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07-28-2004, 08:58 PM
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 Harry's half-blood status has Nazi parallels - Harry's half-blood status has Nazi paral Summary:
JK Rowling Author Of Harry Potter Chilled To Learn Harry's Half-Blood Status Has Nazi Parallels Article: The Scotsman News Paper has an artical today about JK Rowling finding Parallels between Half-Blood status in Wizards and THe Natzi Party.
Quote: JK ROWLING made the "chilling" discovery that villains in her books used the same twisted logic as the Nazis when she visited a Holocaust museum, the author has revealed. Quote: Ms Rowling was asked by a fan to explain why some people in the stories - including the hero Harry Potter - are referred to as "half-blood" wizards.*
She replied that the terms "half-blood" and "pure-blood" were used by prejudiced characters such as the evil Lucius Malfoy and the Death Eaters, servants of arch-villain Lord Voldemort. Quote: Ms Rowling said she had invented the idea that some wizards were not considered to be "pure", and realised the similarities with the Nazis’ beliefs only afterwards when she visited a museum dedicated to the Holocaust, in which six million Jewish people died.*
Her decision to talk about such a sensitive issue was welcomed by an education officer at The Jewish Museum, who said the stories could be used to help children deal with racism in the playground. Quote: She replied: "The expressions ‘pure-blood’, ‘half-blood’ and ‘muggle-born’ have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter and express their originators’ prejudices.*
"As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a muggle-born [wizard] is as bad as a muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only half-wizard because of his mother’s grandparents." Quote: Ms Rowling then explained how she had discovered that this fictional prejudice held by some wizards against non-magical people [muggles] bore a strong resemblance to the way the Nazis thought.*
"If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted ‘Aryan’ or ‘Jewish’ blood," she said. Quote: Susannah Alexander, an education officer at The Jewish Museum in London, broadly welcomed Ms Rowling’s comments on the bloodline aspect of her stories.*
"She’s exactly right, they [the Nazis] graded people according to their genetics in a totally revolting and warped way," she said.*
"I personally think that if we avoid these issues and brush them under the carpet, we are giving the green light to people who might try and expose young people to the alternative point of view, which doesn’t bear thinking about.*
"We are in danger of saying these issues are too big, too frightening and not deal with them altogether." Quote: The second book in particular deals very much with this idea of pure blood and half-blood. It never seemed to me that some of the expressions and the language used came entirely from an author’s imagination," she said.*
"In one particular instance, Hermione is being picked on for having muggle parents. They call her ‘mud-blood’, dirty blood. That always seemed to me to have a basis in language used by the Nazis."*
While children reading the books themselves might not pick up on this, Miss Alexander said, it might be used by teachers as a way to discuss racism. Quote: Dr Kenneth Collins, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, said that Ms Rowling’s books could deal with serious issues in a way that younger readers could understand.*
"JK Rowling seems sensitive to the issues and is careful how she’s using it," he said.*
"I think a good children’s writer can introduce adult types of topic in her books. It is the way in which she handles things that’s important, so I don’t really think I’ve got any problems with it." Quote: While Prof Svonkin stressed that the subject was addressed as part of a "liberal-humanist call for understanding", he said he was concerned by the portrayal of the "house-elves", who serve their wizard masters and who with one exception do not want to be free.*
He described this as "a very troubling stereotype, that of the willing slave, and the fact that Rowling would include such a stereotype is very difficult to ignore or explain away".*
Harry Potter has also been variously described as a Thatcherite apostle of consumerism, a Trotskyite revolutionary, a Nietzschean, a Stoic and Jesus. Click Here for full story.
Source:The Scotsman
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07-28-2004, 11:22 PM
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#2 (permalink)
|  Scandinavian ModChimaera
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 7,755
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I find this very interesting because Voldemort is actually not a pureblood and neither was Hitler...
And I think its cool that JK takes things like this up...or maybe its just me being weird...hmm lol
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07-28-2004, 11:41 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Bundimun
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 36
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nope your not weird...i think its cool how jkr takes up real and controversial issues... death, sadness, the similarities between the Nazis and her stories... didja know originally there was going to be a gay person in her novels? named Pyrite. Sadly Pyrite just didnt fit in the story....
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07-28-2004, 11:48 PM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Bicorn
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: The Highest cloud on Loon-Land
Posts: 1,808
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Quote: Originally posted by Tomsblujaibyrd@Jul 28 2004, 10:15 PM
nope your not weird...i think its cool how jkr takes up real and controversial issues... death, sadness, the similarities between the Nazis and her stories... didja know originally there was going to be a gay person in her novels? named Pyrite. Sadly Pyrite just didnt fit in the story.... I didn't know that about Pyrite but that would have been cool.
She does touch on some interesting subjects but she is clever about it. It just shows that the muggle world and the wizarding world run parallel and that after all they still have human errors, I like that in her stories because us as 'Muggles' can relate to it!  | |
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07-29-2004, 12:00 AM
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#5 (permalink)
| Countdown Kid Hippogriff
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,470
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That's really interesting. I noticed that Voldemort is a lot like Hitler.
I agree with Snivellus, I think it's very cool that JK notices it.
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07-29-2004, 12:30 AM
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#6 (permalink)
| Official -()- SeekerSVU FanGirl Kappa
Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,025
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I read that on JK's website and re-reading it now made me realize some things. Harry Potter is not just a kid's book.. JK touches so many issues that adults can relate to and she is just brilliant!! No wonder we all love the books so much...
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07-29-2004, 12:45 AM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Doxy
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 429
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JKR is a genius its amzaing how she can touch such sensitive issues in her books and just makees it even more magical Quote: didja know originally there was going to be a gay person in her novels? named Pyrite. Sadly Pyrite just didnt fit in the story.... his name was really pyrites and he wasnt gay on her official site JKR's mentioned him as to being a servant of lord voldemort who was suppose to meet sirius outside the potters house the night they died she said he was a type of person who was obseesed with his clothes and his manners. not that iam going against gay people or anything just telling you what she said about him.
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07-29-2004, 01:05 AM
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#8 (permalink)
|  SS Resident Shopaholic
Couture ChickGriffin
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 8,874
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I think I remember JK talking about how she later on realized the similiarities between death eaters and nazis. However, she did not do this on purpose! This could be found in the chat -- just go to the books archived chat... I dont quite remember the link, but you can find it in other posts.
I think she was trying to talk about bias and tensions between people from different backgrouns, but not necessarily about Nazis.
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07-29-2004, 01:09 AM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Crup
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Grimmauld Place
Posts: 2,214
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There are many parts of the story that are similar to the Holocaust and the Nazis. One thing that got me, was when Sirius mentioned that his parents supported Voldemort before he showed, "his true colors". Sounds a lot like how Hitler took over things, doesn't it?
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07-29-2004, 01:11 AM
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#10 (permalink)
| | Bundimun
Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: stuck in your computer, to get me out hit Alt+F4
Posts: 36
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that is eerie.  | |
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07-29-2004, 01:14 AM
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#11 (permalink)
| | Crup
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Grimmauld Place
Posts: 2,214
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Quote: Originally posted by crazedfan@Jul 28 2004, 07:19 PM
his name was really pyrites and he wasnt gay on her official site JKR's mentioned him as to being a servant of lord voldemort who was suppose to meet sirius outside the potters house the night they died she said he was a type of person who was obseesed with his clothes and his manners. not that iam going against gay people or anything just telling you what she said about him. What part of her site does she mention that on? I don't think I've read that...
Edit: Found it myself. But, I wonder why a servant of Voldemorts would have been meeting Sirius outside the Potters house? It couldn't be to kill him, because that would have changed the entire series... so I wonder what was his purpose.
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07-29-2004, 01:28 AM
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#12 (permalink)
| | Guest |
wer does she mention pyrites? i havent saw him mentiond?
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07-29-2004, 01:30 AM
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#13 (permalink)
| | Crup
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Grimmauld Place
Posts: 2,214
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Quote: Originally posted by x_beky_x@Jul 28 2004, 08:02 PM
wer does she mention pyrites? i havent saw him mentiond? On her website, go to the Extra Stuff link and read up on the early drafts of Philosopher's Stone. He's in there.
Do you think JK did the Nazi parallels purposefully, hoping that we'd catch on and see how sick the Death Eaters are... or do you think it's accidental?
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07-29-2004, 02:11 AM
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#14 (permalink)
| | Plimpy
Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Godric's Hollow
Posts: 1,077
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Quote: Originally posted by *Snivellus*@Jul 28 2004, 04:56 PM
I find this very interesting because Voldemort is actually not a pureblood and neither was Hitler...
And I think its cool that JK takes things like this up...or maybe its just me being weird...hmm lol Yep that is a weird and interesting parallel because JKR never thought of the Nazi relationship to what she was writing about half-bloods... I think that people who are Half-bloods like Voldemort are prejudist against half-bloods and muggleborns because they are bitter about some of their own kind (deatheaters and bad wizards) being half-blood, and so they want to purify their wizarding race by getting rid of all the wizards being blood realted to muggles. This makes sense when it compares to the Nazis and Hitler, too.
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07-29-2004, 02:17 AM
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#15 (permalink)
| | Skrewt
Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: USA
Posts: 1,369
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i never knew that!
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07-29-2004, 02:22 AM
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#16 (permalink)
| | Bicorn
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,938
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Quote: Originally posted by Siriusly in Love+Jul 28 2004, 06:04 PM--> | QUOTE (Siriusly in Love @ Jul 28 2004, 06:04 PM) | On her website, go to the Extra Stuff link and read up on the early drafts of Philosopher's Stone. He's in there.
Do you think JK did the Nazi parallels purposefully, hoping that we'd catch on and see how sick the Death Eaters are... or do you think it's accidental?[/b][/quote]
who knows if she meant for it to deliberately reflect hitler and such, or if it was accidental. i certainly never saw the connection until i read this!
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07-29-2004, 02:53 AM
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#17 (permalink)
| | Bowtruckle
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 211
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WOW!! That's really interesting!!! I didn't know that...  | |
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07-29-2004, 02:57 AM
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#18 (permalink)
| | Imp
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 104
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o wow, this is going to be an... um... depressing book. we learned about that stuff in school and i almost cried, but im a heartless pig and cant cry.
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07-29-2004, 03:49 AM
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#19 (permalink)
| | Jarvey
Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: USA
Posts: 144
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whoa! i never noticed that!!! but it is true! and i just watched the 2nd movie today for like the 15th time! but now that i think of it, Salazar Slytherin was a LOT like Hitler and so is Voldemort!!! i'm glad that J.K. thinks this is so important though. :sorcerer:
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07-29-2004, 04:47 AM
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#20 (permalink)
| | Bundimun
Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Evrywhere-i travel
Posts: 31
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I also thinks its brilliant that Jo adresses the more important facts of reality and puts it in a easy to understand perspective. I myself lost many members of my direct family in the holocuast and i never got to know who they were. Charectars in her book need to face these same fears, the only diffrence is that Voldemort is still alive. I also and really thrilled to know that Jo fealls very stringly about these types of things as so many famous people happen to be anti-semitic. In fact i read that many of the names Jo uses in her books are derived from Hebrew names! Im just glad that a person who i admire so much is not only brilliant but decent, wait no... a bloody saint!!  | |
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07-29-2004, 06:32 AM
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#21 (permalink)
| sporksSUB Skrewt
Join Date: May 2004 Location: Sporking Mwahahaa
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I remember reading this on her site a few days ago and it chilled me a bit. It's so interestingly cool that her writing inspires these discussions. 
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07-29-2004, 10:45 AM
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#22 (permalink)
| | Mooncalf
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 525
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i think its cool the way she has touched topics like racism.
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07-29-2004, 10:46 AM
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#23 (permalink)
| | Demiguise
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
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Quote: I also thinks its brilliant that Jo adresses the more important facts of reality and puts it in a easy to understand perspective. ^ Yeah i agree with that 100%
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07-29-2004, 12:27 PM
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#24 (permalink)
| | Banshee
Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: scotland, the counry
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| Keeper of Mr Tennant's specs
it is amazing what JK thinks about. there are simalaritys between voldemort and the Nazi party like the they have to be pure blood Hitler waned blond hair and blue eyes. his Arian (Sp) race it is well sikening sadly.
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07-29-2004, 12:37 PM
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#25 (permalink)
| | Bicorn
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: The Highest cloud on Loon-Land
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Quote: Originally posted by karen_ginger@Jul 29 2004, 11:01 AM
it is amazing what JK thinks about. there are simalaritys between voldemort and the Nazi party like the they have to be pure blood Hitler waned blond hair and blue eyes. his Arian (Sp) race it is well sikening sadly. Yeah, and the wierd thing was, Hitler wasn't even German, he was Polish!! And he had brown eyes and dark hair! LOL.
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