I was asked this question a while back. My answer was that in fact the wizarding world has extremely low educational attainment and is riven by poverty. Numerous wizarding children die in childhood as well.https://twitter.com/AlanMCole/status/1326557746339176451 …
-
-
Note as well that we hear tell of other wizarding schools in other countries which despite having MUCH smaller populations than Hogwarts appear to be comparably sized schools: school size is weakly related to wizarding population size.
Show this thread -
Rather, the wizarding schools are similarly sized in order to produce a suitable scale of elite world, quite possibly with the scale driven by the scale necessary for non-incestuous reproduction given the taboos and network sizes we observe.
Show this thread -
Good question! The Weasleys only recently managed to break into the aristocracy, probably in the paternal generation, and are struggling to remain there.https://twitter.com/StevenNadel/status/1326624313999560705 …
Show this thread -
I suspect there is a money issue for many families, and the Weasleys are just scraping by. Papa Weasley's salary is probably better than he lets on, but fecundity eats it all up.https://twitter.com/dhmontgomery/status/1326624881669124096 …
Show this thread -
More to the point, what we see is not that Hogwarts creates so much knowledge per se, but that it *generates elites*. That is also about connections. And the House system creates very distinct elite identities and strong inter-elite loyalties!
Show this thread -
It's also important to understand the racial differences in the wizarding world. Gnomes run the banking system: they don't go to Hogwarts. Many non-human species simply exist under uncontested human overlordship.
Show this thread -
Dobby's "liberation" is not equality: House Elves aren't about to be made ministry officials or something. Dobby is still a subject in a discriminatory and unfair system.
Show this thread -
I mean not literally, of course. Dobby is dead. But you get the point.
Show this thread -
Sorry, got my creatures mixed up. They are indeed goblins not gnomes!https://twitter.com/julesverne1492/status/1326627578078244866 …
Show this thread -
Anyways. When we understand that the world the "good guys" are fighting for is still one with an extremely narrow race-defined aristocracy ruling a deeply aristocratic system, I think it impacts our assessment of their goodness.
Show this thread -
Voldemort obviously is bad because he does bad things. But the cause he is fighting for, while worse than the cause he opposes, is.... like.... a little bit worse?
Show this thread -
Voldemort thinks that the vaguely totalitarian government which freely uses torture to get its way and which is wildly unequal and provides few or no basic services should have an aristocracy of blood. The goodguys think it should be friends of Dumbledore.
Show this thread -
We ultimately must oppose Voldemort because he does deeply evil things in service to his cause. But the "goodguys" here are in fact defenders of an awful system which people of conscience should probably oppose.
Show this thread -
Also, that this entire dynamic is actually a thinly veiled analogy for actual politics in our "meritocratic" age should be obvious.
Show this thread -
In fact, Rowling is engaged in an allegorical defense of upper-crust incrementalist liberalism: preoccupation with meritocracy, blithely ignoring deep, systemic inequalities, etc
Show this thread -
Hermione's later-in-life attempts to free the House Elves are funny and quixotic because, of course, the House Elves do not wish to be free. In Rowlings world, the subject people know their place, and the meritocratic masters, having purged the last OVERT aristocrats...
Show this thread -
Reign supreme, having legitimated their rise to power through struggle. But nowhere do you see any interest in *systemic* justice for the downtrodden of the wizarding world.
Show this thread -
Hagrid gets to return to his happy subalternity. But there is no sense that giantkind, let alone halfgiants, are going to benefit from his performing an admirable job as the childrens' token minority friend.
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.