A Radical, Intersectional Feminist Re-reads Harry Potter: Book 1, Chapter 1

Let's take a deep dive into the text of Book 1, Chapter One, "The Boy Who Lived."

By "radical" I mean the patriarchy needs to be upended by the roots, and by "intersectional" I mean with attention to the way sex interacts with race, class, disability, etc. Forgive me if I am using this terminology in an outdated way, as I still do not 100% understand how internet discourse has colored these descriptors in the past few years. For further clarification: I am NOT a TERF, and I plan to critically delve into the way JKR portrays postmodern themes, such as: gender, race and social class, under the assumption that culture is socially constructed to benefit those in power.

The first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is dedicated to exposition and characterization. We are introduced to the wizarding world through beloved characters like Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid, but we are also introduced the wizarding world's antithesis: the Dursleys.

The first thing novel does, which I do remember from childhood, but took me years to unlearn, is hit you right over the head with blatant fatphobia.

[Mr. Dursley] was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.

Vernon is characterized by his fatness; he is "big" and "beefy" which makes him, of course, disgusting and unloveable, and his neck is the punchline. Petunia is like-wise characterized by her weight, but in a different way; her thinness represents her femininity, as does her penchant for gossip. 

The misogynistic implications of women as gossipers dates as far back as Medieval Europe. In The Centerbury Tales (1387), the wife of Bath is characterized by her chatty demeanor - and her sin of "sovereyntee" over her husband's estate. In an article on how "women's talk" is associated with witch-hunts and the persecution of women, Silvia Federici says, "gos­sip is an inte­gral part of the deval­u­a­tion of women’s per­son­al­i­ty and work, espe­cial­ly domes­tic work, reput­ed­ly the ide­al ter­rain on which this prac­tice flourishes" ("How the Demonization of 'Gossip' Is Used to Break Women’s Solidarity"). Have we stumbled upon the first real witch of Harry Potter so soon?

Another theme that the series is infamous for toying with, but never quiet acknowledging, is race. We can see this in the first chapter, as the Dursleys are disgusted by the Potter's status.

Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. [...] This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that. 

The Dursleys define themselves by what they are not; they are not "good for nothing" and they are not "like that." Like whiteness as defined by the Western white, they are not the Other, and they are the normal, "Dursleyish" ones. This highlights their isolation in their suburban household - though while a keen reader may suspect the Potters of being a different race, the author is only using the language of race discourse to suggest that witches and wizards are similarly discriminated against by the Dursleys.

With the novel published in 1997, there was no reason for JKR to shy away from mentioning race outright, beyond of course, perceived marketability and/or reputation. So, why did she push away from the issue, using it only for an allegory? In a piece written by a fan, it is argued that by avoiding race, JKR has actually written a lot about race: "The battle between good and evil is a racial war. Viewers are unaware of this racial tension because it has been manifested in a different way. The racial war takes place in a seemingly non-racial way" ("Harry Potter: More About Race Than You Thought"). Although it is only the first chapter, we see JKR setting up systems of prejudice and injustice, though we have yet to fully realize their implications.

Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. 

None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. 

[...]

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar -- a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen -- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. [...] Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. 

As argued by Marie-Louise von Franz, a scholar of both fairy-tales and, fittingly enough, alchemical manuscripts, fantasy favors those who are connected to, and accepted by, animals. "Anyone who earns the gratitude of animals, or whom they help for any reason, invariably wins out" ("The Language of the Night"). By missing the owl, the Dursleys are proven not to be our heroes. Though Vernon notices the cat, he determinedly avoids it - he rejects any gratitude or help from the tabby before it can even be offered.

Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes -- the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt -- these people were obviously collecting for something... 

This time, Vernon's distaste for people outside his norm is not just an upturned nose- it is violence. He is insulted by their mere existence and the implication that he could be similar to them, even by age. His only consolation is his faith in capitalism: if the "weirdos" are "collecting for something" then they are at least being productive in a way that Vernon can accept.

He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. [...] Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. 

[...]

He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. 

Once again, we see Vernon characterized by his lack of respect for animals and by his love of food. The people who make him "angry" are defined by their jewel-toned "cloaks", and "the notion that darkness in the mist of whiteness represents evil as a clearly racist notion" ("Harry Potter: More About Race Than You Thought"). Vernon is still fixated on his imaginary "collecting tin," because in late stage capitalism, not only are the poor shunned and considered "weirdos," but their only motivator should be money. Without this "normal" line of reasoning, Vernon is "uneasy."

There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her -- if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks... 

Vernon continues to fascinate me as a character, not because I enjoy his thinly veiled racism, but because the stakes seem to be immeasurably emotionally high for him, despite any real external motivators. Why is the focus on Vernon, when Petunia is the one with the "good-for-nothing" sister? Is he driven by his love for his wife, or was JKR so focused on making him an antithesis to Harry himself that she forgot he has no real backstory? While Vernon is old, Harry is young; while Vernon is from "normal" society; Harry is a part of a society of "weirdo" outliers; while Harry dreams of a better life, Vernon "has never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination."

Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). 

Mother-blame is a Western cultural phenomenon. In "Blaming Mothers: A Disability Perspective," Colker discusses the history of how parenting styles, particularly mothers, were blamed for a child's neurological disorders as far back as the 1950s. While JKR is far from suggesting that Dudley has developed a specific neurological disorder, we can certainly see Petunia's mothering being judged based on the negative "new word" (two new words, technically) that Dudley has learned.

"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?" 

"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me." 

As the reader finally learns that the boy in question is indeed the titular character, we also learn that he will face prejudice from his own family. Petunia calls his name "common," referring once again to the family's status. For a first time reader, this could perhaps be a reference to race, social class or any other real-world phenomena that causes power struggles and oppressions.

The reader would be wrong though. It's about wizards.

Have you re-read Harry Potter as an adult? What were your thoughts when you did so? I'd love to hear it in the comments!