Harry Potter As Tool for Social Change

• Why must Dobby punish himself? Is he bound by magic to do so, or is he so fearful of his master that he does? Do all house elves punish themselves? • When given the opportunity, Harry frees Dobby, despite the obvious potential danger in angering Lucius Malfoy. Would you do the same? Should you? • Hermione’s first response to learning enslaved house elves prepare the food at Hogwarts is to not eat. Is this effective? Why or why not? Would it be more effective if she convinced her schoolmates to do the same? What did she hope to accomplish, if anything, by refusing to eat? Awareness? A change in policy? • Ron sees no problem with the current system and points to the house elves’ apparent happiness as proof that change is unnecessary. Is it right? Compare this to the Civil Rights Movement: In Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr., addresses moderate, white clergy who thought he was being too impatient or asking for too much too soon. In what ways is Ron like them? Why was he complacent with the slavery? Why did Dumbledore allow the house elves to stay enslaved? • Do you know where your food and other goods come from? Are any “house elves” involved in their production? Even in the US, many farmworkers work in extreme heat with no water, no breaks, no shade, and no benefits (like health insurance) and for less than minimum wage. Workers suffer health problems and even potential death. Meat production is often extremely dangerous as well because the conveyors move incredibly fast and workers use sharp and dangerous tools while the meat is in motion. If injured, a worker can no longer work and rarely has health insurance to pay for medical care. Some even die. Knowing this, do you feel more like Ron or like Hermione? Do you think those conditions are acceptable? What are ways you could address this modern version of slavery? •People often argue that many of these conditions are acceptable because undocumented workers are often those performing the work. Is this fair? Should our worker protection laws apply only to citizens? Only to workers within the US? Only to US-based companies? Or should the protections apply to all human beings? What about animals? What protections, if any, do non-human beings deserve? •Consider researching the production processes of other goods you consume. How are other types of workers treated? •In the wizarding world, other creatures, such as dragons, centaurs, giants, goblins, hippogriffs, and more are treated without respect. What creatures (or people) do we treat without respect? Have you ever considered someone else as being lesser? Are creatures such as centaurs and goblins comparable to other human beings in our world? If so, what groups of people are treated as “half breeds” or lesser simply for being different? •Consider the dragon(s) in Gringotts. Do you think the dragon is violent because it is a dragon or because of the conditions in which it lives? Is this torture, or is it okay? Does this story change the way you feel about other animals that are considered dangerous?