Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
Before I get into the meat of the book, we need to take a moment to appreciate the first line of the series. No line has ever made me so curious. Why are they so determined to prove that they’re normal? What are they hiding? Incredible.
Ok, favorite part acknowledged - on to the real stuff. Harry has never heard of the wizarding world so we get to learn about the hidden world along with him. Unfortunately, while the plot gives us a fun YA adventure, Rowling’s world-building is easily the weakest part of the series. Anything you’d think of as vaguely ‘witchy’ is pulled in wholesale - pumpkin juice, goblins, dragons eggs and wizard robes. Mostly this is a non-issue. Sorcerer’s Stone is nearly a children’s book, and not everything needs to be groundbreaking. But while I don’t think JK Rowling had ill intent, she’s created a world that can cause real-world consequences.
Goblins are Jewish caricatures. They are greedy creatures with long, hooked noses and literally run the bank. I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t the result of conscious anti-Semitism. This description of goblins is deeply ingrained in Western fantasy literature. But we have to pay attention to things like this as we consume any media, to watch how it may be creating or reinforcing unconscious biases. Think of a small town kid. They’ve grown up surrounded entirely by people who look like them, and reading well-regarded books such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. They’ve seen the character of the greedy, untrustworthy, hook-nosed businessman over and over in popular movies such as Star Wars, Die Hard, and even Its a Wonderful Life. The only thing they remember learning about Jewish people is a chapter in the WWII unit. They’ve never connected that back to the images constantly popping up in media. Then a Jewish man moves into town. He seems nice enough, but he looks different, he holds himself apart. (Not on purpose, but this is a good Christian town and they are used to seeing everyone at Church on Sundays and holidays.) Its not that our small-town kid is bigoted - they know that’s Bad. But there’s just something about the new guy - they have a gut feeling about him. He can’t be trusted, he must be up to something. Maybe that gut feeling fades as friendship blooms, maybe the new guy has to leave town again because nobody thinks he’d be quite the right fit for their job openings. Maybe our small-town kid even gets drunk one night and decides the new guy needs to know they’re watching him. Bigotry is a pyramid - the most visible hatred is unsustainable unless supported by the quieter violence of reduced opportunities, othering, and microaggressions. No individual can change this ecosystem on their own, but it is the responsibility of every content creator to avoid adding to the pile, and the responsibility of anyone consuming to pay attention to more than just the direct message the author intended. I’ll leave you with one last quote from the book:
The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet.
For more reading on the link between goblins and anti-Semitism, I’ve added some links below:
