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Harry Potter Gender Roles

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Gender Roles and Christian Symbols in Harry Potter The novel series Harry Potter is one of the most successful series ever written. Today, it appears in more than sixty languages around the world. It is full of adventure and mystery that grabs the attention of readers, young and old. Influenced by Christianity and the many gender roles in today’s society, J.K. Rowling uses symbols, whether it be a person or an object, to portray her views throughout the Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling is a British author that was born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England. She was born to a normal family and had a normal childhood. Rowling always had a passion for writing. She first started writing at the age of six. As she grew older, she wanted …show more content…

One of the most prominent is that of the different gender roles in society, mostly the roles of the women that are around Harry. Rowling is greatly influenced by the roles on women in today’s society. She portrays the women around Harry as knowledge bearers and sometimes even stereotypes them. She shows them as being protectors from evil. Luna Lovegood and Professor McGonagall, for example, are seen as wise or as a mother figure and that is all. These two women are only seen as stereotypical women to Harry (Cordova). He never grows close enough to them to know anything more about them. McGonagall especially is seen being caught up in her emotions and having sporadic outbursts here and there. For example, she “clutches her chest, gasps, and speaks while the all-knowing Dumbledore beams” when Harry returned from defeating the basilisk, a giant serpent used by dark wizards, in the second novel (Gallardo and …show more content…

House elves are small, enslaved, and emotional creatures with high pitched voices that live only to serve a magical family or institution; they are “deeply ingrained” to their masters (Kellner). They are “second-class citizens in the wizarding world” and are constantly being taken advantage of (Kellner). These elves are an “obvious allegory for subjugated populations everywhere” (Kellner). Most house elves are uneducated, and they do not have the means to overcome the people oppressing them. They do not think for themselves. Rowling is trying to portray that the women in today’s society are beginning to think like the elves. Women are thinking that this kind of “enslavement” is a moral requirement, not just a societal

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