(Untitled)

[ansirdquestions]

I found this line at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the fifth book) and was slightly disturbed:

It was sunny and the grounds around him were full of laughing people, and even though he felt as distant from them as though he belonged to a different race, it was still very hard...

Racism, in Harry Potter?!

C'est tout.

Comments

[nefermaat]

i don't think thats literal. when i think of race sometimes i think of it as species...i duno. like...the race of elves. but maybe thats just me. i dont think i noticed that line before. kinda creepy. it doesnt really fit or make sense.

[ansirdquestions]

I know what you mean.

I didn't notice it right away either, i glanced at it by accident after i'd already read it over once. As i just told Sawyer, i don't really think it was intentional at all. Just an interesting way of phrasing it.

[deliturkkizi]

Yeah, I agree. I think she meant it as a different species.

[angrybonsai]

yeah, its kinda awkward, but i think rowlings trying to work in the alienation felt by other races to each other.

my other interpretation was that its abit of social commentary, its not racists but rather commenting on racism, or observing it.

my third way of thinking about it (after reading it again and again), i thought of the audience. though stereotypical, you must concede that many readers are at the very least somewhat experienced in other fantasy fiction, roleplaying, etc. so race may not have so much to do with it, but rather just like liza said, more like species... elves, ogres etc

[ansirdquestions]

I actually passed over it at first and thought nothing of it, but then i looked at something else i was doing and looked back at the book to find where i had left off, saw that quote and stopped.

But overall, i do think it was unintentional; that she didn't mean it in a racist way at all. I agree with Liza and with you, it's just that it's kind of an interesting slip of the tongue.

Hi it's Jenna

[jenna0mae]

Lets be friends

Re: Hi it's Jenna

[ansirdquestions]

Ha! Yeah, right!

I mean, i've friended you. ^_^

I thought your name would be JennaChrist, and i was laughing in my head. ♥