The level of discrimination that occurs due to “purity” of blood within the wizarding world is unreal and can be almost shocking to someone who has not grown up in the magical world like most of the students who end up attending Hogwarts. There is a large and dark driving force that constantly keeps the flame of discrimination lit, and it is the hatred that Lucius Malfoy teaches his son, Draco, this occurs when anyone is not a “pure-blood”. Draco Malfoy always makes a point of it to call Hermione a “mud-blood” because she is not a pure blood like him. This idea that has been planted in Draco’s head could be considered to be discriminatory against the class of anyone else but pure bloods or even to go as far as to label their classes as a race and say that there is racism that is taking place. When Harry first meets the Weasley family and then meets Draco, he does not fully understand the discriminatory remarks that Draco has cast upon Ron and his family, and because Harry grew up in the muggle world, he was not exposed to this level of hatred for people who are not of “pure” blood.
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Here we see Hermione punching Draco in the face in the third movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban. He says that the show is about to begin, the execution of Buckbeak. Draco has a hatred for Buckbeak because he is owned by Hagrid who is half wizard, half giant. He shows disgust for anyone and anything that is not pure-blood like him.
In this four minute clip from the movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we see that Sirius is disowned by the rest of the Black family because he associated himself with the Potters, a half blood family. He speaks of how he ran away at 16 and his face was burned off of the family tree that is located in 12 Grimmauld Place. His family, The Blacks, were of pure blood and to only be associated with those who are of pure blood as well, however, Sirius found that he did not agree with this ideology that his family shared and tried to teach him. Here he is showcasing that discrimination can be learned however, it does not mean that one has to continue to go along with it, they can make their own choices and treat others with respect. As well in this scene, there is an encounter with Kreacher, Sirius's house elf, and Harry. Kreacher says that Harry is friends with "blood traitors" and by doing so he [Kreacher] demonstrates that he has learned to discriminate against those who are not pure-blood.
Continuing on, much of the Black family is connected to Lord Voldemort and the death eaters so one must begin to think, Voldemort was a driving force in keeping discrimination towards muggle borns and half-bloods alive, and he passed on his hatred as a learned behavior to his followers. There is the side taken from the viewpoint of the death eater and follower of Voldemort that states that anyone who is not pure blood is an animal and should not be allowed to “breed” to create more “offspring”, this side of discrimination is dehumanizing. Whereas you see the protagonist of the series, Harry, is a half blood, however, he is one of the most powerful wizards of all time, so this sense of “inferiority” does not apply to him because he is able to complete spells of higher magic than most wizards. Continuing on, we see that there is not only discrimination towards those who are not “pure” blood but also those who associate with them and show curiosity towards their world and how they function as people.
Mr. Weasley is the prime example of this because he often finds much difficulty in his job at the ministry because he is obsessed with muggle things and he finds that this should not be a standard thing for someone who is of pure blood. Associating with things that are of “lower class” or identifying against affirms that the Harry Potter series is designed to showcase the flaws within our own society. The Weasley twins do not agree that their family is discriminated against.
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Percy (on the right, back row, next to George) is the eldest of the Weasley children and he works for the ministry, and because he wants to keep his job where he is in a position of power, he must surrender the values of muggles that his father taught him. Percy becomes racist and hateful towards those who do not have the desired traits that the ministry of magic is seeking. It is not until the Battle of Hogwarts that Percy decides to fight for what is right because he learns that the ministry is corrupt. He realizes that he has been living a lie by believing the purity of one’s blood makes them superior over someone who has one non magical parent and a magical parent.
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Continuing on, specific examples will come from the book, the chamber of secrets where there is the outbreak of attacks by the basilisk on the muggle born students; a message is directly send to the student body of Hogwarts that muggles are to be exterminated and looked down upon, "the chamber of secrets has been opened enemies of the heir... beware". All because of Voldemort’s affirmation that only pure wizards deserve to study magic, all muggle borns must not learn magic at Hogwarts especially because he is the heir of the Slytherin house. Moreover, within the school of Hogwarts, students are caught up in this social construct of how their pureness of blood directly relates to how successful they will be as a wizard, and with this stereotype, many do not hold it to be valid. Throughout history, the success of wizards has not been measured up by the pureness of their blood and we see this in the Battle of Hogwarts in the Deathly Hallows; Lupin, a werewolf is killed fighting for the greater good, and is hailed a hero. As well, many of those who were killed during this wizarding war were some of the most skilled wizards, were discriminated against because of their blood “pureness”, and yet they still were able to fight up until their valiant deaths.
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Harry and Voldemort fighting during the Battle of Hogwarts among the wreckage of the courtyard. This image is captured from the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows directed by David Yates.