Magic Within the Works of J. K. Rowling - a Natural or Artificial Inequality?

In a world filled with inequalities, it is difficult to discern which inequalities simply exist, and which are man-made. It is still more difficult to distinguish between such inequalities within works of literature. The Harry Potter collection by J. K. Rowling, with its alternate world, contains one new inequality that does not exist within the actual world- magic. The notion of magical abilities within the Harry Potter books can be applied to Rousseau's ideas of natural and artificial inequalities. Magical ability is an innate quality, but with proper societal tweaking, can also be considered an artificial inequality.

Rousseau labeled two kinds of inequalities in his Second Discourse: natural and artificial inequality. Natural or physical inequalities are established by nature (101). People have no control over such inequalities. Examples include gender, age, stature, and hair color. Such differences among people do not make one person better than another, but rather simply exist. Thus, natural inequality is not negative. It merely creates variety. Artificial inequality is quite different from natural inequality. Such inequality is established by man.

In Harry Potter's world, people are born with a certain amount of magic. It is an innate quality. This skill can only be sharpened if the seed of it exists within a person at birth. Non-magical folk, or "muggles", cannot perform any magic (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 53). Most do not even know of its existence. "Squibs" are the non-magical children of witches and wizards. They can see magical creatures and spells that are cast, but do not have any magical abilities themselves (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 20-22). A child would get little hints of his magical powers in his childhood. For instance, Harry was teased unmercifully as a child. As a result, he once found himself magically standing on the roof of the school kitchens to avoid a group of particularly terrible boys who were chasing him, without knowing how he got up there (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 58). Another example of his magical powers was that when Harry's aunt tried to give him a haircut, the next day his hair would return to its former pre-hair cut state (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 58). Neville, a classmate of Harry's, showed magical abilities because he bounced when his uncle threw him out of an upper floor window. Harry's and Neville's childhood magical experiences exemplify Rousseau's idea of natural differences. Even in youth, Harry's powers were greater than Neville's. Years later, in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry excelled in numerous areas of magical study such as Defense against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Charms. Neville lagged behind nearly all of his peers in each of his classes. The magical abilities with which a character is born dictates how many childhood magical episodes he will have, and also how proficient he will be with his magical powers later in life. The magical powers with which one is born shape the boundaries within which one can use these powers.

Each magical character in the Harry Potter collection is born with set parameters of the magic he or she can perform. While the parameters can be widened a bit with learning and experience, they remain fairly stable. Just as Rousseau postulated, natural inequalities merely exist, and cannot be altered significantly. Hermione, one of Harry's best friends, is the best pupil of her year. She has read nearly every book within the Hogwarts library at least once, and peppers her words with perfectly memorized quotes from thick magical texts. She learns nearly everything, not through trial and error, but through book knowledge. Harry, on the other hand, relies more on instinct. He just naturally seems to know what to do most of the time, and seems to have his skill of magic at his fingertips. He listens in class, but is nowhere near as studious as is Hermione. Incantations slip from his mouth unbidden in times of great urgency. It is not so much the book smarts, but the true magic from within, that sets Harry a small step above Hermione in terms of magical ability. Natural inequality truly makes the characters within Harry Potter separate but equal.

The characters' blood is made a great deal of, particularly by Slytherins, one of the four Houses within Hogwarts. A witch or wizard can have one of three different categories of blood. A "pure-blooded" person has parents who both have magical powers. A "half-blood" has one parent who is magical, and another who has no magical powers at all. There are cases where both of a witch's or wizard's parents are muggles, or non-magical. An offensive term given to such people is "mudblood", which signifies "dirty blood". There is much prejudice concerning one's so called "purity of blood". However, in actuality, blood carries no significance whatsoever. Hermione's parents are both muggle dentists, yet she is the equivalent of valedictorian at Hogwarts. Lord Voldermort, the evil, monstrous killer who terrorized the entire world, both magical and not, was a half-blood. Blood, like magical ability, is a natural inequality. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts mentioned that, "You place too much importance... on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!"(Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 708). After all, one cannot change whom one's parents are. Society has transformed this natural inequality, the blood of one's parents, into an artificial inequality. It has done so by assigning a hierarchical structure to formerly innate qualities.

Artificial inequalities stem from natural inequalities, postulates political scientist Marguerite Deslauriers. An innate difference between two students, such as their blood, would make these students different, but not unequal. However, due to society's need to assign values, formerly natural, unequal traits now carry some underlying moral baggage. In the case of Harry Potter, this may be applied to magical ability. As previously mentioned, magical ability is as innate quality, and hence it is a natural inequality. However, through grading students on their magical abilities, this formerly natural inequality becomes artificial. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, through grading students based on their magical abilities, is setting students with higher magical capabilities above other students. A former trait that merely diversified the student body now becomes associated with notions such as inequality, inferiority, and superiority within the classroom.

Modern-day science and philosophy have been applied to the notion of magical abilities within the Harry Potter world. According to Chris Jozefowicz, magical ability may be related to genetics. Kurt Loft also suggests that molecular genetics plays an integral role in the amount of magic a character harbors within himself. This may be the case, as in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry is told at a young age that he will make a great wizard because his parents were great wizards; "Harry-yer a wizard... an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?" (Rowling, 50-51). The aforementioned studies illustrate that magical ability can indeed be considered a natural inequality, since one's genetics are natural, innate inequalities as well.

From a philosophical standpoint, symbolism and metaphor are interwoven through the seemingly straightforward and even childish Harry Potter works (Mark Albert, 2001). Such literary techniques can also incorporate philosophy into simple literature meant for children. Within his Second Discourse, Rousseau states that, "since God Himself took men out of the state of nature immediately after the creation, they are unequal because He wanted them to be so; but it does not forbid us to form conjectures...about the human race"(103). There are two key parts to this quote. The first concerns the issue of inequality. Inequality, Rousseau asserts, must be acceptable some of the time, for God, a perfect being, has created humans to be unequal. God, Rousseau then states, does not forbid mortals to form conjectures about mankind. However, in so doing, humans will judge one another, and will attempt to place their individual values on each other. By judging one another and creating individual hierarchical schematics, artificial inequalities will begin to emerge. People with similar natural traits will stick together, just as wizards stick with wizards, and muggles stick with muggles in the Harry Potter world. A master-slave relationship will begin to emerge between various groups of people. The wizards consider themselves vastly superior to muggles. However, in retrospect, wizards have neither electricity nor adequate heating systems. Thus, natural inequalities lead to artificial inequalities, which create master-slave relationships among groups of people.

Natural and artificial inequalities exist side-by-side. The Harry Potter collection, written by J. K. Rowling, illustrates how a character's magical abilities are at first innate and therefore natural inequalities. However, the moment a child with magical abilities sets foot inside a school meant for witchcraft and wizardry, the magical abilities becomes artificial inequalities. The students with higher magical abilities are labeled by the school as superior to all other students. Thus all natural inequality, no matter how insubstantial, will eventually be twisted by society into an artificial inequality.

Works Cited

1. Albert, Mark. "Muggles and Machinists." Modern Machine Shop 10 (2001): 8.
2. Deslauriers, Marguerite. "Two Conceptions of Inequality and Natural Difference." Canadian Journal of Political Science 4 (2004): 787.
3. Jozefowicz, Chris. "Wizard of Odds." Current Science 91 (2006): 4.
4. Loft, Kurt. "Knight Ridder." Tribune Business News 23 Jun 2003: 1.
5. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The First and Second Discourses. USA: St. Martin's Press, 1964.
6. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. USA, Scholastic Press, 2000.
7. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. USA, Scholastic Press, 2003.
8. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. USA: Scholastic Press, 1998.