Non-binary alternatives in Harry Potter

This exchange is arguably the most important conversation in all 41,000 pages of the Harry Potter books. It takes place at the end of the final Harry Potter book, when Harry meets his (dead) mentor in a dream-like state following Voldemort’s second-to-last attempt to kill him. Harry presents Dumbledore with a binary choice, as if “real” and “happening inside my head” are mutually exclusive. As John Granger writes, “Dumbledore’s response reveals that he thinks Harry has created a false dichotomy. There is another option to account for his experience than just either/or…there is a nonmaterial (albeit, anything but immaterial) unity between what is real and what is happening in our heads” (Granger, Lectures 178, 179). When Dumbledore casts aside Harry’s dichotomy and replaces it with an option that blurs the distinction between the two extremes, Rowling is presenting an alternative to the dualistic apocalyptic myth.

The importance of having such an alternative is evident throughout the series, though not always so explicitly spelled out. Rowling’s characters are carefully crafted so very few can be easily classified using a binary paradigm. Harry, the hero, is a powerful wizard, but he was raised in the Muggle world and is a half-blood; his mother was a Muggle-born (a witch or wizard from a non-magical family). His best friend Ron’s family are purebloods, but considered “the biggest blood-traitor family there is” for their tolerance of Muggles and Muggle-borns (DH 482). Harry’s other best friend, Hermione, despite being the “cleverest witch of [her] age” is a Muggle-born (Prisoner of Azkaban 253). Harry’s allies also include a half-giant, a werewolf, a Squib (someone from a magical family born without magic), and others who blur the lines between the magical and non-magical binary or the human and magical creature binary (Order of the Phoenix 173-174).

More significant than this superficial, visible diversity, however, is Rowling’s use of morally ambiguous characters to personify a postmodern alternative to the apocalyptic binary of good and evil. According to Elizabeth Rosen, such morally ambiguous characters are one way in which the postmodern style manifests in an author’s adaptation of the apocalyptic narrative (14). When an author creates characters who are not easily divided by “the partition between the chosen and the doomed” he or she takes an important step towards undermining the totalistic “binary structure” and “normative morality” contained in the traditional myth of the saved vs. the damned (Quinby, Millennial Seduction 3, 37).

For example, Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, fought against Voldemort and rejected his pureblood family’s prejudices against Muggles. By a binary standard, that should make him good; he fights for the “right” cause. Earlier in the series, Sirius is the one who says to Harry, “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals” (Goblet of Fire 525). Ironically, however, he is often excessively cruel to those who fall under his preconceived definition of “the other,” which is a sin that is eventually punished; Sirius’s mistreatment of his house-elf (servant) ultimately leads to a betrayal that costs him his life (OotP 831-332). By creating a character who fights with the good guys but cannot overcome the prejudices of the bad guys, Rowling challenges the reader (like Dumbledore challenges Harry) to accept a reality that can’t be explained by the apocalyptic, binary worldview. Other examples of so-called “good” characters (those on Harry’s side of the war) include a spy in Voldemort’s inner circle, a self-serving thief and smuggler, and the owner of a bar that caters to a very shady clientele (OotP 173-174). Not exactly as innocent a group as the 144,000 virgins redeemed in the Book of Revelation (14:4).