Critical Essay on Presentation of Others in J.K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Otherness: The quality of appearing different from a particular group

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Othered: The action of treating someone differently from the self due to inherent differences like race of social status

Introduction

This essay will examine the presentation of Others in J.K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In the construction of the Others, there are some fundamental assumptions made in the construction of identities, which leads to Otherness and Othering. The essay's main points pertain to determining who the Others in the novel are and how the author represents them. There are so many characters and groups of people to choose from that it is difficult to choose only a few people to discuss. The novel is consistent with fantasy literature as J. K. Rowling bases it on the notions of essential hierarchies existing between different social groups and races. Accordingly, there are a variety of characters and events to choose from as the work is full of characters presented as Other. The presentation of some characters as Others builds to the plot of the story and most importantly led to the development of Harry Potter's character's identity in a magical world. This analysis of J.K Rowling's novel can be applied in contemporary society to understand why people behave in the manner that they do.

Background

A growing body of literature disputes how much of the human identity is caused by socialization and to what extent it is predetermined by genetic factors. Despite the existence of nature versus nurture divide, studies reveal that an individual's identity does not form fully until after birth. The nature of human beings develops and continues to grow depending on new situations and experiences. A person's sense of identity is the weakest at the time when she or he does not understand which group to associate with, say after changing jobs or relocating. At the center of the Othering, perspective is the self. It is impossible to identify Others without having an identity of the self and as such, the relationship between the other and the self is a dialectic one. The characters that an individual perceives as inherent to the self are considered contradictory to the traits of others, which translates to perceiving the Others as a representation of the complete opposite of the self. Inherently, Othering is a relative reminder of differences and is impossible without making a comparison.

Othering and Otherness in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The Family Other

Adoptions in families introduce some level of otherness as some adoptees may feel that they do not quite fit into either their birth or adoptive families. While feeling Othered does not mean that they feel unwelcomed or loved, it often means that such individuals struggle with the double heritage since they are not a complete piece of either family. Such a discrepancy distinguishes them from the non-adopted members of the families. In some unfortunate cases, the feelings of Othering may be driven by mistreatment and deliberate negligence. This occurs when an individual constantly remind the outsider that real-child versus adopted-child distinctions exist and that the fact that living under one roof is simply not enough to make a family. In such a case, Othering in adoptive families becomes a competition in which the individuals with biology or DNA connections have an edge against those who lack it.

Authors' of children's literature present home as a safe haven as it represents the epitome of safety, but J.K Rowling uses the twist of an adoptive family to convey the theme of Othering (Geerts, 2015). A house takes a physical shape while the home represents a family situation, a difference that comes off vividly from the novel's first chapter. Harry Potter's wizard parents died when he was a toddler as they attempted to defend their child against the forces of the evil Voldemort. He then went to live with his maternal aunt, Petunia Dursley who was an intolerant non-wizard who hailed from a traditional British family. She was unaware that Harry was the lone survivor of Voldemort's sophisticated magic and neither was Harry aware of his supernatural powers nor the existence of a parallel supernatural world.

In the home, adults have complete freedom of movement and while they use spaces and restrictions to regulate children's behavior. These spaces are connected to power and in the Dursley family, Petunia seems to control all the spaces. Despite having plenty of room in their Number Four, Privet Drive residence, she made Harry live in the cupboard that was under the stairs. For Harry Potter, this living space was not a loving or nurturing environment but rather a prison for oppression. Eventually, the family upgraded the boy's living quarters but only because they were afraid that someone would find out about their cruelty. Even after Harry upgraded from his cupboards home, his foster family often used it as punishment. They would lock the young boy under the stairs without food and where he was terrified of spiders with nobody to comfort him. This treatment qualifies as Othering since while the neglected their nephew, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley delightedly spoiled their son Dudley (Fields, 2007). The differential treatment created problems for Dudley since at some point he had to go on a diet as he was frantically overweight. The cousin promptly adopted the Othering attitude from his parents, Petunia and Vernon, and turned Harry Potter into a punching bag.

Several other cases of Othering occurred during the eleven years that Harry Potter lived with the Dursleys before he went to Hogwarts School of Wizardry. The family often took Dudley accompanied by his other friends for birthday treats but would leave Harry with their neighbors or any available relatives such as Mrs. Figgs. One time when they could not find a neighbor or relative to leave Harry with, they contemplated locking him in the car so that he would not ruin their day out at the zoo. They only decided to let him tag along so they could keep an eye on him since he would probably ruin their car if he was unattended. Moreover, Harry's aunt Petunia interfered his mail from Hogwarts and when he finally managed to receive his invitations, the Dursleys gave him a lift and abandoned him in the middle of King's Cross without any money to return in case his platform did not exist. Assuming Dudley was in Harry Potter's place, the Dursleys would have done the utmost within their power and resources to ensure their son was comfortable.

Throughout his stay in the Dursley household, Harry found a house to live in, but not a home where he belonged. In fact, he longed for a family and emotional connection since his adoptive family treated him like an outsider but perhaps an analysis of the relationship between Harry's mother, Lilly, and her sister Petunia explains why the Dursleys Othered Harry Potter. A long story of being overshadowed by her sister Lilly drove her motivation (Geerts, 2015). She lost their sisterly bond since Lillian could attend Hogwarts while she could not as she was a muggle. Lord Voldemort killed Lilly due to her magic and this evoked both grief and fear in her, which is a logical explanation for Othering her nephew. In fact, every time that Harry made odd things to happen around him, she would remember how the same pattern manifested around Lillian during their childhood. She responds to Harry's peculiarity by hiding him below the stairs and leaving out of fun family gatherings. The pattern supports the passive ideology that Otherness stems from Otherness; magic had always made Petunia to be labeled as the Other and in turn, she projects Otherness upon Harry Potter. Although this explains the Dursley's cruelty towards Harry, it simply does not excuse it.

Death as the Other

Harry discovered the Mirror of Erised within the first year of arrival at Hogwarts. It revealed an individual's most desperate desire and Harry discovered that he wished to see his dead parents one more time more than anything in the world (Rana, 2009). He became so attached to the mirror's illusion of his parents being alive that he neglected all else apart from looking into the mirror to see them. Dumbledore noticed the disturbing tendency and advised him to live in the present and forget the past. The idea of mastering death often possessed Harry to the extent that he would alienate himself from his friends, Ron and Hermione. Upon deeper reflection, Harry discovered that his obsession with death stemmed from losing the Other people whom he loved the most, especially since Voldemort was a looming threat to their safety. He realized that the anguish and ache that he felt when looking into the Mirror of Erised were not out of fear for his own life but it was for the Others. In fact, he attempted to look for solutions that kept him alive, thereby showing Harry's altruistic hesitance to let Others encounter death. Harry potter's sense of altruism eventually concentrate his mission to defeat Voldemort by refraining from obsessing over the fear of death. During the first year at Hogwarts, he was convinced that possessing a stone that could make gold and make one immortal was a desirable treasure to own, but once he managed to remove the Philosopher's stone from the Mirror of Erised, he chose to destroy it and prevent the evil Voldemort from accessing it rather than keep it for its magnificent power. He made this decision upon the realization that he was not only responsible for his welfare but that of the Others as well. Preventing Voldemort from accessing immortality was Harry's choice to protect himself as well as Others, who would also be a target for the former's evil. Even as Harry eventually embraced his mortality, Voldemort was ready to use all his power to escape death, even if it meant putting Others in harm's way. He sought the Philosopher's stone to make him immortal but he escaped death narrowly by disguising himself as a parasite in Professor Quirrell's head. He slays a pure and defenseless unicorn and drank its blood just to stay alive. In doing so, he paid a terrible price of living a terrible life, but since he had nothing to lose and everything to gain, he prioritized his life over that of Others.

The Ethnic Other

In modern society where immigration is rampant, racism and prejudice are widespread as well. However, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone provides them with rich literature material that facilitates the understanding of Othering from a racial perspective. The author presents the readers with a new world consisting of a magical community where powerful wizards and sorcerers live. In the same world, the non-magical community, also known as Muggles, exists in a parallel world. The traction and resentment between the wizards and the Muggles create intolerances which arise from Othering. Such hatred comes from the wizards, who have magical powers, viewing the Muggles, with the lack thereof, as unworthy. On the other hand, the few Muggles who are aware of the existence of wizards consider them oddities and outliers (Bertilsson, 2009). Harry Potter's uncle, Vernon, reacted explosively and nearly crashed the car when Harry narrated to him about his dream of a flying motorcycle. He, like other Muggles, was petrified of natural things and he yelled at Harry for making him uncomfortable. According to the author, "If there is one thing the Dursleys hated [...] it was [Harry's] talking of anything acting in a way it shouldn't" (Rowling, 33). The Muggles considered the activities of wizards to be dangerous and Harry's attempts to do anyth...