Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman explore themes of magic and the supernatural. Harry Potter is the story of a seemingly ordinary young boy who discovers that he is in fact a wizard. Along with his friends Ron and Hermione, Harry battles enemies within and outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. None of Owens, or Bod for short, from The Graveyard Book grows up in a very unconventional situation being raised by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, the ghosts of the cemetery in which he lives. Silas, his guardian who also happens to be a vampire, teaches Bod the ways of the world while trying to protect him from evil jack-of-all-trades. Both texts' use of magic and the supernatural allow the authors to establish a hierarchical structure between those inside the magical world and those outside of it. There are clear distinctions between the two worlds, for example ghosts versus humans in The Graveyard Book and wizards versus muggles in Harry Potter. Both texts aim to break down the barriers of this social construction through the characters, notably Bod in The Graveyard Book and Hermione in Harry Potter. Both texts can be described as a hybrid of fantasy fiction and gothic literature. Elements of these two forms allow authors to use the grotesque, fantastical, and mythical elements to further solidify the social hierarchy they have constructed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay The tension between wizards and muggles is evident in the scene between Harry, Hagrid and the Dursleys when Harry discovers that he is a wizard. Hagrid introduces us to the word muggle when he explains its meaning to Harry: "that's what we call non-magical people like them" (Rowling 57). The label given to them is clearly negative and shows how the wizarding community thinks they are superior to "muggles". This disdain is mutual with the Dursleys calling wizards "crazy" (Rowling 61), "strange" and "abnormal" (Rowling 58) and Mrs. Dursley even going so far as to call her witch sister a "monster" (Rowling 57). . . Although it must be said that the majority of muggles do not know of the existence of witches and wizards and reject the idea of their existence. In doing so, they denounce the superiority of the wizarding community based essentially on their ignorance of the situation. These two dominant groups of people, wizards and muggles, compete in a magically charged environment for the top spot in the hierarchy. This is comparable to real-world social orders where groups of people compete for first place, such as the United States versus the USSR during the Cold War or even the Liberal Party versus the Labor Party. Rowling depicts this social construct from the perspective of wizards occupying the highest position in the hierarchy which we will delve into further. Looking closer at Harry Potter, the wizarding community can be categorized into pure-blood, half-blood, muggle-born, and spits who were born to wizarding parents but have no magic themselves. There is also a distinction between wizards, particularly purebloods and half-bloods, who sympathize with muggles. This particular form of discrimination is evident between Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley. Ron comes from a pureblood family known for being sympathetic towards muggles. During the train ride to Hogwarts, Harry and Ron are confronted by Draco and his friends, Draco describes the Weasley family and Hagrid as "scum" (Rowling 116). Draco also tells Harry "you will soon discover that somewizarding families are much better than others, Potter” (Rowling 116) and speaks of “the bad kind” (Rowling 116). Draco is an anti-Muggle pureblood and for him the bad guy is anyone who isn't a pureblood and whose opinions differ from his. There is a sense of Neo-Nazism in the text, with pure-blood wizards being the equivalent of Aryans and Muggles or Muggle-borns the equivalent of Jews. The segregation of these groups and their placement in a social hierarchy is the wizarding equivalent of world system theory where the social system is based on wealth and power (Kottak 329), although in the case of the wizarding community, it is based on purity. of the wizard family tree. Throughout Harry Potter, Hermione is often seen as an outsider mainly due to her Muggle lineage, she does not fully fit into the wizarding community but at the same time, she is no longer a Muggle either. Bod in The Graveyard Book is also presented as an alien, he is neither ghost nor fully human. Like Harry Potter, The Graveyard Book depicts a hierarchy, although different from the aforementioned; the basis of the structure remains the same. The supernatural world of The Graveyard Book illustrates three distinct social groups, humans, ghosts, and “the honor guard” (Gaiman 272). Humans are completely oblivious to the supernatural world, similar to the majority of muggles in Harry Potter; again, humans' perceived hierarchy is based on their ignorance of the supernatural world. This is a social commentary by Gaiman comparing the ignorance of first world people, represented by humans, to that of third world people, represented by the supernatural. Taking a look at the cemetery, we see that there is a distinct social order among its inhabitants. At the top of the hierarchy we have "The Honor Guard", comprising Silas and Miss Lupescu, it is evident in the text that to become one of the "Honor Guard" you only need to be supernatural in nature but being a mythical creature such as a vampire. or werewolf. Also at the top of the hierarchy is the elusive Lady on the Gray, much loved by the ghosts of the cemetery. In the middle of the hierarchy is the general population of ghosts, comparable to middle or working class people in today's society. At the bottom of the hierarchy we have the ghouls and also Liza Hempstock, a ghost who was executed for witchcraft. Ironically, Liza is ostracized by the other ghosts because she is a witch, a supernatural entity, as ghosts, they too are of supernatural belief. Once again, Gaiman uses this ironic situation as a social commentary highlighting the hypocrisy that accompanies a social hierarchy. As previously noted, Hermione in Harry Potter plays the role of an outsider in the wizarding community. As the story progresses, we see Hermione play a pivotal role in foiling Lord Voldemort's scheme to steal the Philosopher's Stone. She uses her intellect to decipher key information, including the riddle about the potions they must solve to access the Philosopher's Stone. Logic is necessary to solve the riddle and, as Hermione astutely points out, "many of the greatest wizards don't have an ounce of logic" (Rowling 307) and luckily for Harry, Hermione does. Michelle Fry (157) discusses the essential nature of Hermione's character in breaking down the barriers of social constructs. The riddle solved by Hermione is proof that this is the case in the sense that purebloods, like Draco Malfoy, judge her inferior because of her Muggle-born status. However, she proves them wrong by being able to solve a problem thatmany wizards, including purebloods, would not be able to resolve, demonstrating that a person's bloodline does not make an ounce of difference to their abilities. from the concept of carnival in Harry Potter where the rigid social structure is overthrown and the oppressed people, Muggle-born and Muggle-sympathizers, rise up and become powerful (Nikolajeva). They seize their chance to break down the barriers built by pureblood wizards and destroy notions of ineptitude and inferiority. There are also carnivalesque elements in The Graveyard Book which can be seen when humans and ghosts dance the Macabray (Gaiman135). The upside-down world of carnival (Nikolajeva, Hall) is evident in the reversal of the social order, whereby humans recognize the supernatural world for that night, but do not remember it afterwards. Interestingly, the ghosts do not talk about the dance afterwards as Silas explains "there are things that people are forbidden to talk about" (Gaiman 153), showing that now the dance is over, the hierarchy is put back in place. It contains the grotesque element of humans and ghosts dancing together seen in carnival and also in Gothic literature. The lyrics of the song, aptly titled “Danse Macabre” (Gaiman 135), have a strong gothic tone focusing particularly on the macabre (Coats) while employing humorous carnivalesque motifs (Hall). An example of this is the phrase “one to go, one to stay and all to dance the Macabray”, which creates an atmosphere of decadence and even terror, but at the same time has the playful character of carnival. The grotesque is a Gothic motif used in Harry Potter to separate someone's status in the social hierarchy. Hall explores the character of Hagrid, a half-giant, as a grotesque representation. Hagrid is described as having "a long, shaggy mane and a wild, matted beard" (Rowling 50) and his eyes are "like black beetles" (Rowling 50). He is at the bottom of the hierarchy being not only a half-blood but also a half-blood with a giantess for a mother. When he sees Hagrid, Draco calls him "savage" (Rowling 84), even though we know that Hagrid is anything but a savage with his pockets full of "bullshit mints" (Rowling 67), "tea bags » (Rowling 67). and “biscuit dog” (Rowling 79) even exclaiming “bless him, look, he knows his mother” (Rowling 252) when Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback looks at him. He is the epitome of a gentle giant and that has a sort of irony or carnivalesque to it. Like Draco, the majority of the wizarding community despises Hagrid for his differences, his grotesque character, discriminating against him because of his presumed "savage" nature. Like Hagrid, goblins are described in Harry Potter as grotesque (Hall). Rowling describes a goblin as being “swarthy” (78) with “an intelligent face, a pointed pearl” (78) and “very long fingers and feet” (78). Besides the obvious grotesque connotations, there is also a sense of villainy and betrayal associated with goblins, motifs synonymous with Gothic literature. It's no surprise that, like Hagrid, goblins are also at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Both Harry Potter and The Graveyard Book depict a clear hierarchical structure within the fictional worlds they explore, which can be compared to real-world social structures. They use magic and the supernatural to stratify different groups of people into rigid social factions. Gothic motifs, particularly the grotesque, are used to emphasize this structure and establish clear distinctions between segregated groups. Elements of carnival are evident in the texts and are used as a means of breaking up 7.1 (2001) : 157-167..