1492, 1942, 1992: The Theme of Race in the Harry Potter Series

  • Lana Whited Ferrum College

Abstract

In this article Lana Whited discusses several crucial dates in the Harry Potter books and matches them with European and North American events that historically occurred on those dates. The parallels Whited notes lend weight to what readers may consider a secondary theme of the series: racism. According to Whited, exploring and combating racism is a primary theme for Rowling in this series, and Rowling brings up this theme repeatedly in various comic and dramatic ways.

Author Biography

Lana Whited, Ferrum College
Lavid Beagley is Lecturer in Children's Literature and Literacy at La Trobe University's Bendigo campus, Victoria, Australia, where he teaches units in Genres, History, Australian and Post-colonial children's literature. He has previously taught in secondary schools, and has been a school and university librarian.
Issue
Vol. 10 No. 1 (2006)
Section
Alice's Academy
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