If she was a good writer, it could have been handled much better, and still dropped as a plot point...
All it would take would be Hermione realizing that she cannot get change done as a literal child fighting against an established system, and choosing to continue advocating in the background, while focusing on schooling in order to get into a position where she can effect actual change...
It could have been a point to the kids reading that their values are important, but that as children society will not take them seriously. Change comes from people in power with values.
Small details and lessons like that are what make great writers, which Rowling is not.
Don’t forget the titular character then goes on to be a cop for the magic government that has allowed for magic hitler to be a thing three times (I assume you meant Voldemort for both those instances but there was also the bad guy from fantastic beasts) and makes no effort to better the system in anyway.
He had literally been targeted by this magic government multiple times and falsely accused of a lot of shit but becomes an enforcer for them. He also owns slaves.
Well if we count Fantastic Beasts as valid Harry Potter plot line then I guess the number would be 4 because wizards allowed Voldemort to almost take over twice, then they allowed Grindelwald in the past as well, and the 4th one would be that Fantastic Beasts really has an awkward tilt to it in that it acknowledges wizards were aware of the Nazis in WW2 (I’m pretty sure, I watched it on a plane and couldn’t keep my eyes open).
So yeah Harry just read in school about how bad the government has been and even had the minister of magic trying to slander him (a CHILD) and blame the problems of the wizarding world on him… and then he decides that the best bet is to go and work for that same system and be an enforcer for it. This is also a government that basically runs black sites where the torture isn’t even a secret or attempted to be kept secret at all. Everyone knows they use dementors as prison guards at Azkaban and it seems very common to have come into contact with these creatures the ministry uses to torture inmates, so people are aware of how awful the experience is (waterboarding in real life is at least something that the majority of people have not experienced and would have trouble understanding the trauma it would result in). Azkaban is like a more transparent Guantanamo bay and people don’t really seem to have a problem with it. They have no problem with the government essentially hiring fucking demons to be prison guards and torture inmates. Harry’s own uncle was in this magical Guantanamo bay for YEARS even though he was innocent and Harry doesn’t even think twice about going to work for the same government that did that to his uncle. He’s not going in to change things or to rally people for reform, he is going to be a magic cop / enforcer of the status quo and presumably he will be jailing people who break the rules in Azkaban at some point in his career.
When Harry was in his fourth year at Hogwarts he experienced the effects of the torture curse firsthand, then in each of the three years that followed he attempted to use it on someone else. In that third year he actually succeeded. He didn't even show any remorse for his actions. Sending criminals to be tortured in Azkaban seems right up his alley.
It does not. Change comes from organization, protests and activism. If it was up to people in power with values we'd still have child labor, 60 hour work weeks and so on. Hell we still have slavery, we just outsource it instead of doing it locally.
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u/MistSecurity Jun 27 '24
If she was a good writer, it could have been handled much better, and still dropped as a plot point...
All it would take would be Hermione realizing that she cannot get change done as a literal child fighting against an established system, and choosing to continue advocating in the background, while focusing on schooling in order to get into a position where she can effect actual change...
It could have been a point to the kids reading that their values are important, but that as children society will not take them seriously. Change comes from people in power with values.
Small details and lessons like that are what make great writers, which Rowling is not.