen in the Harry Potter novels. The co-operation of Marxism and
Postcolonial are used to highlight how differences between people can be seen in literature.
One can argue that only using segments of two theories can create confusion instead of only
using one theory in depth. However, in this essay they are used to complement each other and
to show two different ways that discrimination can show in Harry Potter to provide depth to
the analysis. The decision to only use parts of the theories is because Othering, Orientalism,
and Classism are quite similar when looking at the definitions of these. Othering and
Orientalism show how western people supress others, while Classism show how people with
power supress others. Both of these theories then exemplify how suppression and therefore
discrimination takes place with different perspectives. Together with the previous research,
these theories will be the foundation on which the analysis stands and the analysis will prove
how both of these theories can be used to construct a lesson plan in the English as a foreign
language classroom.

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4. Analysis
The focus in this analysis is to see how postcolonial and Marxist suppression
and/or discrimination can be found in the four first Harry Potter novels. The focus will also be
to analyse how different occurrences take place in the novel in terms of Orientalism, Othering
and Classism. The analysis will not only analyse J.K Rowling’s intentions with these
occurrences but also show how she has chosen to portray them through the characters and
their activities. The aim is to present different ways discrimination and/or suppression can be
interpreted to show in the novels and further use these occurrences to construct the lesson
plan presented in the appendix. The analysis is the core on which this essay stands; one could
not construct the lesson plan without the facts presented below.

4.1 Muggles and Wizards

As explained in the article by Grijalva Maza there are magical and non-magical
humans in the Harry Potter series, and these magical and non-magical humans are portrayed
by Rowling in different ways with different perspectives on each other. A certain hierarchy
between non-magic and magical humans is visible in the novels and one could state that
humans with magic in the Harry Potter novels are the superior race that on multiple occasions
supress and discriminate against non-magical humans.
While the magical Wizards are the primarily portrayed “race” in the Harry
Potter series, “ordinary” non-magical humans, referred to as Muggles, also play a significant
part. The following section of this essay will focus on the portrayal of wizards by Muggles,
and the portrayal of Muggles by wizards in the novels. This part of the analysis will mainly be
executed from a postcolonial perspective with particular reference to Othering and
Orientalism in order to see if any racial discrimination takes place.
In the first chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone the reader
encounters the Muggle world represented by the Dursleys. The Dursleys are portrayed as
narrow minded, scared, and jaundiced towards Harry. This is demonstrated when a
description of a dialogue between Harry’s aunt and uncle is written: “The Dursleys often
spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there – or rather as though he was something
very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug” (Philosopher’s Stone 24). This quote
demonstrates one example of when the Dursleys act in a way that dehumanises Harry and he
is treated as though he does not exist. This dehumanisation by The Dursleys is recurring

  19  
throughout the novels and they express on multiple occasions how they do not want to be
related to Harry with the sole reason being that he is not a wizard.
When Harry receives his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts school of Wizardry.
Uncle Vernon explains that: “[…] these people’s [wizards] minds work in strange ways,
Petunia, they’re not like you and me” (Philosopher’s Stone 42) meaning that “these people”
are not normal functioning people. Aunt Petunia confirms Vernon’s way of thinking when
expressing her disgust towards wizards and witches while talking about her sister (Harrys
mother): “Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that – that school – and
came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was
the only one who saw her for what she was – a freak!” (Philosopher’s Stone 57). This
separation the Dursleys constructs between themselves and Wizards is continuous throughout
the series and it shows later on when Vernon yet again refers to wizards as something that is
abnormal, he is upset and says “[…] PEOPLE LIKE YOU!” (Azkaban 5) to show that he
himself is not like “Harry’s” people.
From a postcolonial perspective these quotes presented above is Othering. The
Dursleys consequently constructs a ‘us’ or ‘we’ against ‘them’ or ‘you’ throughout the novels.
The way Rowling chose to put an emphasis on the word ‘you’ in the quote mentioned lastly
enhances this feeling.
Further, other aspects of the novels can be interpreted as an adapted modern
version of Edward Said’s Orientalism in which it is explained people from the western part of
the world picture people of the eastern part as savages. Examples of this being in the anti-
wizard dialogues performed by the Dursleys throughout the novels when they describe Harry
and his magical world by the words: “freak” (Chamber, 9) “Abnormality” (Chamber 2)
“shameful” (Chamber 4). With these words the Dursley family portray the wizard community
of the novels as something negative and not as good as their ‘own’ race.
Later in the Harry Potter novels, the wizard world’s perspective on Muggles is
visible. One of the first occasions where the wizard world’s opinion on Muggles becomes
apparent is when Hagrid speaks to Harry for the first time. On this occasion Hagrid explains
that Harry is a wizard and at the same time emphasises that this is a world specifically for
people with magical powers. Hagrid emphasises the difference between Muggles and wizards
by stating: “‘About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yes parents’ world.’” clearly
excluding the other, which in this case are Muggles and here he is acting in the same way as
the Dursleys and creates a “we” and a “them” and defining himself by his opposite.

  20  
 Othering reoccurs when wizards portray Muggles and it seems to be a normal
part of their upbringing. Harry Potter’s best friend Ron mentions that they have a relative who
is a Muggle but “we never talk about him” (Philosopher’s Stone 105) and Hagrid says that
Muggles cannot be trusted with the knowledge of wizards because then “everyone’d want in’
magical solutions to their problems” (Philosopher’s Stone 70). This indicates that Hagrid
believes that Muggles would depend on the superior knowledge of the wizard world, putting
himself above them and signalling Marxist classism. This also shows when Hagrid says: “I
don’t know how the Muggles manage without magic.” (Philosopher’s Stone 73).
The quote by Ron where he states that he has a Muggle relative whom they
never speak about indicates that Muggles are not something that children in the magical world
talk about during their upbringing. This thesis is confirmed further in that section as Ron
starts to ask Harry how it felt to be raised by Muggles (Philosopher’s Stone 106). That Ron is
unaware of how it is to “be raised by Muggles” is quite interesting since Ron’s father is very
interested in Muggles and especially their inventions and is quite fascinated of them. In fact,
his father works in the specific department in the Ministry of magic that handles Muggle
issues (Chamber 32) and later on in the series it shows that he fights for Muggle rights
(Chamber 54)
To conclude this analysis, Muggles and wizards both use Othering and in some
cases Orientalism towards each other. The Muggles who are presented within the novels use
more orientalism than the wizards. The Othering occurring between Muggles and wizards in
the book could be used as a representation to discuss discrimination in the English as a
foreign language classroom.

4.2 Mudblood and Pureblood wizards

In the previous section, the analysis is focused on figuring out whether there is a
discrepancy between non-magical Muggles and magical Wizards in the Harry Potter series.
This section will analyse how two different types of magical wizards are portrayed within the
series, purebloods and Muggle-borns/Mudbloods.
It is possible for some wizards to have parents who are non-magical (Muggles)
and these wizards are in the book named Muggle-borns. As a consequence of this, Muggle-
born wizards have parents who are not aware of the fact that the magical world exists.
According to some wizards, Muggle-borns are not considered to have the right blood, since
they do not have pure wizard blood in their DNA and their blood is considered impure. The

  21  
Muggle-borns are the binary opposite of pure-blood wizards, and Muggle-borns are seen as
filthy and impure. The wizards who consider Muggle-borns a disgrace to the name of wizards
(Chamber 37) do not want the impure to mix with the pure-blood (Chamber 122) and thereby
creating half-blood wizards.
These discriminating wizards call the Muggle-born wizards ‘Mudbloods’
(Chamber 121) and this word is used to supress the Muggle-borns and to separate them from
pure-bloods. On multiple occasions throughout the series the hatred towards Muggle-borns
show amongst dark wizards. Hagrid explains it as the following: “there are some wizards –
like Malfoy’s family – who think they’re better than everyone else because they’re what
people call pure-blood” (Chamber 121).
The antagonist Lord Voldemort, who Harry, Hermione and Ron fight
throughout the whole series, has a history of hunting Muggle-borns and killing them. Lord
Voldemorts frustration derives from his childhood; he is a half-blood who was raised by his
witch mother. In a section of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort explains to
Harry that he would never use his “filthy Muggle fathers name” (Chamber 331). This
statement by Voldemort in combination with his devotion to pure-blood wizards throughout
the series, show that his hatred for Muggle-borns, and Muggles generally, remains deeply
rooted.
The hatred towards the thought of mixing Muggleblood with Wizard blood can
be traced back to the origins of the Slytherin house, which was founded by Salazar Slytherin
1000 years earlier. The houses of Hogwarts are the homes in which the pupils live, they are
divided into houses based on their personality as well as their skills on the first day at
Hogwarts. The Slytherin house is famous for dark wizards because the house reflects its
founder. Salazar Slytherin wished that Hogwarts would be more “selective about the students
admitted to Hogwarts, he believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic
families. […] He disliked students of Muggle parentage, believing them untrustworthy.”
(Chamber 159). Consequently, this means that the majority of the students chosen to live in
this house at Hogwarts share this opinion. More often than not, students in Slytherin house
have parents who have brought them up with these opinions. An example of a member with
these opinions belonging to the Slytherin house is Draco Malfoy, whose father, Lucius
Malfoy has strong opinions on Muggle-borns. The Malfoy family is in the fourth novel
described as a family “who pride themselves on being pure-bloods, in other words, they
considered anyone of Muggle decent, like Hermione, second-class.” (Goblet 87). This shows
when Lucius explains that Arthur Weasley is a “Muggle-loving fool” (Chamber 54) for trying

  22  
to create a law that would protect Muggles, and later on degrades Arthur for associating
himself with Muggles (Chamber 66). This behaviour is passed down to Malfoy, who openly
calls Hermione a Mudblood at Hogwarts almost every time he sees her at Hogwarts (Chamber
117).
Even if the majority of the wizard population do not discriminate against
Muggle-borns in the extreme way presented above, a distinction between Muggle-borns and
Pure blood wizards are made in several occasions throughout the novels, for example in
institutional contexts, and in the newspaper. In one newspaper a reporter describes Hermione
as a “stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl” (Goblet 266). This shows that although some forms
of Muggle-born discrimination are more prominent than others, there is almost always a
distinction between “us” and “them”. One could also argue that even though the term
Mudblood is used more overtly and by people who are generally considered as bad people in
the series, that the term Muggle-born separates the wizards with magical parents from the
wizards with non-magical parents in the same way. To be anti-racist in the way Firestone
explains in her article, the term should not be used at all to show multicultural anti-racism and
to include all the wizards as one.

4.3 The Malfoy’s and The Weasley’s

The Weasley family is an apparent representation of the proletarians in the
novels. They live in a house called the Burrow, the father Arthur Weasley works at the
Ministry of Magic, the mother Molly is a stay home mother. In several occasions throughout
the novel, the fact that the Weasleys cannot afford new robes for their children is mentioned.
One of the times being in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when the students of Hogwarts
are supposed to have a robe when attending a ball and Mrs Weasley says “Because … well, I
had to get yours second-hand, and there wasn’t a lot of choice!” (Goblet 133).
On the other hand, we have the Malfoy family who represents the aristocrat or
capitalists in the novels. Malfoy talks about him living in a big manor with his mom and dad,
being an only child. (Chamber 31). His father Lucius is a man of great influence over the
people in the Ministry of Magic, which in a Classist perspective shows that with money,
comes power and control over those with less money.
The fact that the Malfoys feel like they are superior to the Weasleys because
they are aristocrats and consider themselves as better for having money and power is obvious
in the novels from both the perspective of Lucius Malfoy and his Son Draco Malfoy. The
Malfoys political power is confirmed when the Ministry for magic, Cornelius Fudge, meets

  23  
the Malfoy family and chose to introduce them to the Bulgarian Minister for Magic. When
Fudge make the decision to present an important man, such as another minister to Lucius
Malfoy, it shows how powerful Malfoy’s influence is. This becomes extra obvious when
Fudge chose to not introduce the Bulgarian Minister for Magic to Arthur Weasley who sat
next to him (Goblet 86). That exemplifies the class difference in power between a Malfoy and
a Weasley, where Malfoy becomes an aristocrat while Weasley is considered a proletarian.
The Malfoys belongs as previously shown to a superior class and throughout
the novels they on multiple occasions make sure that they tell Weasley family members that
they are not as good as them. Lucius Malfoy refers to Arthur Weasley as a “flea-bitten,
Muggle-loving fool” (Chamber 54) and tells Arthur that he did not believe his “family could
sink no lower” (Chamber 66). At the same time Draco Malfoy harasses Ron throughout all of
the novels for not being rich and being a part of the proletariat in the same way as his father.
This shows when Arthur Weasley wins money on one occasion and Draco says to Ron: “‘I
Heard your father finally got his hand on some gold this summer, Weasley’ said Malfoy. ‘Did
your Mother Die of shock?’” (Azkaban 84).
These quotes all show how the Malfoys use their position of power and wealth
to supress the Weasleys and maintain their position in the highest class. This classist
behaviour develops into a form of bullying in the school environment when Draco constantly
attacks Ron about his hand-me-down robes and his “poor family”. The fact that Malfoy acts
this way and is supportive of Harry’s enemy makes him to be portrayed as evil in the novels,
whilst the Weasleys, without a big influence and money are portrayed by Rowling as good
and loving people. But as Firestone mentioned in her chapter, it does not matter who is good
and who is evil, Rowling’s portrayal of the Malfoy’s puts them in the highest social class as
aristocrats and Weasley’s in the lowest as proletarians (184).

4.4 The Discrimination of House-elves

Multiple and different creatures are present in the wizard world of Harry Potter
under different circumstances. These creatures are under the Ministry of Magic’s3 control
with the “Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures” being the
foremost responsible for them. This department make sure that all laws and regulations are
being followed by the concerned creatures (Goblet 113). Thus, in this department a

                                                                                                               
3  The primary goal for the Ministry is to keep the wizarding world from the knowledge of

MugglesThis  

  24  
demarcation between wizards and other magical beings as well as between Muggles and
Wizards is being constructed. An example of a law presented only toward other creatures is
“no non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand” (Goblet 113). It shows that
Wizards are considered the superior race and construct the laws and rules for all other
creatures. Wizards are the ones who control these “other” creatures and decide what rights
and responsibilities a specific creature has. The creature that will be subject to this analysis is
the house-elf.
House-elves are small creatures with big bat-like ears and eyes the sizes of
tennis balls (Chamber 12). House-elves belong and are owned by families and their duty is to
help the families with whatever chores they need help with. The members of the family of
whom they serve are multiple times referred to as masters throughout the series. House-elves
serve without payment and are bound to the families they serve until they die, unless freed by
their owner (Chamber 14). To be freed from their masters, house-elves need to be offered a
piece of clothing by their masters (Goblet 118).
Dobby is the first house-elf the reader encounters in the novels and his character
is presented for the first time in the second book in the series. The reader directly encounters
the inequality under which house-elves live when meeting dobby. They are clearly not used to
being treated as equals to wizards and Dobby shows this by saying: “Dobby has never been
asked to sit down by a wizard – like an equal” (Chamber 13). It also shows when he explains
that he (Dobby) does anything wrong he is to punish himself for disobeying. The pure fact
that a “master” can punish its house-elf shows the unjust system under which other creatures
live, even though house-elves are portrayed as the worst treated race in the novels. Dobby in
this section clearly expresses his use to being unequally treated, which shows suppression in
both Postcolonial and Marxist perspectives. Dobby in some way here shows that he is aware
of the suppression in which he lives, and the reader gets the feeling that he is not satisfied
with that suppression. Dobby is in the end of the chamber of secrets released by his master
Lucius Malfoy when Harry Potter tricks him (Lucius) into giving Dobby his sock, Dobby is
forever grateful for this act by Harry, and he loves being a free-elf.
In contrast to Dobby, Harry meets a house-elf named Winky in the fourth novel;
she does not share Dobby’s love to be free. In fact, she considers Dobby a shame to house-
elves and is horrified by the reason that Dobby, now a free house-elf wants payment for what
she considers to be their duty in life. The following quote is a representation of Winky’s
thoughts on what and how a house-elf should be and act, her view is quite different from
Dobby’s:

  25  
 House-elves is not paid, sir […] No, no, no. I says to Dobby, I says,
go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is getting all sorts of
high jinks, sir, what is unbecoming to a house-elf. […] House-elves is not
supposed to have fun Harry Potter […] House-elves does what they is told. I am
not liking heights at all, Harry Potter […] but my master sends me to the Top Box
and I comes, sir. (Goblet 84)

This shows Winky’s total dedication towards her master in the quote she expresses her fear of
heights, but even though she does not like heights she does what she is told without question
and consider this the only right way to act. This total dedication towards her duty as a house-
elf might be what she believes is right, which she repeats through out the novel or she is
scared to say otherwise. One reason to believe that Winky might be scared of liberation shows
when her master punishes her and threatens to provide her with clothes for misbehaving. He
tells her “this means clothes” and Winky reacts with “No! No! No, master, not clothes, not
clothes!” (Goblet 117). This use of scare tactic shows her fear of liberation, but why she is
frightened one never really gets to know. Maybe she does not have anywhere to go? Or
maybe she has been brainwashed to believe that it is horrible to be a free-elf.
The difference in Winky’s frightened attitude and Dobby’s grateful attitude is
reflected in the attitude about house-elves amongst wizards. Some wizards use Winky’s
reaction to justify the fact that house-elves are being used without being provided with rights
and some try to fight against the usage of house-elves. This ambivalence about house-elves
show clearly in a section where Ron’s twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, have a
conversation with Hermione: “we’ve met them [house-elves working at Hogwarts] and
they´re happy. They think they’ve got the best job in the world.” (Goblet 201) and Hermione
answers by saying: “that’s because they’re uneducated and brainwashed!” (Goblet 201) These
quotes show that on the one hand, we have Fred and George who according to this
interpretation could think that, if the house-elves are happy, why waste time caring about their
rights? On the other hand, we have Hermione, who believe that they would not be happy in
this situation if they were educated and understood the injustice they work in.
One could say J.K Rowling has constructed Hermione to be the representation
of multicultural antiracism when feeling such strong empathy for the house-elves. (However,
one could also argue that she tries to fight for their political and economical rights when she
tries to collect money to start campaigns. (Goblet 155). This political and economic fight she

  26  
manages can be defined as social justice antiracism. Her multicultural antiracist behaviour
shows when she is empathetic about house-elves’ need for experience, defining the house-
elves as “slaves” (Goblet 113). Her social justice antiracism is demonstrated when she founds
the organisation SPEW, an organisation which stands for “the Society for the Promotion of
Elfish Welfare” (Goblet 189). This political and emotional fight Hermione conducts can be
seen as Hermione’s multicultural antiracism developed into political injustice antiracism and
that she developed both multicultural and social justice antiracism.
Hermione’s fight to give the house-elves equal rights instead of being slaves
could be compared to the anti-racism act that Rosa Parks conducted in the year 1950 in
America. Even though, black people were not used as slaves in America anymore at that time
the political struggle to have rights and to be a natural part of society was a huge struggle,
similar to the way Hermione tries to fight for the rights of house-elves. Some called Rosa
Parks a civil rights activist; this is comparable to what one could call Hermione (History).

5. Discussion
One can see, both in the previous research presented and in the conducted
analysis that Harry Potter provide many situations in a fictional magical world that are
relatable to situations happening in the real world. The four Harry Potter novels analysed in
this essay provides many examples of Postcolonial Othering, Orientalism, as well as Marxist
Classism in ways that can be useful in the upper secondary classroom. The fact that the Harry
Potter series is fictional does not mean that it is not useful or teaching about non-fictional
situations in the classroom. As some of the previous research show, there are multiple ways to
use the Harry Potter series in a classroom beyond the literary contexts. The fictional world of
Harry Potter exemplifies non-fictional circumstances in fictional ways, which can be relevant
for teaching these concepts in an English as a foreign language classroom. The complexity
visible in the novel, which shows in the analysis, provides a way for an upper secondary
student to understand the complexity that humans go through in the real world every day. If
the teacher would present some basic knowledge about Postcolonial/Marxist theory in
combination with the occurrences in this novel, it would give the students a opportunity to see
these theories in action in other situation, maybe even during other subjects in school. This
gives the teacher not only a way to teach literature but to teach them a way to understand
other subjects in school, which makes this kind of teaching a perfect gateway for the students
and provides them with additional knowledge.

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 The different sections of the analysis could all be used in different ways. In the
first section and the second section of the analysis a lesson on discrimination in English
speaking countries could be conducted. The first section about Muggles and Wizards shows
how Othering and Orientalism has developed a wedge between Muggles and Wizards, the
only thing differentiating them is the fact that Wizards can practice magic. However, although
the difference is quite insignificant, it is interesting that the Wizarding institutions present in
the novel, like the ministry of magic, believe that they need a completely different
government and distances themselves from Muggles. This behaviour then becomes
institutionalised which means that Wizards in the novels does not really have a choice but to
distance themselves. An example being when Ron explains that he and his family chose to
distance themselves from their Muggle relative. This distancing is not an active
discrimination, but it is the only thing Ron knows, since it is deeply implemented by all
institutions around him and therefor becomes the normal way to act. This point of view of
distance between Muggles and Wizards is of course heightened when Voldemort and his
supporters show hatred towards Muggle-born witches and wizards in the second section, even
though their hatred is not institutionalised.
In the second section about Mudbloods and Pure-bloods one can compare the
suppression and discrimination of the Muggle-borns to the postcolonial racism Franz Fanon
experienced in his text. The usage of the word Mudblood could be seen as an invective word
such as “nigger” which was used to supress and discriminate people of colour in Fanon’s time
(born 1925) and the Othering Fanon experienced is in some ways comparable to the Othering
represented in Harry Potter.
The third section is a representation of Classism in the way the Malfoys use
master suppression techniques towards the Weasleys and bully them. The Malfoys family is
quite easy to analyse since both Lucius and Draco act the same way throughout the novels.
Their hatred of Muggles is growing throughout the series as the fight between good and evil
becomes more and more apparent. The way Draco Malfoy talks to Ron, constantly spattering
his proletarian position to make sure that his own position, as an aristocrat in power remains
is a good example of how classism works in the novels. When his father then acts similarly,
towards Ron’s father Arthur the intention of J.K Rowling is clear she wants this class
difference to be visible. In the fourth section, it is possible to analyse the governmental
superiority and power wizards have over house-elves from a classist perspective. Wizards
obviously feel that their heritage as wizards will make them superior to house-elves just
through genetics while creating an institution just to control what they describe as “other

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magical creatures”. It is also possible, as Elaine Ostry stated in the previous research section,
to compare these events with house-elves to the historical events of slavery in the ‘real’
world.
These examples show that the majority of the sections in the analysis can be
used to highlight issues in English speaking societies in the English as a foreign language
classroom. Also, as this stands as a part of the core content it is relevant to use these issues to
provide these examples for the students. However, these issues are not limited to only English
speaking societies of course, but those are the only societies relevant for this essay. They are
relevant to this essay as they match the core content of the guidelines provided by the
Swedish National Agency of Education. In The Swedish National Agency of Education, it is
stated that when teaching students English as a foreign language, the teacher should provide
them with knowledge about the culture in English speaking countries and teach them about
historical issues and occurrences (Skolverket, Curriculum upper secondary).
As the previous research show, the Harry Potter novels can be used to teach
English based on the rules and guidelines provided by the Swedish National Agency for
Education. In the previous research presented earlier it is also shown that the novels can be
used in a variety of levels. From Whited who taught middle school children and sophomores
on their way to college to Firestone who uses Harry Potter novels to teach about hegemony
and gender related issues to college students, the series seem to be relevant as a teaching aid
at different levels. Other authors have also described how Harry Potter can be used to
symbolise current societal issues and exemplify these, even though these articles were not
aimed towards using these issues while teaching, they are possible to translate to use in
lessons when looking at the core content for English in upper secondary school.
The lesson plan created based on this analysis is an open one; the reason being
that one can think it is difficult to create specific lessons until you know what kind of class is
going to be taught. As specified in the previous research article by Whited, one can conduct a
lesson on a subject in many different ways to suit different classroom assemblies. The
classroom situations are often highly individual. For example: If one is teaching a highly
motivated class who enjoys working individually and enjoy writing bigger essays this class
should be exanimated in a way which suits them. This could be by writing an individual essay
in which they truly can express their own thoughts and the theme should include them
searching for their own facts. However, another class, that is also study motivated might not
enjoy individual work and are very talkative. This class might need to be exanimated with a
presentation and include a group discussion to really make them understand. These two

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examples are the reasons why the lesson plans in the appendix is constructed in such a
modifiable way. The lesson plan is included to show an example of how a lesson on the
themes of the Harry Potter series could be created. The lesson plan is based on the core
content for English 7, which is the highest level in Upper Secondary School in Sweden. This
level is chosen because the ‘heavy’ subjects this analysis found in the result feels the most
appropriate to teach older students, it also matches the best with the core content since the
level is a bit higher. The grading criteria used in the lesson are the ones the students need to
achieve E, which is the lowest passing grade in Swedish upper secondary school. The
document created by the Swedish National Agency of Education from which the lesson plan
is based is also included as the second appendix; to show where the rules and guidelines used
in the lesson plans come from.
One can also argue that the lesson plan presented in the appendix makes the
students acquire additional knowledge other then the knowledge that it is aimed. When
reading and discussing matters they might not have encountered in English before plenty of
new words might be encountered. Therefore. a vocabulary improvement can occur and the
teacher can easily add a vocabulary assignment to support this improvement of grammar also.
The written or verbally conducted assignment suggested in the lesson plan provides the
teacher with evidence of which of these newly acquired words that the students understood
correctly. This linguistic part of the lesson could be developed in to a bigger section and one
could expand the lesson plan to add more grammatical aspects. An example of this could be
holding an additional lesson on grammar beyond the existing ones in the lesson plan from the
appendix and then asking the students to focus on that grammatical aspect when writing the
essay. A suggestion could be to create another grammar based lesson centred on the errors the
teacher will discover while evaluating the written and oral exercises in the lesson plan
attached in the appendix section.

6. Conclusion
This essay showed that different aspects of discrimination can be found in the
four first Harry Potter novels. The few aspects presented in the essay seem only to be the tip
of the iceberg and additional analyses can be made based on different readings of the novels.
When conducting an analysis like this on a book that one is familiar with, it is interesting to
see and read these books from different perspectives, these are books that has been read on
numerous occasions and the movies have been watched plenty of times, but still, as one digs
in to analyse it fifteen years after first having it read to you by your parent, it shows what

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enormous content these novels have. New things and hints can always be found and this
analysis raised even more curiosity to see what can be found when analysing this book again
in the future, and to be able to construct a lesson based on the Harry Potter novels.
The way J.K Rowling constructs such clear hierarchal differences and the way
Harry in the novel fights all of them places her in a position where she has shown this unfair
conditions, shows the thoughts behind her book. She herself came from a very vulnerable
position when writing these novels and that is felt when reading it. All of these reasons create
a solid foundation to use Harry Potter in the classroom in other ways than only when teaching
English. Further research might be to see how these novels could be used in the social science
classroom, since these questions are highly relevant to the Swedish society of today.

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7. Works Cited
Primary sources:
Rowling, J.K. (1997) Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Print
Rowling, J.K (1998) Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Print
Rowling J.K (1999) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Print
Rowling J.K (2000) Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Print
Skolverket. 2011. Curriculum for the upper secondary school. Web. 9 November 2015.
Skolverket. 2011. Course plan English 7. Web. 9 November 2015.

Secondary Sources:
Literature
Fanon, Frantz. “The fact of Blackness” Trans. Markmann, Charles Lam. Theories of Race and
Racism A Reader. Ed. Back, Les and Solomos, John. 257-266. 2013. Print.

Firestone Amanda “Casting Lumos on Critical Cultural Studies: Gender, Hegemony, and
Other Social Stereotypes” Teaching with Harry Potter: Essays on classroom wizardry from
elementary school to collage. Ed. Frankel, Valeri Estelle. North Carolina: McFarland &
Company Inc. 2013. 179-187 Print. ‘

Mulham, Francis. (1992) Contemporary Marxist Literary Criticism New York: Routledge.
2014. Print.

Sheltrown, Nicholas. (2003) “Harry Potters World as a Morality Tale of Technology and
Media” Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. 2nd ed. Ed. Hellman, Elizabeth E. 47-64. 2009.
Print.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today – A User Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge. 2011.
Print.

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Whited, Lana A. “From Hogwarts Academy to the Hero’s Journey” Teaching with Harry
Potter: Essays on classroom wizardry from elementary school to collage. Ed. Frankel, Valeri
Estelle. North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc. 2013. 179-187 Print.

Web
Grijalva Maza, Luisa. Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry Poter:
Inclusion/Exclusion and Discriminatory Policies in Fiction and Practice. Politics & Policy.
40:2 (2012) 424-443. Web. 9 November 2015.

Horne, Jackie C. Harry and the Other: Answering the Race Question in J.K Rowling’s Harry
Potter. Johns Hopkins University Press. 34:1. (2010): 76-104. Web. 9 November 2015.

Greig, Geordie. “There would be so much to tell her” The Telegraph. 10 January. 2006. Web.
28 December 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1507438/There-would-be-so-
much-to-tell-her....html

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Appendix 1
Lesson Plan for using the Harry Potter novels as a Teaching Aid
Literature is a didactic tool, this lesson aims to both encourage the students to see that
literature can be interpreted in a deeper way than they first might think as well as give them
an introduction to understand the society in which they live. The lesson plan that follows is
created as a guide for teachers while teaching the novels. The teacher chooses the entire
specific content that is required by the Swedish National Agency of education as well as the
general goals, which are not required but desirable to include in some way. When creating a
lesson plan, the technique is individual; there is no right or wrong way as long as you include
parts of the core content into the lesson you are planning in some place during the year. One
does not even have to create a lesson plan, but for most this is the easiest.

This specific lesson plan includes the rules and guidelines from the Swedish National Agency
of education and a brief instruction on how the lessons could be executed.

Aim: This aim is a general aim for the English subject in the Swedish upper secondary
schools. The aims written here is the one created by the Swedish National agency of
education for all English teachers no matter what grade. This is not what the students are
graded on but what the teacher should have in mind to include every term. The general aim
relevant for this lesson is:

“Students should be given the opportunity to interact in speech and writing and to produce
spoken language and texts of different kinds, both on their own and together with others,
using different aid and media” (Skolverket, Curriculum)

Core content:
The core content is created by the Swedish National Agency for Education and it contains the
specific content that the teacher has to teach in English lessons. Normally a teacher chooses
the part or parts from the core content, which he/she wants, to use for the specific theme or
lesson. This is what the students are graded on. The specific parts chosen from the core
content for these lessons are:
- Contemporary and Older literature
- Theoretical and complex subject areas, also of a more scientific nature, related to students'
education, chosen specialisation area, societal issues and working life; thoughts, opinions,

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ideas, experiences and feelings; cultural expressions in modern times and historically, such as
literary periods (Skolverket, Core).

Conducting the lessons:

This is the general lesson plan, created for the teacher and inspired by the analysis of the
Harry Potter novels. The theme presented below provides the students with opportunities to
connect the fictional events of Harry Potter to real life events. The first part of this theme is
intended to make the student aware of how a simplified version of Postcolonial and Marxist
issues can look in literature, using harry potter to clarify this as an example. The second part
of this theme is aimed to make the students use this newly retrieved knowledge and apply it to
real world situations, making them see that the occurrences they discussed in Harry Potter
actually exist in the world in which they live. This opens up for political discussion, which
they can use in subjects like history or social science.

Step one: Use the Harry Potter novels to explain to the students how discrimination of
minorities could look with the examples mentioned in my analysis:
Muggles and Wizards
Mudbloods and Purebloods
Weasley’s and Malfoy’s
House-elves
Step two: Provide them with different English Speaking countries in which I would want
them to search to find any historical or current event that contains discrimination or
suppression of some sort.
Step three: Tell them to write a paper or create a presentation where they compare the
historical or contemporary event they found with the one described and chosen from Harry
Potter during step one.

Grading Criteria for E:

This is used to decide if the student has passed or not during this theme.

- Students can choose and with some certainty use strategies to search for relevant
information, structure it and assess the reliability of different sources.
- In oral and written communications of various genres, students can express themselves in
ways that are varied, clear and structured.

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- Students discuss in basic terms some features in different contexts and parts of the world
where English is used, and can also make simple comparisons with their own experiences and
knowledge. (Skolverket, Core)

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