Fabrizi, M.A. - Fantasy Literature. Challenging Genres

Fantasy Literature
CRITICAL LITERACY TEACHING SERIES:

CHALLENGING AUTHORS AND GENRES
Volume 8
Series Editor:
P. L. Thomas, Furman University, Greenville, USA
Editorial Board:
Leila Christenbury, Virginia Commonwealth University

Sean P. Connors, University of Arkansas
Jeanne Gerlach, University of Texas-Arlington
Renita Schmidt, Furman University
Karen Stein, University of Rhode Island
Shirley Steinberg, University of Calgary; Director of Institute of Youth and
Community Studies, University of the West of Scotland
This series explores in separate volumes major authors and genres through a
critical literacy lens that seeks to offer students opportunities as readers and writers
to embrace and act upon their own empowerment. Each volume will challenge
authors (along with examining authors that are themselves challenging) and genres
as well as challenging norms and assumptions associated with those authors works
and genres themselves. Further, each volume will confront teachers, students, and
scholars by exploring all texts as politically charged mediums of communication.
The work of critical educators and scholars will guide each volume, including
concerns about silenced voices and texts, marginalized people and perspectives,
and normalized ways of being and teaching that ultimately dehumanize students
and educators.
Fantasy Literature
Challenging Genres
Edited by
Mark A. Fabrizi
Eastern Connecticut State University, USA
SENSE PUBLISHERS
ROTTERDAM / BOSTON / TAIPEI
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ISBN 978-94-6300-758-0 (e-book)
Published by: Sense Publishers,

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All chapters in this book have undergone peer review.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: Challenging Fantasy Literature 1

Mark A. Fabrizi
Part One: Philosophical Issues
1. In the Shadow of the Status Quo: The Forgotten in The

Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire 13
Neil McGarry and Daniel Ravipinto
2. The Wizards Beneath: Finding Plato and Freud in

Ursula K. Le Guins The Tombs of Atuan 27
Nathaniel Gee
3. Youre a Prince, Harry: The Politics of Oppression and

Self-Interest in J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter Series 41
Mark A. Fabrizi
4. Designing a Course Integrating Critical Pedagogy, Fantasy

Literature, and Religious Studies 57
Nathan Fredrickson
Part Two: Gender, Class, and Privilege
5. Strong Women in Fairy Tales Existed Long Before Frozen:

Teaching Gender Studies via Folklore 79
Martha M. Johnson-Olin
6. From Fledgling to Buffy: Critical Literacy, Fantasy, and

Engagement in Secondary ELA Classrooms 93
Margaret A. Robbins and Jennifer Jackson Whitley
7. Gender, Class, and Marginalization in Beatrix Potter 109

Hannah Swamidoss
8. Depictions of Social Class in Newbery-Winning Fantasies:

A Critical Literacy Approach 123
Danielle E. Forest
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
9. Indifference, Neglect, and Outright Dislike: Examining

Sources of and Responses to Institutionalized Oppression
in J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 139
Claire A. Davanzo
Part Three: Education and Social Justice
10. Magic as Privilege in Robert Jordan and Brandon Sandersons

Wheel of Time Epic Fantasy Series 157
Louise Pisano Simone
11. Seeing Harry as an At-Risk Student: Critical Literacy,

Cultural Capital, and the Wizarding World 173
Dawan Coombs, Jon Ostenson, and Whitney Sommerville
12. Magical Objects in Fantasy: A Multicultural Examination 189

Stephanie Dreier
13. Critical Literacy in Inquiry Learning: Perspective Sharing

through Multiple Literacies, Continuous Inquiry, and Reflection 203
Cynthia Dawn Martelli and Vickie Johnston
14. Bruce Banner can be an Asshole: Using a FanFic to Break

Down Privilege and Introduce Service-Learning Concepts 217
Rebecca Sutherland Borah
Author Biographies 231
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply indebted to Sense Publishers for supporting this volume and the series.
I am honored to offer the contributions of the chapter authors as this volume
represents a wide range of scholarship grounded in our common appreciation of
fantasy literature and our ongoing commitment to promoting education, critical
literacy skills, and social justice.
I would like to thank Neil McGarry and Daniel Ravipinto for offering feedback
and suggestions to improve my chapter contribution to this work. Finally, I would
like to thank Paul L. Thomas, Professor of Education and Faculty Director, First
Year Seminars at Furman University, for providing me with the opportunity to
undertake this project.
vii

MARK A. FABRIZI
INTRODUCTION
Challenging Fantasy Literature
Over the years, fantasy literature has attracted a body of scholarly criticism
devoted to illuminating works of fantasy not unlike critical analyses of classic and
canonical literary works. Critical analyses of fantasy are devoted to uncovering
themes and patterns (Croft, 2009, 2010, 2011; Shippey 2002), narrative
complexities (Bullard, 2011; Northrup, 2004; Swinfen, 1984), archetypal
representations (Brown, 2006; Hiley, 2004; Rawls, 2008; Riga, 2008), sub-
categories of the fantasy genre (Clute & Grant, 1997; Le Lievre, 2003; Stableford,
2005), cultural and linguistic commentary (Comoletti & Drout, 2001; Fredrick &
McBride, 2007; Livingston, 2012; Shippey, 1977), and other philosophical
inquires (Fife, 2006; Flieger, 2007, 2009; Hull, 1986) taken up by the authors of
fantasy literature. As evidenced by the (growing) body of scholarly work in
fantasy as well as the enormous and enduring commercial success of fantasy
novels and films, it is clear that the genre of fantasy occupies a significant role in
American culture. The purpose of this book is to demonstrate the value of using
various works of fantasy in the classroom through discussions of the depth and
complexity of various texts as well as their potential to elicit discussion and
analysis among high school students through a critical literacy framework.
Fantasy has a great deal to offer the critical reader in terms of complexity and
relevance. One of the most interesting aspects of fantasy literature is that it tends to
ask the big questions of life, forcing students to consider such topics as the
nature of good and evil, universal morality, the afterlife, heroism and the quality of
ones character, the role of the individual in society, and the importance of cultural
diversity. The fantasy novels discussed in this book address these issues and more
in the context of rich, compelling narratives. Whether the text offers definitive
answers or merely illustrates the complexity of the issues, students of fantasy can
find numerous opportunities to engage with the text in writingchallenging the
author, pondering the questions raised, acknowledging the authors viewpoint, or
analyzing the diversity of views presented among several of the texts.
Additionally, works of fantasy provide an escape from our often prosaic
existences. The concept of escape in literature, as discussed by J.R.R. Tolkien in
his landmark essay On Fairy-Stories (1939), is often used in opposition to
interpret, where the former is meant to indicate superficiality, immaturity,
vulgarity, and ignorance, and the latter refers to complexity, maturity, aesthetic
refinement, and erudition. Tolkien attempted to divest from the term escape the
disparagement and contempt which it endured (and still endures, to some extent,
M.A. Fabrizi (Ed.), Fantasy Literature, 19.

2016 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
FABRIZI
today) in connection to literature, and reinvest the word with a connotation of

respectful appreciation for describing the way a text can provide release from
banality into the supernaturala world of surprise and invention quite beyond our
own.
This last point emphasizes the element of unfamiliarity inherent in many fantasy
works. Not only is the literary landscape of the fantasy genre unusual, but the
fictional landscape of the fantasy world of the novel is often unique and quite
unlike our own. While this point may seem self-evident, it has interesting
repercussions in the classroom, where students are learning to decode the complex
literary conventions of canonical texts. Students reading William Goldings (1954)
novel Lord of the Flies, for example, may have difficulty comprehending the
symbolic interplay among the boys on the island, but this task is much easier given
the fact that those boys interact in a world without magic, where the physics within
the literary representation is understood and shared by the reader, where no trolls,
witches, or dragons exist, where the land itself is not an active participant in the
action, and where words have no power of themselves to change physical reality.
In the world of fantasy, where all of the above elements may in fact have a basis in
the reality of the text, students are forced to read the text more closely,
participating more actively in the author-reader transaction (Rosenblatt, 1938,
1978) in order to understand this foreign world which may not conform to the
literary or mundane conventions they have become used to. The students
expectations of their own reality, and of the literary reality they are just coming to
understand, will not serve them in constructing meaning if they do not engage
intellectually and reflectively with the text.
The literary depth of fantasy works, as mentioned briefly in the paragraphs
above, represents the temperate conditions which allow a teacher to plant the seeds
of critical literacy skills in the fertile fields of student minds with a reasonable
hope that their efforts will bear fruit. Character complexity, thematic depth,
personal relevance, stylistic excellence, and a compelling story are necessary
elements that comprise high-quality literature. These chapters will explore the
extent to which the works of fantasy discussed herein contain these important
elements and address some of the key components of critical literacy that enable
students to acquire the skills of the critically literate reader, thus making the texts
appropriate for use in the classroom to engender critical literacy skills.
CRITICAL LITERACY
Critical literacy has been an important pedagogical practice for many years, having
its origins in Louise Rosenblatts (1938, 1978) transactional theory of literary
criticism which was developed in the late 1930s. Conceptions of critical literacy
have expanded since its initial articulation by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire
(1970, 1976) in the 1970s. Some researchers view critical literacy as deriving from
Marxist, feminist, and postmodern intellectual positions (Knoblauch & Brannon,
1993), while others argue that no clear, identifiable position defines critical literacy
(Lankshear & McLaren, 1993). Still others (Comber, 1993; Donald, 1993; Grande,
2
INTRODUCTION
2004) skirt the issue, identifying variations among critical literacy perspectives,
differentiating them according to the types of questions that drive interpretation
and analysis, instead of defining the theory itself (Green, 2001). However, despite
ones definition (or not) of critical literacy, common ideas such as viewing literacy
as a social and/or political practice, repositioning readers as active or even resistant
readers, problematizing texts, and creating in readers an awareness of multiple
perspectives from which to view texts help to clarify what is meant by the term
(Green, 2001).
A central premise of Freires (1970, 1976) theory of critical literacy is that
education is not neutral, that the purpose of education is human liberation through
what Freire termed a dialogical approach, the goal of which is critical thinking,
leading ultimately toward participants gaining an understanding of the social and
political forces that impact their world, an understanding that would help them gain
control over their lives (Wallerstein, 1986). According to Freires theories, true
knowledge evolves from the interaction of reflection and action (Wallerstein,
1986, p. 34). Freire termed this interaction praxis. This is particularly important in
that research on reading and literacy suggests that marginalized adolescent readers
tend to give the text authority, expecting it to provide its meaning unequivocally
and effortlessly, rather than engaging in an active, dialogic exchange with the text
(Freebody & Freiberg, 2011, p. 442), a tendency which resistant reading, such as
that advocated through Freires concept of praxis, may help overcome. Essentially,
the concept of resistant reading is embodied in the following statements: I am not
going to buy into your position as a matter of course. Still, for a fair understanding
and assessment of that position, I will try to get at your underlying assumptions by
reading, questioning, and considering your text carefully. An immature reader
may not even be aware that resistant reading is even a possibility, much less how it
may be accomplished, but critical theory gives them explicit permission to do so.
Thus, critical literacy is a literacy of empowerment.
At the most basic level, teachers of critical literacy are trying to create an
awareness of the relationship among language, ideology, and power (Kempe,
1993). They question whose interests are served through their curricular and
pedagogical decisions, and even attempt to challenge the hidden assumptions that
are intended to assimilate students into the hegemonic culture through socialization
(Moss, 2001). They address social oppression, especially in the areas of gender,
class, race, and ethnicity (Grande, 2004). Finally, they challenge the banking
model of education in which information is deposited in students who are
expected to retain it indefinitelyor at least until the examand instead favor
praxis which promotes the idea that knowledge and learning are social
constructions that are best realized through critical interactions between teacher
and student, neither of whom is recognized as the absolute authority in the
classroom (Freire, 1970).
In its most political interpretation, critical literacy implies that the process of
gaining literacy (i.e., learning to read and write) should be done as part of the
process of becoming conscious of being in some ways constructed by the social
and political hegemony represented in ones historical era (Anderson & Irvine,
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FABRIZI
1993). In other words, ones growing aptitude for literacy must be linked to ones
understanding of the impact of specific contemporary power relations, and critical
literacy involves analyzing and questioning the ways a text positions the reader
within the social and political hegemony. If one accepts the underlying assumption
of critical literacythat the concepts of power and social/political hegemony drive
the writer who consciously or unconsciously strives to either perpetuate or subvert
the social hierarchythen critical literacy removes meaning from the author and
text and re-positions the student/reader more centrally in a meaning-making
dialogue as they work to uncover the hidden agendas of texts, agendas that the
authors may not even be aware exist. According to McLaughlin and DeVoogd
(2004), critical literacy involves the readers understanding of the authors intent,
bias, and purpose for writing (p. 62) by disrupting a common situation or
understanding, examining multiple viewpoints, focusing on sociopolitical
issues, [and] taking action to promote social justice (pp. 17-18) with the
ultimate goal of readers becoming critics of everyday life (p. 23), reading the
world with a critical edge, with an eye toward changing it by first recognizing, then
questioning, extant political and social power structures.
It is important to note that critical literacy does not necessitate hegemonic
subversion on the part of the reader just as feminism does not entail a requirement
on the part of women to join the workforce, for example. Both offer only an
informed and permissible choice. Some readers, while recognizing the political
agenda of a particular text, may choose not to act any more than simply resisting
the reading the author presents. Nor does critical literacy consider author bias
inherently immoral. In fact, critical literacy presumes that all texts have bias to
some degree and that bias is normal and unavoidable (McLaughlin & DeVoogd,
2004). Critical literacy attempts to draw the attention of the reader to the idea of
bias and help them uncover it in texts, requiring that the reader understand the
power relationship between the author and the reader, not just decode the text.
Each of the following chapters in this book offers ways for readers to challenge
fantasy texts, helping teachers develop critical literacy skills in their students
through the genre of fantasy, building on the already-established popularity of
fantasy to empower students through a skills-based curriculum. The texts discussed
vary from childrens literature to young adult to decidedly adult novels, and the
approaches each scholar employs are similarly varied. Teachers seeking advice to
bring fantasy into their classrooms at any level, from elementary through graduate
school, will find a wealth of information and ideas in the following pages.
OVERVIEW
This collection begins with a discussion of two bookend fantasy texts for adults:
Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings and Martins A Song of Ice and Fire. High fantasy
is an inherently conservative genre usually concerned with the restoration or
preservation of a status quo in the form of patriarchal monarchy or autocracy.
These works chronicle a struggle between a transformative force and those
usually male, white, and heterosexualwho oppose it. Women and ethnic or
4
INTRODUCTION
sexual minorities may assist the heroes but rarely reform the power structures in
which they have no place. Through two genre standardsThe Lord of the Rings
and A Song of Ice and Firethe authors examine how racism, sexism, and
heterosexism pervade modern fantasy and chart a possible evolution towards a
more progressive future.
Chapter two explores ways the main character (Arha) of Ursula K. Le Guins
fantasy novel, The Tombs of Atuan, is an example of adolescent resistance to
learning. Arhas tumultuous growth and radical transformation serves as an
allegory for learning through self-awareness that reflects the ideas of the ancient
philosopher Plato as well as those of the modern psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.
By using these supplementary texts to decode Le Guins allegory, students can
compare the ideas of all three authors to their own learning experiences, building
self-awareness of their own learning habits, developing empathy for the difficulties
of students and teachers alike, and finding their own voices in their communities.
Chapter three connects J. K. Rowlings works with those of political
philosopher Niccol Machiavelli. Manipulation of a population through fear,
preservation of hegemonic control through institutionalized oppression, and
framing ethical choices through a long view that ignores small evils done along the
waythese are concepts attributed to sixteenth century Italian philosopher Niccol
Machiavelli, and they pervade the Harry Potter books, informing the decisions of
Hogwarts students and professors as they fight against the specter of Voldemorts
despotic rule. Through problematizing the text and questioning the decisions of the
characters through the lens of Machiavellis philosophical text, The Prince, a
critical reader can explore issues of social justice similar to those impacting
contemporary society.
Chapter four is unique among the essays included here in that it offers a fantasy
literature syllabus resource from which teachers can draw to fit the needs of their
course and their students. This chapter is an aid for teachers contemplating
designing either a full course on the intersection of critical thinking, fantasy
literature, and religious studies or at least material for one or two lessons along
these lines in a course in religious studies or English. The chapter surveys eight
topics that might be addressed, including (1) defining key terms, (2) colonialism,
(3) capitalism, (4) perspectivism and pragmatism, (5) feminism and queer theory,
(6) interrogating the self, (7) royal ideology and the monomyth, and (8) critical
pedagogy and reflexivity.
Chapter five examines fairy tales using feminist criticism. Students often expect
the women in these narratives to possess few choices, but this reductive mindset
leads to students seeing the tales as mindless entertainment or as sinister sources of
gender indoctrination. The chapter discusses an educational approach to fairy tales
that reveals how notions of heteronormativity in the stories are produced by social
codes and reader responses rather than inherent elements in the genre. Students
learn to see fairy tales as cultural fantasies that continue to evolve as audience
needs change.
In chapter six, the authors identify a growing trend of female protagonists who
show strength and agency in the fantasy genre, particularly strong female
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FABRIZI
protagonists of color. In this chapter, they explain why Fledgling by Octavia Butler
(2005) and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1987) would be
suitable for critical literacy discussions in high school classrooms. The authors
acknowledge the perspectives of feminist poststructuralism, queer theory, and
critical pedagogy and also discuss scholarship related to fantasy literature.
Additionally, they discuss how television shows, parallel texts, and popular culture
references can be used in conjunction with these novels to encourage critical
literacy skills.
Chapter seven addresses the way Beatrix Potters childrens fantasy literature
frequently enforces gender and class expectations and marginalizes various
characters. From the standpoint of critical literacy, Potters books are useful texts
to study at the collegiate level, particularly because of their popularity and their
intended audience. This chapter will approach The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck
(1908), The Tale of Samuel Whiskers (1908), The Tale of Ginger and Pickles
(1909), and The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910) using Edward H. Behrmans
categories of reading multiple texts and reading from a resistant perspective to
critically analyze systems of power and the marginalization they produce.
In chapter eight, the author examines how social class is depicted in award-
winning fantasy books for children and analyzes these depictions through a critical
literacy lens. The analysis suggests that these books 1) position the lives of affluent
people as more desirable and important than poor and working class lives, and 2)
present class status as a function of an individuals virtues or shortcomings,
arguing that such depictions reinforce dominant discourses about class in the
contemporary United States and could be potentially damaging to childrens class
identities unless they read from a critical literacy stance.
In his notable lecture-turned-essay On Fairy-Stories, J.R.R. Tolkien (1939)
ruminates on the origins, audiences, purposes, and benefits of fantasy. Chapter nine
reflects upon Tolkiens musings, then unites them with Marxist literary theory and
a cherished young adult literature text in the context of the contemporary
classroom. As a whole, this chapter asserts that students can use the Marxist
critical perspective to identify, analyze, and evaluate the sources of and responses
to the two central forms of institutionalized oppression in Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix. Through these exercises in the wizarding world, students
will be better equipped to question, scrutinize, and enact change in our world.
Chapter ten explores how Robert Jordan and Brandon Sandersons epic fantasy
series, The Wheel of Time, can be used in a social justice classroom to explore
power and privilege in American society. This fantastical work dramatically
portrays how identity markers provide individuals with social, political, and
economic privilege that are neither earned nor inherited. Through its depiction of
magic, The Wheel of Time books illuminate the inequities of power and privilege
in American society. By exploring how society celebrates power, and denigrates
and exploits the powerless, Jordan and Sanderson offer insight into the world in
which our students live.
Chapter eleven describes how a critical literacy framework allowed a group of
preservice English teachers to actively question and challenge educational
6
INTRODUCTION
traditions as portrayed in the Harry Potter series. The authors discuss the
experiences of one participant whose interest in the titular character of the series
motivated her to explore research about at-risk students and then apply her findings
in a familiar and meaningful context, resulting in a year-long inquiry into cultural
capital, funds of knowledge, and deficit models of education. Fantasy literature of
this kind can nurture the development of preservice teachers into transformative
intellectuals who develop critical thinking habits that unite the language of
critique with the language of possibility (Giroux, 2013, p. 196) as they prepare to
be active agents of change in educational institutions.
Chapter twelve examines fantasy texts from three very different cultures.
Despite the growing popularity of fantasy studies, little has been said about the
roles of material objects in fantasy narratives which can be used to advance the
plot, shape identities, and determine relationships among characters. Most
importantly, they help generate communities, both within the text and in the
consensus reality. This chapter addresses this knowledge gap with a comparative
close reading of three popular fantasy novels: the British Harry Potter and the
Sorcerers Stone (J.K. Rowling), the German Reckless (Cornelia Funke), and the
Russian The Stranger (Max Frei). An understanding of the reciprocally
transformative relationship between objects and subjects in fantasy narratives adds
to the development of critical consciousness among students and readers.
Chapter thirteen examines a well-loved childrens book. Due to its vivid
illustrations and short page count, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupry
is often recommended as a childrens book; however, a critical look from the
perspectives of students in eighth grade reveals issues students themselves face as
they embark upon the transition from middle to high school, exploring how and
why people make new friends and the sacrifices often made in friendships.
Through perspective sharing via focus groups, dramatization, poetry, and song
lyrics in an inquiry learning environment, students explore viewpoints of different
characters in a story or different people in a real-life situation.
Chapter fourteen closes this collection with a description of how the author uses
a novella-length fanfiction work entitled The Hollow Men by author Lettered as
a way to introduce college students to key service learning concepts such as
reflection, reciprocity, and community engagement. The chapter includes a primer
section introducing the genre of fanfiction, a close reading of the specific text, and
a case study describing how the author used the piece in class to bring up complex
themes that included race, culture, socioeconomic status, global politics, and
gender, which helped ready students for their field service projects in a diverse
community.
Taken together, these chapters present a broad view of the applications of
fantasy literature to the classroom, challenging the genre and the visions of
represented authors and exploring their value to contemporary students. We hope
these selections provide a new perspective on fantasy and that they provoke further
investigations into the use of fantasy texts in the classroom.
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FABRIZI
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Rawls, M. (2008). Witches, wives, and dragons: The evolution of the women in Ursula K. Le Guins
Earthseaan overview. Mythlore, 26(3/4), 129-149.
Riga, F. D. (2008). Gandalf and Merlin: J. R. R. Tolkiens adoption and transformation of a literary
tradition. Mythlore, 27(1/2), 21-44.
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1938). Literature as exploration (5th ed.). New York, NY: The Modern Language
Association of America.
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1978). The reader the text the poem: The transactional theory of the literary work.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.
Shippey, T. A. (1977). The magic art and the evolution of words: Ursula Le Guins Earthsea trilogy.
Mosaic, 10(2), 147-163.
Shippey, T. (2002). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the century. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Stableford, B. (2005). Historical dictionary of fantasy literature. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.
Swinfen, A. (1984). In defence of fantasy: A study of the genre in English and American literature
since 1945. London, UK: Routledge & Kegan Paul
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954). The fellowship of the ring. New York, NY: Ballantine.
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Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The return of the king. New York, NY: Ballantine.
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Mark A. Fabrizi
Department of Education
Eastern Connecticut State University
9
PART ONE
PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES
NEIL MCGARRY AND DANIEL RAVIPINTO
1. IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATUS QUO

The Forgotten in The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire
High fantasy is an inherently conservative genre, often revolving around the

preservation or restoration of a status quo, usually in the form of a patriarchal
monarchy or autocracy, or what author Charlie Stross (2010) once described as a
benign tyranny:
[T]he traditional format of a high fantasy novel is that some source of
disruption threatens to destabilize the land; it is up to the hero (usually it is a
he) to set things right and restore the order of benign tyranny to the world.
Fantasy, in short, is frequently consolatory, and I dont get on with it. (para.
12)
Fantasy fiction is based on an assumption that the old ways are inherently good,
and that the power structures that are to be protected or restored are ultimately best
for all people. Many seminal works of fantasy are suffused with a romantic vision
of earlier ages, a melancholy longing for better days, and the certain knowledge
that the current generation is but a pale shadow of greater forefathers. Those that
came before simply knew better, and the restoration of their ways is something to
be celebrated. The future will be at its best when it is most like the past. As Stross
notes, such works are indeed frequently consolatorythey encourage the
comforting embrace of tradition and the preservation of the known.
High fantasy frequently chronicles the struggle between a transformative,
conquering force understood to be evil and the heroes who stand against it. These
saviors embody privilege; they are almost always white, heterosexual, and (as
Stross notes) male. Women and ethnic or sexual minorities may end up assisting
the heroes, but those that do rarely question the societal structures they fight to
preserve or restore, nor do they attempt to change those structures for their benefit
or for the benefit of those like them. Such people are the forgotten of modern
fantasy, lost in the shadow of the status quo, made powerless and invisible by the
very society they strive to protect.
These themes can be found in countless works of high fantasy, but we have
chosen to limit our examination to two works that bookend the genre: J.R.R.
Tolkiens (1954, 1955) The Lord of the Rings and George R.R. Martins (1996) A
Song of Ice and Fire series. Tolkiens seminal work paved the way for high fantasy
in popular fiction. Many notable authors including Dennis McKiernan, Terry
Brooks, and Martin himself point to The Lord of the Rings as a major influence
that, through its impact on both the publishing industry and the reading public,
made their own works possible (Hajela, 2001). In many ways, A Song of Ice and

MCGARRY AND RAVIPINTO
Fire is something of a response to The Lord of the Rings. For example, while both
series deal with issues of power and leadership, Martin is of the opinion that
Tolkien might have gone further:
You see that at the end of the [Lord of the Rings] books, when Sauron has
been defeated and Aragorn is king, Martin told the Advance. Its easy to
type, he ruled wisely and well, but what does that constitute?
What was his tax policy? How did the economy function? What about the
class system? (Steussey, 2015, para. 6-7)
While both of these excellent works deserve their place in literary history, the
evolution from Tolkien to Martin might be taken further, resulting in a truly
progressive fantasy where the normally marginalizedwomen, homosexuals,
people of colormay step out from the shadow of traditional heroes and become
heroes themselves.
***
The hero of high fantasy is traditionally male and usually begins the story as a
young man. The story then follows his development as he comes into his powera
bildungsroman, a coming of age. The hero may be of questionable parentage, an
orphan who does not know his origins, but he is almost never a member of a
persecuted minority in terms of race or sexuality. In many cases, the hero is later
revealed to be of noble or even royal lineage; thus, he is often more privileged than
even he himself knew. Examples are easy to come by: Rand alThor of The Eye of
the World (Jordan, 1990) is Taveren and the Dragon Reborn; Shea Ohmsford of
The Sword of Shannara (Brooks, 1977) is a descendant of the King of the Elves;
Harry Potter of the eponymous series by J. K. Rowling (1997) is not only the child
of famous parents but unknowingly becomes a hero while still a baby; Garion of
The Belgariad (Eddings, 1982) was a scion of the first King of Riva.
Counterexamples existthe dark-skinned Ged of Ursula Le Guins (1968)
Earthsea or the heroines of Marion Zimmer Bradleys (1982) The Mists of
Avalonbut they are exceptions that prove the rule.
The hero begins his journey with the peace of his normal existence shakenthe
status quo disturbed. He must flee the idyllic, protected home he has known and
journey through danger towards an unknown future. He is not alone on his journey.
He may have a guide, often in the form of a protective elder such as Tolkiens
Gandalf (Campbell, 1949). Other fantasy works have echoed the elder-mentor
represented in Gandalf, such as Allanon in the Shannara series, or Moiraine
Damodred and alLan Mandragoran in The Wheel of Time (Jordan, 1990). The hero
may also have other companions, though these secondary characters are often
defined in relation to hima friend, a lover, a rivaland they are often not
beneficiaries of the lands power structures to the same extent as he himself.
In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo finds himself the unlikely bearer of a dark
legacy, the One Ring. Danger comes to his home in the Shire in the form of the
Nazgl, and Frodo must flee before he is discovered by Saurons minions. He is
14
IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATUS QUO
led on this journey by the wizard Gandalf, and is accompanied by Pippin, Merry
and, of course, the redoubtable Samwise Gamgee. Frodo himself is essentially
landed gentry, comfortable in the inheritance left to him by his uncle, and the
master of Bag End. Merry and Pippin, second-cousins to Frodo, are hobbits of
good parentage, though not quite as good as Frodo himself. Samwise, meanwhile,
is Frodos gardener, most definitely not as wealthy or as well born as Frodo. All
four are good, simple, salt-of-the-earth folk who love nothing more than food,
family, and a good drink.
All four characterswhether well-born or commonare invested in the status
quo, their quest an attempt to preserve the idyllic lifestyle of the Shire. They have
nothing to gain from the victory of the West but everything to lose in its defeat.
This is depicted in the Scouring of the Shire (Tolkien, 1955, pp. 300-327), in which
an industrial world, ushered in by the defeated Saruman, invades and transforms
the hobbits home. The true victory of these heroes is the restoration of the world
they left behind.
A Song of Ice and Fire, meanwhile, subverts but still reinforces many of these
tropes. Jon Snow, in particular, embodies several elements of the classic high-
fantasy hero. He is, ostensibly, a bastard, brought home by his putative father, Lord
Eddard Stark. Lord Stark refuses to provide details about the identity of Jons
mother, and it is widely believed that Jons heredity might be even higher than a
son of Winterfell (Haglund, 2014). He may, in fact, be the secret child of Rhaegar
Targaryen and Eddards sister, Lyanna Stark. If this is true, Jon is not only of noble
lineage (guaranteed by his Stark blood) but is secret royalty.
Jon eventually goes to the Wall, following the footsteps of his uncle Benjen by
joining the Nights Watch, which guards the realm from the dangersboth
mundane and supernaturalof the north. In doing so, he becomes a comrade to the
thieves, rapists, and murderers who have been conscripted by the Nights Watch as
punishment for their crimes. All are obviously lesser than the nobly born Jon, even
given his nominal bastard heritage. Even those whose offenses are minor, like
Satin (whose crime was working as a prostitute) or Sam (a nobleman exiled by his
disapproving father), are presented as less heroic than Jon. Sam is fat and inept at
weaponry, and Satin is tainted with possible homosexuality. Thus, from the
beginning, Jon Snow is already better than the men he accepts as his brothers. The
other men of the Watch accept this without real objection, and the Watch
commander quickly becomes a mentor and father-figure to Jon, grooming him for
command and even giving him the sword that was meant for his own son.
Facing such heroes are the enemies of the status quo, represented as evil and
transformative forces. In The Lord of the Rings, these forces are led by Sauron,
Lord of Barad-dr and master of the One Ring that is the very symbol of doom. In
A Song of Ice and Fire, the evil manifests as the Others, demons of ice and snow
who use the dead as their soldiers and who threaten to bring endless winter to the
southern lands protected by the Wall. These forces are obviously not merely
destructive; they do not leave a void in their wake. Instead they transform all they
touch, a process that is presented respectively by Tolkien and Martin as both
perverse and disturbing.
15
In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf tells Frodo about what will happen if Sauron
should triumph: The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and
knowledge to beat down all resistance, break down the last defenses, and cover all
the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring (Tolkien, 1954a, p. 56).
The first darkness to which Gandalf obliquely refers was dispelled by the Last
Alliance of Elves and Men, and the name of that coalition itself gives away the
nostalgia for a lost world that suffuses Tolkiens work.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, the consequences of a victory by the Others is
described to Brandon Stark: They swept over holdfasts and cities and kingdoms,
felled heroes and armies by the score, riding their pale horses and leading armies of
the slain. All the swords of men could not stay their advance, and even maidens
and suckling babes found no pity in them (Martin, 1996, p. 213). In the wake of
this inexorable tide of transformation lies a changed world, one covered in
darkness (in Tolkien) and cold (in Martin). This perversion of the known must
therefore be fought with all of the forces that can be mustered on the side of good
and light.
The respective forces of evil are, interestingly, also led by figures that are only
nominally male, who claim manhood but are no longer masculine in any
substantial way. Sauron no longer has a body, having lost his in the Fall of
Nmenor, and appears only as a giant, disembodied eye:
Sauron was not of mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape
in which had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear
fair to the eyes of Men, yet his spirit arose out of the deep and passed as a
shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-earth and to
Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-
dr, and dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an
image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible
few could endure. (Tolkien, 1977, pp. 336-337)
The Others are clearly sentient creatures, but are most assuredly not human.
They increase their numbers through the sacrifice of male children by wildlings
(lesser men who live in the frozen north), as we learn after the death of Craster, a
wildling who gives his sons to the wood:
Ill be your wife, like I was Crasters. Please, ser crow. Hes a boy, just like
Nella said hed be. If you dont take him, they will.
They? said Sam.
The boys brothers, said the old woman on the left. Crasters son. The
white colds rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old
bones dont lie. Theyll be here soon, the sons. (Martin, 2000, p. 380)
Both Sauron and the Others are ostensibly male, but they do not desire women
nor father children, and are essentially emasculated and thus transformed, as are
the evils they birth. Such metamorphoses gain an almost talismanic quality in both
works, perversions of the right and known. They are embodiments of time, of
transfiguration, of inevitability and thus to be feared.
16
The heroes, in contrast, embody all that men should be. Aragorn is promised the
hand of Arwen Evenstar if he should regain his rightful kingdom, and Jon Snow is
required to start a sexual relationship with the wildling Ygritte in order to deceive
his enemies and protect the Wall. We see that heroes embrace a heteronormative
model of male sexuality from which the villains are excluded.
When evil is defeated and the heros journey is complete, there is no question
what they must then do: restore the world to older, and thus better, ways. In
Middle-earth this means the return of the Reunited Kingdom under Aragorns rule.
In Westeros it will presumably be the restoration of the Targaryen dynasty. These
triumphs will bring almost nothing to those who have journeyed with and fought
for the hero. After the fall of Sauron the hobbits return to the Shire and take up
their previous lives, their own lots hardly improved. Ultimately, they are faced with
the heros struggle in miniature, and the restoration of yet another status quo in the
Scouring of the Shire. If the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are ultimately saved,
Jons fellows on the Wall will still be criminals and outcasts. No better future
awaits them.
The best the heros companions can hope for is a return to where they began.
The new order ultimately offers them nothing.
***
The worlds of both Tolkien and Martin are crafted with care and detail, each with a
long, storied history. In The Lord of the Rings, the most ancient days of Middle-
earth are bathed in the light of the Trees, when the Children of Ilvatar awoke; the
roots of Westeros in A Song of Ice and Fire are deep in the Age of Heroes, when
Lann the Clever stole gold from the sun to brighten his hair, and Bran the Builder
constructed the great castle Winterfell.
Each of these worlds also contains a once-great civilization now lost to fire and
water. For Tolkien, this is Nmenor, greatest of the realms of men, a gift from the
gods themselves in return for service against evil. The Nmenoreans were the
pinnacle of humanity: taller, wiser, longer-lived, and stronger of body. In the end
they were seduced by Sauron into betraying the gods, who responded by
destroying their island home and sending them into exile. For Martin, the lost
homeland is Valyria, a grand and ancient empire ruled by sorcerous dragonlords
with purple eyes and gold and silver hair. They crafted items of unmatched
strength and beautyuntil the Doom came, leaving nothing of Valyria but a
smoking ruin, its people dead or scattered.
Both Middle-earth and Westeros resonate to the loss of these lands. The
Nmenoreans did not all perish and those who escaped the Fall founded the great
kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, and their descendantsFaramir, Denethor, and
Aragorn among themare prominent in The Lord of the Rings. In A Song of Ice
and Fire, Aegon the Conqueror and his descendants survived the Doom to found
the mighty Targaryen dynasty, which would rule Westeros for centuries. In both
works, the survivors of the lost empires are greater than their lesser descendants
who are themselves greater than the people they come to dominate. The
17
Nmenoreans are depicted as almost being comparable to the Maiar, as Sam notes
of Faramir, You have an air, sir, that reminds me of, ofwell, wizards, of
Gandalf to which Faramir replies, Maybe you discern from far away the air
of Nmenor (Tolkien, 1954b, p. 327).
The Freehold of Valyria is also presented as a place that produced wonders,
some of which still exist in the present day, such as the family sword of House
Stark: It had been forged in Valyria, before the Doom had come to the Freehold,
when the ironsmiths had worked their metal with spells as well as hammers. Four
hundred years old it was, and as sharp as the day it was forged (Martin, 1996, p.
21).
These tales of lost homelands and of a great people now diminished suffuse
both The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire with a sense of melancholic
romance. Both worlds are clearly in decline, now in twilight, long after the dawn of
greater ages. Because of this, the men of the past are undeniably greater than their
poor descendants, both in their achievements and as individuals. These world-
building elements reinforce the notion of restoring the past as something good and
proper and a future of change as frightening and evil.
The Return of the King, the third part of The Lord of the Rings, chronicles the
return of the united kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor under the leadership of
Aragorn, heir to Nmenor. No onehuman, elf, or dwarf questions whether or
not this restoration is proper, necessary, or just. The only character to object is
Denethor, Steward of Gondor, whose line has reigned for centuries. Since he is
portrayed as clearly mad (he burns himself alive not long after), his objections are
ignored. As George R.R. Martin himself notes, He ruled wisely and well is a
glossing-over of what will most likely be a challenging transition, but Aragorn is
never shown as less than a noble man who both does well and does good. In this
way Gandalf, who orchestrates Aragorns rise to power, is much more a reactionary
than a reformer. The hobbits, the linchpin of the plan to defeat Sauron, are honored
after the fall of Mordor, but their common man status remains unchanged and
they look forward to returning to their middle-class lives in the Shire; indeed, no
better option is presented to them.
Why do such characters seem to accept this blatant inequality? The simplest
explanation is that, within the context of the story, Aragorn, like all descendants of
Nmenor, is simply made of better stuff (Shippey, 2000). These folk are superior to
their allies the Rohirrim, and most certainly to the Easterlings and the Haradrim,
who openly serve Sauron. Faramir describes this hierarchy to Frodo and Sam:
For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the
West, which were Nmenoreans; and the Middle Peoples, Men of the
Twilight, such as are the Rohirrim and their kin that dwell still far in the
North, and the Wild, the Men of Darkness. (Tolkien, 1954b, p. 323)
This hierarchy is not something Faramir feels in the least self-conscious about,
which is unsurprising since he, like all men of Gondor, is one of the Men of the
West. This description of Men of Darkness is particularly striking because the
18
Haradrim are described as brown and swarthy; in other words, not even white, as
are the Rohirrim and Nmenoreans.
It is interesting to note that this sort of racial stratification is not restricted only
to humans. The elves were divided into the Eldar, who had answered the call of the
Valar, and the Avari, who had not. The Eldar themselves are further subdivided: the
Vanyar, who responded most swiftly to the summons of the gods, and who were
the least numerous; the Noldor, who came second; and the Teleri, who tarried most
along the way. Human beings were similarly subdivided, between the House of
Beor, the House of Halath, and the House of Hadar. Hobbits were also stratified,
split into the Fallohides, the Harfoots, and the Stoors. The Fallohides most
resembled the elves in appearance and the most important hobbit families
Baggins, Took, and Brandybuckwere all of this sub-race. Naturally, the Vanyar
are the fairest of the elvesthe most blond-haired and blue-eyedjust as the
Fallohides were the fairest of the hobbits and the House of Hador were the fairest
of the humans. Clearly, the best of each race is that which most possesses an
Aryan look, a troubling observation.
In A Song of Ice and Fire the hierarchy is not so clear-cut, but is real
nonetheless. Daenerys is the last of the blood of Old Valyria, the sole living
descendant of Aerys Targaryen, the Mad King. Daeneryss father was thrown down
in Roberts Rebellion, and she and her brother were spirited away before they
could be killed along with him. She grew up in the land of Essos, far from
Westeros, with nothing left of her heritage but scattered memories and the color of
her eyes and hair. Yet by hatching dragons from stone she restored to the world a
fire and magic that had not been seen in an age. Like Aragorn, she too is an echo of
a romanticized past.
As she gains power and influence, she forces upon Essos the cultural standards
of Westerosor those that she has read about, for ultimately she is a pretender to
the culture she champions. She breaks the slave trade, throws down tyrants, ends
bloodsport in the form of the fighting pits because the Westerosi consider these
things wrong, but despite these reforms it never occurs to her to improve upon the
customs of a homeland she does not even remember.
The ultimate rightness of her given tradition is never questioned, which makes
even her most well-intentioned efforts look colonial, and worse for the fact that she
is white and the denizens of Essos are most definitely not. For all her reformist
zeal, Daenerys never attempts to improve the lot of women, ultimately content to
leave them as the virtual property of their fathers or husbands, nor of racial
minorities such the folk of the Summer Islands, who are described as black as
pitch. She does not listen to the voice of these forgotten folk, nor does she further
their cause.
Both Aragorn and Daenerys are given the choice between restoration and
transformation, between conservatism and progressivism, between the past and the
future and both, in the end, make the same choice.
***
19
There are many ways in which sexual minorities are marginalized in fantasy
fiction. In The Lord of the Rings, this is accomplished simply by ignoring their
existence. As far as we can tell, every biological resident of Middle-Earthhuman,
elf, or orcis cis-gendered and heterosexual. The transformative and evil forces
in this case, Sauronmay be once-men, but the sexuality of all normal beings of
the world is much more clearly defined. Men love women, women love men, and
there is no suggestion that things have ever been otherwise. Obviously, some of
this is due to the time in which the series was writtena more progressive
approach might have gained Tolkien censorship or even charges of indecencybut
it still set a troubling precedent that extends even to a more progressive era.
This presents an interesting problem to modern readers of Tolkiens work, as
much of the series concerns only the relationships between male characters.
Women are prizes to be won or treasures to be protected (this is most particularly
true of Aragorns fianc, Arwen), and are almost always kept off-screen. It is
therefore not surprising that modern readers see homoeroticism in the close
friendship of Frodo and Samwise (Goodreads, 2010-2015). Samwise occasionally
pines over Rosie Cotton, back in the Shire, but it is his love for Frodo that keeps
him on the quest of Mount Doom, and that saves him from the Rings corrupting
influence. Since overt homosexuality does not exist in Tolkiens world, the deep
connection between the hobbits seems even more sexual in nature.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin again goes far beyond Tolkien and includes
several characters who are gay or bisexual, even if not openly. Renly Baratheon is
clearly involved in a relationship with the commander of his personal guard, Loras
Tyrell, also known as the Knight of Flowers. Loras, favorite son of a powerful
House, is indulged in his indiscretions, while Renlys homosexuality is used by the
Tyrells as a political tool. Renlys love for Loras binds him to the Tyrell family as
tightly as his marriage to Loras sister Margaery. This affair is well known amongst
the nobility, if not openly acknowledged except in mockery. Jamie Lannister refers
to this relationship in his attempts to take Loras down a peg: Now sheathe that
bloody sword, or Ill take it from you and shove it up some place even Renly never
found (Martin, 2000, p. 698). Prince Oberyn Martell also makes a snide
reference, during a conversation with Tyrion Lannister: There are those who say
Ser Loras is better than Leo Longthorn ever was, said Tyrion. Renlys little rose?
I doubt that (Martin, 2000, p. 437).
Even the Tyrells are unwilling to speak frankly about the sexuality of their
favorite son, as Loras own brother Garlan says to the girl who pines after him:
My lady, I have seen how you look at my brother. Loras is valiant and handsome,
and we all love him dearly but your Imp will make a better husband (Martin,
2000, p. 322).
Among the gay characters of the series is Jon Connington, an exiled lord bent
on restoring to power the son of a prince he once loved, and several minor
characters like Kem, servant of the mercenary group the Second Sons. Even
characters who are essentially heterosexual have same-sex encounters: Daenerys
with her handmaid Irri, and Cersei with her lady-in-waiting Taena Merryweather.
20
Although Martin outshines Tolkien in the presentation of homosexuality, A Song

of Ice and Fire still remains problematic. Cersei Lannister and Daenerys
Targaryenboth important, point of view charactersexperience same-sex
encounters, and these are so explicitly detailed that they qualify the books in which
they appear as inappropriate reading for children. The romantic relationship
between male characters, however, is never spelled out with such specificity;
indeed, many readers remain unaware that Renly and Loras were sexually
involved, or that Jon Conningtons feelings for Prince Rhaegar were more than
platonic. Even Kem offers only hints of his feelings for the boy he knew once. In
fact, when Loras and Renlys relationship was explicitly laid out in the television
series, many viewers complained that that element had been added in for no
reason (Goodreads, 2012).
This imbalance in presentation sends a clear message: female homosexuality
can be safely presented as titillation for the presumed mostly male audience, while
male homosexuality may be hinted at but must never be confirmed. This practice
has in recent years come to be known as queerbaiting, adding homoerotic tension
between characters to attract attention without ever making that tension more than
subtext (Mai, 2015). Examples of queerbaiting can be found anywhere, but the
television series Supernatural is a good example of the way a storyteller can
strongly imply the presence of homosexuality while retaining the ability to deny its
reality.
Queerbaiting is often used in relation to male homosexuality, as such feelings
between women are assumed to be more palatable to a mass audience (AP, 2013).
This is particularly toxic when the creators/actors choose to deny that the tension
exists anywhere but in the imagination of the readers (Bridges, 2013; Westeros.org,
2011). To his credit, Martin has been willing to acknowledge the homosexuality of
certain of his characters, but since the implications are so vague, the possibility of
retraction always exists. Part of marginalizing a minority is the insistence that its
concerns and even its perceptions are purely imaginary (Gennis, 2014), and it is
disturbing to find the groundwork so neatly laid in A Song of Ice and Fire.
This distinction plays into the perception that same sex relationships are either
titillating (when the participants are female) or deviant (when the participants are
male), but in no case do they deserve the same respect afforded to heterosexual
pairings. Thus, the heteronormative model of love is justified and reinforced,
closing the door to any true consideration of alternate sexual orientations.
The heroes may indulge in same-sex relationshipsCersei and Daenerys may
sleep with women, Frodo and Sam may be very closebut ultimately these
relationships are always relegated to the margins. Renly is a schemer and not a
reformer, and expresses no intention to challenge the mores of the very culture that
marginalizes him. Daenerys, fair-minded in so many ways, considers her dalliances
with her bed maid an illicit pleasure, and never seeks to expand the privilege she
enjoys to those for whom it is forbidden. These characters, personally and
politically powerful, never work towards the betterment of people like them, and
sometimes even hold them in contempt. Cersei even thinks about the deleterious
effect Ser Loras may be having on her royal son: She did not want Tommen
21
growing close to Loras Tyrell. The Knight of Flowers was no sort of man for any
boy to emulate (Martin, 2005, p. 350). If the very characters who engage in
homosexual behavior will not validate it, who will?
***
The marginalization of minoritiesboth racial and sexualextends also to

women. It is no surprise that women are sidelined in fantasy, which deals primarily
with patriarchal models (Kuznets, 1985). There are nearly no women of
importance in the The Lord of the Rings and those few that exist serve primarily as
prizes or caretakers. In Middle-earth, it is men who fight the battles, men who
solve the problems, and men who change the world. Whatever small role Tolkiens
few womenGaladriel, Arwen, and Eowynmay play in saving Middle-Earth
from Sauron, ultimately the story of the War of the Ring is not theirs.
At the time of the final confrontation with Sauron, Galadriel is arguably the
oldest humanoid left in Middle-Earth. Born in Valinor during the time of the Trees,
by the Third Age (in which The Lord of the Rings is set), she is thousands and
thousands of years old; in fact, since she predates the sun, there is no sure way to
know just how long she has lived. Her grandfather, one uncle, and two of her
cousins all once held the title High King of the Noldor, a title she could herself
have claimed upon the death of Gil-galad in the Second Age. She also bears
Nenya, one of the Three Rings. Yet for all this lineage and distinction, Galadriel
plays a very small role in the War of the Ring. She welcomes the Fellowship to her
home in Lothlrien, lades them with gifts, and provides Frodo with cryptic advice.
It is mentioned in The Return of the King (Tolkien, 1955) that while Aragorn
battled Sauron, Galadriel participated in an attack on the forces of Dol Guldur, but
this struggle goes on off-screen and is by implication relatively unimportant.
There is little to say about Arwen Evenstar, who in the entire series sews a
banner and marries Aragorn, two traditionally female roles that have little impact
on the struggle against Sauron. Indeed, her primary story purpose is as a
motivation for Aragorn, who has been promised her hand if he should prevail
against the Dark Lord.
Eowyns place in the series is more complicated. In The Two Towers (Tolkien,
1954b), Eowyn complains bitterly to Aragorn about the unfairness of the role she is
expected to play, complaints that would not have been out of place in the 20th-
century:
All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the
house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to
be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the
House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do
not fear either pain or death. (Tolkien, 1954b, p. 47)
These encouraging words are reinforced when Eowyn disguises herself as a man
so as to ride to war with her people, and even more so when she avenges the death
of her king by slaying the Lord of the Nazgl in single combat. In this, however,
22
Eowyns gender is ultimately revealed to be more a plot device than an upsetting of

gender roles. In Tolkiens subversion of Macbeth, the marching of Birnam Wood
becomes the walking and speaking Ents, and Macbeths own prophecy becomes
the instrument of the demise of the Witch King, about whom it was prophesied,
Not by the hand of man shall he fall (Tolkien, 1955, p. 363). Instead of using
Shakespeares cesarean loophole, Tolkien instead has the King fall at the hands
of Eowyn.
Yet even this small victory is soon taken from Eowyn, for shortly after Saurons
fall, she quickly repents her martial ways in favor of the more marital, as she
indicates when accepting Faramirs proposal: I will be a shieldmaiden no longer,
nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a
healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren. (Tolkien, 1955, p. 262).
Thus a character who began by railing against the restrictions under which women
labor retreats swiftly to the role of wife, nurturer and, by implication of her
engagement to Faramir, mother.
The women of Martins world receive better treatment than those of Tolkien,
playing more prominent and significant roles in the struggles that threaten to
consume the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. They are more than simply healers and
helpers; they are leaders, schemers and, occasionally, warriors. Daenerys goes
from the arranged bride of a Dothraki clan leader to a dragonlord and ruler in her
own right. Cersei Lannister reigns over the Seven Kingdoms as Queen Dowager.
Brienne of Tarth cleaves her way through enemies mean and mighty on her quest
to fulfill an oath. Arya Stark follows a darker path by apprenticing herself to a
guild of mystical assassins. Each of these is a far cry from Arwen Evenstar,
inviting but impotent.
Yet even in A Song of Ice and Fire there are problems. Both Cersei and
Daenerys derive their power initially from their respective husbands. Daenerys
comes into her own by becoming the Mother of Dragons, and the slaves she later
frees call her mysa, which in Ghiscari means mother, thus playing neatly into the
traditional female role of nurturer/caretaker. And for all her advancement,
Daenerys surrounds herself almost entirely with male advisers and never wonders
if things might be otherwise. Cersei Lannister is keenly aware of the disadvantages
of her sex, and, like Antigone, grumbles repeatedly about her misfortune in not
being born a man: She had a warriors heart, but the gods in their blind malice had
given her the feeble body of a woman (Martin, 2011, p. 719). Instead of
attempting to broaden the opportunities for her fellow women, Cersei instead
wishes they were all more like men.
Interestingly, it seems that, even on a primal, mystical level, the world is not
ready for the likes of them. Several times prophecy is mentioned in relation to
Daenerys Stormborn. When brought before the dosh khaleen, the high widows of
the Dothraki, Daenerys is told that she will bear the Stallion Who Mounts the
World. This image gives away a great deal of the Dothraki worldview: conquest
shown as a male horse engaging in an act of masculine dominance. The figure of
their visions will not work with nor persuade others, but will rather crush and
humiliate in the most emasculating way possible. Ultimately, Daenerys loses her
23
child along with her husband and so the prophecy itself comes into question. Is it
possible that the vision given to the dosh khaleen was one they could not
understanda mare which would rule the world?
We see the same in the image of the Prince That Was Promised. Several
characters, including Stannis Baratheon, consider themselves the fulfillment of the
prophecy of Azor Ahai, the conquering hero who once stood against the Others. As
Maester Aemon points out, it is possible that the prophecies are confused, for
dragons do not have gender: It was a prince that was promised, not a
princessdragons are neither male nor female. Barth saw the truth of that, but now
one and then the other (Martin, 2005, p. 520).
Even those women that attempt to gain power by becoming more like men are
judged for it. Brienne of Tarths greatest barrier is not any internal vice, but her
putative physical unattractiveness, which is remarked upon by everyone she
encounters. Martins male characters sport all manner of physical deformities
dwarfs with malformed heads, knights with faces scarred by fire, and even an
executioner with no tongueyet none of them draw the same level of scrutiny.
Briennes most noteworthy feature is not her martial prowess but her appearance,
which is judged unacceptable. In fact, Martin is careful to note all of the physical
imperfections of the female warriors: Asha Greyjoy has a prominent nose, Dacey
Mormont a plain, long face, etc. The male knights and soldiers are sometimes
barely described in a physical sense, yet the reader knows in excruciating detail the
various physical shortcomings of Brienne of Tarth. Women like Catelyn Stark and
Margaery Tyrell, who play more traditional roles, are afflicted with no such
physical flaws. Although there is room in A Song of Ice and Fire for women who
break from tradition, only those who know their place seem rewarded with
acclamations of beauty.
As with all of the forgotten, there seems no hope of better days ahead for these
women. Redemption as restoration provides no chance of a social transformation
which would allow them power while remaining wholly women.
***
From The Lord of the Rings to A Song of Ice and Fire we can trace an evolution
from Tolkiens straightforward, epic Middle-earth to Martins more morally
nuanced and grittily realistic Westeros. In a real sense, Martin is trying to answer
the question of what happens if we do not accept at face value that a conquering
hero ruled wisely and well, and in that he has undoubtedly been successful. His
characters are more complex, come from a wider variety of backgrounds and
grapple with shades of gray rather than the often less complex black-and-white
conflict of Tolkiens War of the Ring.
That said, the arc of that evolution can obviously extend much further, and in
some cases, already has. Yeine Darr of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Jemisin,
2010), both a woman and a person of color, certainly represents a bold move
towards a more inclusive style of fantasy fiction, as does the openly gay Seregil of
The Nightrunner series (Flewelling & Ruddell, 1996). However, in both the works
24
of Tolkien and those of Martin, the forgotten of modern fantasywomen, and

ethnic and sexual minoritiesare still left largely on the sidelines, and the story
centers on the restoration of a better past, rather than the hope of transformation in
the future. The next step after Martin would be a truly progressive fantasy in which
minorities not empowered by the status quo would be able to tell the tale of their
struggles, and would be equal partners in the stewardship of order, fellow
protectors and, ultimately, reformers. Such characters would be people unto
themselves, rather than being defined in relationship to a hero who is largely unlike
them. They would be deep, complex, flawed, and ultimately real. They would
stand up not only against evil, but against the restoration of an old order that never
benefited them and never will. Women would seek status of their own, separate
from the men around them; homosexuals would be free to proclaim their own
truth, both in the sanctity of their own minds and in their relationships with others;
ethnic minorities would be unencumbered by a system in which men are born of
light or of darkness.
In reality, the true status quo is not homogeneity, but diversity. Progressive ideas
are not an invading, transformative addition to the genre, but rather an
acknowledgement of how things truly are, the dispelling of the illusion that all
heroes are straight white men who carry the burden of restoring the glories of the
past. High fantasy that does this becomes more welcoming to readers by saying
that people who look like them can stand up and do great things. To do otherwise is
to be relegated to the history that most of the genre celebrates.
REFERENCES
Associated Press. (April 28, 2013). Whos more accepted, lesbians or gay men? Chicago Daily Herald,
8.
Bradley, M. Z. (1982). The mists of Avalon. New York, NY: Del Rey.
Bridges, R. (2013). How do we solve a problem like queerbaiting: On TVs not so subtle gay
subtext. Autostraddle. Retrieved from http://www.autostraddle.com/how-do-we-solve-a-problem-
like-queerbaiting-on-tvs-not-so-subtle-gay-subtext-182718/
Brooks, T. (1977). The sword of shannara. New York, NY: Random House.
Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
Eddings, D. (1982). Pawn of prophecy. New York, NY: Del Rey.
Flewelling, L. & Ruddell, G. (1996). Luck in the shadows. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Hajela, D. (2001, December 16). Tolkiens runaway success launched high fantasy genre. The Journal
Gazette, 4E.
Gennis, S. (2014). Supernatural has a queerbaiting problem that needs to stop. TV Guide. Retrieved
from http://www.tvguide.com/news/supernatural-queerbaiting-destiel-1089286/
Goodreads. (2010-2015). Relationship between Frodo and Sam. Goodreads. Retrieved from
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6497-relationship-between-frodo-and-sam
Goodreads. (2012). Did anyone else not realise Renly and Loras were Gay until the TV show??
Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/945427-did-anyone-else-not-realise-renly-
and-loras-were-gay-until-the-tv-show
Haglund, D. (2014). A guide to the most persuasive theory about Jon Snows mother. Slate. Retrieved
from http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/07/17/jon_snow_s_mother_theory_about_ lyanna_
stark_and_rhaegar_targaryen_explained.html
Jemisin, N. K. (2010). The hundred thousand kingdoms. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group.
25
Jordan, R. (1990). The eye of the world. New York, NY: Tor.
Le Guin, U. K. (1968). A wizard of Earthsea. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Kuznets, L.R. (1985). High fantasy in America: A study of Lloyd Alexander, Ursula Le Guin, and Susan
Cooper. The Lion and the Unicorn, 9, 19-35.
Mai, E. (Oct 2015). Its queer baiting, not representation, Diva, 40-41.
Martin, G.R.R. (2011). A dance with dragons. New York: Bantam Books.
Martin, G.R.R. (2005). A feast for crows. New York: Bantam Books.
Martin, G.R.R. (1996). A game of thrones. New York: Bantam Books.
Martin, G.R.R. (2000). A storm of swords. New York: Bantam Books.
Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Shippey, T.A. (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the century. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Steussey, L. (2015). George RR Martin: Heres where Tolkien failed. Silive.com. Retrieved from
http://www.silive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/08/george_rr_martin_heres_where_t.html
Stross, C. (2010). Books I will not write #1. Charlies Diary. Retrieved from http://www.antipope.org/
charlie/blog-static/2010/09/books-i-will-not-write-1-of-an.html
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1954a). The fellowship of the ring. New York: Ballantine Books.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1955). The return of the king. New York: Ballantine Books.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1977). The silmarillion. New York: Ballantine Books.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1954b). The two towers. New York: Ballantine Books.
Westeros.org. (2011). Renly and Loras. Retrieved from
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/50215-book-spoilers-renly-and-loras/&page=8
Neil McGarry
Author of The Grey City fantasy series
Philadelphia, PA
Daniel Ravipinto
Author of The Grey City fantasy series
Philadelphia, PA
26
NATHANIEL GEE
2. THE WIZARDS BENEATH

Finding Plato and Freud in Ursula K. Le Guins The Tombs of Atuan
My high school seniors are immersed in a maelstrom of emotional growth with the
far too bland title of adolescence. They are trying to evolve into adults with
individuality while also meeting the expectations of powerful voices of authority in
their livesfamily, friends, teachers, and cultural media. Often, they get this
balance between being an individual and meeting expectations wrong. They rebel
needlessly against healthy advice, or they repress their individuality and become
pleasers, grade grubbers, or social followers. They need a stronger sense of self-
awareness when navigating these choices, yet more self awareness means
examining unflattering behaviors in themselves or their communities. A method
for eroding this natural resistance is to use a text whose adolescent protagonist is
an indirect mirror for students. In Ursula K. Le Guins (1970) Tombs of Atuan, the
critical process of self-examination is encoded in a thrilling fantasy tale of
religious cults, thieving wizards, and a mysterious subterranean world.
Le Guins protagonist, Arha, is an extreme example of an adolescent who obeys
the wrong kind of teachings and is resistant to true learning. Arhas transformation
into the free-thinker Tenar is an allegory for self-awareness and learning that
reflects the basic teachings of the ancient philosopher Plato as well as the
twentieth-century psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. By using Platos and Freuds
ideas about awareness and learning to decode Le Guins allegory, students can
interpret and challenge Le Guins text. Furthermore, when students wrestle to
apply and debate all three authors ideas, they are forced to critique their own
learning process and develop a more insightful analysis of how they are taught and
how they learn.
UNCONSCIOUS LEARNING TODAY
Like many teachers today, I am dispirited by the test-taking culture of modern

academics which encourages students to see education as rote-learning that only
helps them achieve the next level of advancement to another grade, a selective
college, and a comfortable paycheck. This over-emphasis on quantifiable results
does not encourage students to think critically about voices in their communities,
to understand themselves better as individuals, or to create a more loving,
thoughtful world. In recent years, even the test-taking establishment recognizes
this problem, and they are scrambling to make standardized tests reflect more
meaningful learning. Recent changes to the SAT, as described in the New York
Times, are supposed to encourage students to understand the meaning of widely

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used words based on context [and] instead of recalling a definition from

vocabulary flash cards, theyll have to read prose passages carefully to choose an
answer (Hoover, 2015, para. 8). Additionally, Advanced Placement courses are
under fire for not teaching critical thinking but instead overwhelming students
with facts to memorize and then rushing through important topics (Drew, 2011,
para. 4). New versions aim to slash the amount of material students need to
know and clear students minds to focus on bigger concepts and more analytic
thinking (Drew, 2011, para. 7). Yet, some educators raise a greater alarm,
demanding more transformative changes than just tweaking tests.
For instance, Peter McLaren (2016) writes that
because of our modern need to measure competencies, modern education
emphasizes only that which is measurable. Standardized testing thrives in a
world where the humanity of students is enslaved to a particular analytic
structure combining instrumental reason, positivism, and one-dimensional
objectivity . Students are turned into objects of unbeing . (p. 3)
McLaren argues for a much more revolutionary change in the way we teach.
Ursula K. Le Guins story of a young priestess growing up enslaved to a cult that
demands rote learning at the price of her humanity is an apt allegory for the
dystopia McLaren describes. I propose to use Le Guins text, along with Plato and
Freud, to foster self-awareness in studentsa revolutionary, unquantifiable,
valuable skill often missing in student learning.
Critical literacy encourages students to study language to analyze how it
shapes identity, constructs cultural discourses, and supports or disrupts the status
quo (Lewison et al., 2002, p. 383). This pedagogical goal engages critical
thinking. Critical literacy can help students filter out the positive from the negative
lessons fed to them by technology, media, school, friends, and family by paying
attention to and seeking out the voices of those who have been silenced or
marginalized and challenging the unquestioned legitimacy of unequal power
relationships by studying the relationship between language and power (Lewison
et al., 2002, p. 383). Le Guins The Tombs of Atuan merges these goals well. Her
protagonist is a stubborn adolescent priestess struggling to free herself from a
powerful religious cult that sacrifices her namethe most elemental expression of
her voiceto subterranean gods. As students read, they can compare their own
learning experiences to the position of the ignorant priestess Arha as she
transforms into the enlightened Tenar.
Critical literacy also endorses the use of supplementary texts as a lens to
confront social issues, to critique the position of the author, and to explore how
the same reader might approach a text from different identities (Berhman, 2006,
p. 493). These resistant reading techniques are often used to unmask power
structures and authorial bias. Le Guins allegory actually encourages its readers to
question power and authority by puzzling over the symbolism of the mysterious
religious traditions and initiations in The Tombs of Atuan. Readers are encouraged
to debate and critique these traditions. Additionally, supplementary texts supplied
by Freud and Plato help students critique the educational methods described in the
28
THE WIZARDS BENEATH
novel. By reading selections from these two supplementary authors, students have
two other viewpoints on learning for comparison. Using resistant reading and
supplementary texts, students can form counter narratives (Berhman, 2006, p.
494), another approach of critical literacy, to form their own perspective on
learning. My students do this by journaling about teachers, students, and learning
experiences from their lives. They examine those recollections in comparison to
the examples found in Le Guin, Freud, and Plato, and then write personal essays
that define what true learning is for them.
TABLEAUS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT
The novel depicts a medieval-like society typical of fantasy novels. A powerful

religious cult takes a young girl from her mother and father to be raised as their
new priestess. The first chapter, The Eaten One, describes a spooky initiation
ritual which shows the cults oppressive form of teaching. In a mock-execution, the
young girl kneels before a masked man in white holding a sword. The passage is
full of contrasts in light and dark, and these phrases help us puzzle through the
purposes of the execution ritual. The young girls death is prevented by another
actor in the pageant, who suddenly appears dressed in black. He prevents the figure
in white from executing the young girl: they balanced for a moment, the white
figure and the black, both faceless, dancer-like above the motionless child whose
white neck was bared by the parting of the black hair (Le Guin, 1970, p. 6).
The young priestesss life balances the forces of black and white. Yet, even
though her life is saved, it is clear that these two forces have reached a dtente by
sharing the sacrifice of the girls identity. The other priestesses chant,
O let the Nameless Ones behold the girl given to them, who is verily the one
born ever nameless. Let them accept her life and the years of her life until her
death, this is also theirs. Let them find her acceptable. Let her be eaten! (p.
7).
She is now Arha, which is not a name at all but a designation meaning, the eaten
one replacing Tenar, the name her mother gave her.
This mysterious scene prompts several questions: Who are the Nameless Ones?
Why does Tenar have to lose her name in order to become the head priestess? Why
is a mock-execution the ritual for removing her name? What does it mean to be
eaten? Le Guins allegorical code forces students to resist simple answers and
instead dig deeply into symbol and language. Luckily, this complex deciphering
can be eased using the tools of the great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.
A DIVIDED MIND
Freuds structure of the unconscious encourages us to analyze the effect of our

unconscious desires upon our conscious behaviors. Modern students live in a world
of temptation and instant gratification. Decisions with grave consequences can be
made too quickly with the tap of the send button on a smartphone. They often
29
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pursue rebellion, obedience, ambition, or pleasure unconsciously. They should

learn to make these choices more consciously through examination of their
unconscious desires and ambitions. Misch (2003) acknowledges that while many
of Freuds theories are controversial or outdated, his concepts of the unconscious,
psychic and historical determinism, making the unconscious consciousall these
have more than withstood the test of time and proven themselves of enormous
heuristic value (p. 3). Making the unconscious conscious, or the invisible
visible (Misch, 2003, p. 14) pushes students to ask themselves whether they are
making conscious or unconscious choices. This examination is a transformative
education. Britzman (2015) points out that the process of psychoanalysis is a
learning process, The human fact of education is at the heart of Freuds
psychoanalytic theories (p. 83) and psychoanalysis, Freud insists, must welcome
slow learners and tolerate both frustrations and non-interference (p. 89).
Adolescents are full of frustrations and resistance when confronted with difficult
learning, and Freuds concept of a divided psyche helps them understand this
emotional conflict.
As students read selections from Freuds New Introductory Lectures on
Psychological Analysis (Freud, 1933/1965), I also explain the commonly used
Iceberg analogy to illustrate Freuds idea that the unconscious mind makes up
the majority of our mental world, or psyche. Additionally, according to Freud, our
psyche is divided between the ego, id, and superego. Freuds defines the id as
knowing no judgment of value, no good and evil, no morality, (p. 93). He
contrasts id with ego by saying, the ego stands for reason and good sense, while
the id stands for the untamed passions (p. 95). The id pursues pleasure without
regard to conscience or morality and it is in conflict with the ego, which uses
reason and good sense to judge whether those pleasures are worthwhile.
The last character in this mind-play, the superego, tortures the ego just as much
as the id. The ego and id are constantly judged by the strict super-ego, which lays
down definite standards for its conductand which, if those standards are not
obeyed, punishes it with tense feelings of inferiority and guilt (Freud, 1933/1965,
p. 97). These standards are societal rules, community expectations, moral codes,
and other ways the world encourages us to improve ourselves by restraining our
desires: the superego applies the strictest moral standard to the helpless ego which
is at its mercy; in general it represents the claims of morality which is supposed
to be given us by God (p. 76). The superego voice is the one that pushes us to
be better, but it can also be a negative voice, constantly criticizing. Freud pities the
egos responsibility of managing the desires of the id and the superego:
The poor ego has things even worse: it serves three masters and does what it
can to bring their claims and demands into harmony with one another. These
claims are always divergent and often seem incompatible. No wonder that the
ego so often fails in its task. Its three tyrannical masters are the external
world, the superego and the id. (Freud, 1933/1965, p. 97)
Students should understand that the two extreme unconscious voices in the psyche
are the id and superego. The ego is supposed to restrain these extreme desires and
30
THE WIZARDS BENEATH
negotiate a healthy middle ground by using reason-oriented logic, not by acting on

impulsive yearnings or unreasonable guilt.
Now, students have some key concepts of psychoanalysis to decode Le Guins
mock-execution scene. The Nameless Ones, represented by the white and black
figures, are the id and superego. These terrible gods represent both unconscious
desire as well as unconscious guilt. The figure in white is full of blood lust, and the
figure in black exercises restraint. Even though the superego is the hero here,
saving Arha from the sword, its black costume shows that it is threatening and
repressive, and its dtente with the id-like figure in white shows that the two
conspire to consume the sacrifice of the young girls identityher name.
The sad scene at the end of the chapter where the young protagonist must sleep
alone in the dark head-priestesss room, elicits the same kind of pathos that Freud
feels for his ego character. She is alone, a powerless child whose new
responsibilities as head priestess actually enslave her to the demands of a
repressive and violent religious cult. Tenars nameher individualityis
sacrificed to these unconscious, Nameless gods in the same way that the ego has
to serve the unconscious, tyrannical masters of the id and superego.
LEARNING WITHOUT LIGHT
As Arha grows up in the temple community, her role as priestesssupposedly a

position of power and privilegeturns out to actually enslave her. This
contradiction can be understood by using Freudian logic to analyze how the social
institution of the temple manipulates her id and superego in order to disenfranchise
her ego. For instance, when caught breaking rules and playing with another young
girl, the other child is beaten but Arha is left unpunished.
Escaping punishment should provide any normal child with a sense of relief; yet
Arhas role as priestess is not a privilege but a doom. Even though she goes
unpunished, she retreats untouched alone to her dark house (Le Guin, 1970, p.
32). The demands of the superego are shown in the lecture Arha receives from her
stern teacher, It is not fitting that you be seen climbing and running with other
girls It is better that you only do what is needful for you to do (p. 30). The
word needful is especially fitting, communicating to Arha that the pleasures of
childhoodthe pleasures of the iddo not contribute to her role as priestess. That
role is all-consuming: You are Arha. There is nothing left. It was all eaten (p.
30). Arhas ego, her independent ability to balance the demands of id and
superego, has been subsumed, and she must live a strict life devoid of childhood
pleasure in order to contain the subconscious gods in the tombs, the nameless gods
of the unknown.
In these chapters, she is taught by the older women to navigate the
Undertomb, a labyrinth of holy subterranean passages underneath the temple
where her gods reside. The Undertomb is a natural cavern, immense, high and
broad, yet not empty: something in its darkness, surfaces of invisible objects or
partitions, broke the echo into a thousand fragments (p. 44). It is clearly an
analogy for the unconscious mind, a place that has power and controls her life but
31
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is frightening to study directly. No light is allowed in the Undertomb: This was

the very home of darkness, the inmost center of the night. Arha learns to navigate
by touch and number, instead of by sight and common sense (p. 62). This
meaningful phrase captures the allegorical conflict at the heart of Arhas growth in
these chapters: On the one hand, her learning is impressive, and she adapts to
difficult, frightening challenges as an adolescent head priestess. On the other hand,
her learning is instinctive, unthinking, and unconscious groping. It does not use
logic, analysis, or common sense.
Arha expresses admirable courage as she learns in the dark: This is my place,
I belong here, I will not be afraid! (p. 43). However, she is also learning to kill.
On her first trip to the Undertomb, she is tasked with deciding the method of
execution for several chained prisoners. Here, her id, or animalistic side, is trained
to express itself in violence and blood lust, not the playfulness of a child. She
fantasizes and plans executions to be particularly cruel, more elaborate, better
suited to the rituals of the Empty Throne (p. 53). Her repressed id is surfacing in
her rage and violence.
Arhas learning is difficult, and it involves hard work and sacrifice, but it is only
based on memorization, submission, and obedience. She must follow the directions
of her teachers to the letter or risk being lost forever in the darkness. She is taught
to submit to her fears and channel them by practicing death and violence, but she is
not encouraged to analyze or question where these nameless fears come from or
whether her violent role is justified. While she is learning to be a leader in her
community, she is not learning how to question the validity of her communitys
values, only how to reinforce its rule. She is learning the way many modern
students do: through unthinking obedience and memorization. She is learning
without light.
THE SOURCE OF SHADOWS
More than two thousand years before Freud, Plato also showed that education was
a process of challenging ones inner self in order to be able to learn external truths.
Boyum (2010) calls this education, a philosophical education defined by internal
awareness coming to speak oneself, with ones own voice as well as an
understanding of ones world, coming to see the true meaning of our words (p.
549). With a philosophical education, one is not only different or happier or
better, but one sees or knows or realizes something that one did not beforeit is,
that is to say, a process of enlightenment (p. 556). He also points out that the
purpose of this kind of education shows us new intellectual ideas, but also
transforms the the stance, the attitude, or the character of the individual going
through it (p. 557). Platos Allegory of the Den (Plato, 2001 version) argues
that to find truth, one must first analyze the learning process itself: how we are
taught to accept easy illusions, and how we resist teachings that challenge us with
difficult truths. Powerful lessons can be provocative, even disturbing. Platos
allegory assures learners that this is exactly as it should be; we should find learning
uncomfortable. Plato assures us that at the end of this transformative struggle is a
32
THE WIZARDS BENEATH
worthwhile victory. In fact, he argues, it is the most worthwhile struggle we can

undertake.
To understand the difference between rote, obedient learning and conscious
critical thinking, students can use Platos Allegory of the Den to analyze Arhas
learning in the same way that they used Freuds ego-id-superego structure to
decipher her psyche. Plato posits that the initial state of all unaware learners is one
of ignorance. In his allegory, ignorant learners are like slaves chained facing
backwards in a cave. The light of the outside world, which represents truth, filters
in from behind them, creating shadows on the cave wall. Since they have been
chained in this position since birth, they think the shadows are reality, to
themthe truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images (Plato,
2001 version, p. 6). This is parallel to Arhas education at the isolated temple
where she has learned to submit to the feared Nameless Ones. Arha is the
ultimate slave to ignorance, worshipping gods who live in a massive cave and who
cannot be studied, named, or seen in the light.
Even though he lives a life of wretched falsehood, if the slave is freed, he
ironically resists and resents true education. Plato describes a slaves first exposure
to real light: when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up
and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp
pains; the glare will distress him (p. 6). Therefore, since light symbolizes truth,
discovery of truth is not pleasurable but painful. In fact, an instructor must
compel the freed slave to look at the light (p. 6). When this instructor names
objects as they appear in reality, the slave rejects his teaching, pointing back to the
shadows on the cave wall, insisting that those shadows are the objects being
named, Will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he
formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? (p. 6). This
commentary on truth is important to understand and apply to Le Guins text:
discovery of truth can be so painful, so disturbing, that many would rather look
away and live in a state of comfortable ignorance. The first technique of Platos
instructor is to name the objects producing the shadows, contrasting the nameless
gods Arha worships.
After the slaves denial of the instructors first lesson, the instructor forces him
to climb a nearby mountain to examine light generated by the sun. The key point
here is the antagonistic relationship between the instructor and the student.
Because truth is painful to see, students resist its teaching. Therefore, teachers must
drag students up a steep and rugged cliff, teaching them to name and
understand variations of lightstars, the moon, reflections, and the sun (Plato,
2001 version, p. 7). At last, the slave is able to use his own reason without the
help of his instructor to determine the true relationship of the sun to the seasons as
the source of life (p. 7). Significantly, reason is the same quality that Freud
claimed the ego must use in order to control the unconscious forces of id and
superego (Freud, 1933/1965, p. 95). Plato is saying that reason is what helps
learners discover truth, but only after a difficult battle with a teacher. Learning
truths is tough, and teachers often need to be dogged in order to force students
from the comforts of their caves. We see the powerful effects of this battle on Arha
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when her own cavethe Undertombis invaded by a remarkable teacher, thief,

and wizard, Sparrowhawk.
LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
When Arha learns about wizards from Thar, the older priestess explains that the
power of wizards is not in their magical staff, but in their words (Le Guin, 1970,
p. 74). Their power with language, particularly naming the world around them, is
in direct contrast to the power of Arhas nameless gods, and it reflects the logic
and reasoning of Platos instructor and Freuds ego characters. Arhas first,
dramatic encounter with the wizards light is important to explicate. Wandering
around the still, unchanging darkness of the Undertomb, Arha is shocked to see the
pale light of the trespassing wizards staff illuminating the vast, never-seen cavern:
immense, with glittering roof and walls, sparkling, delicate, intricate, a palace of
diamonds, a house of amethyst and crystal, from which the ancient darkness had
been driven out by glory (p. 84). The Undertomb is symbolic of Arhas repressed
consciousness and her potential power. The glory of the wizards light has
shown Arha the true beauty of a place she thought she knew well. This is like a
psychoanalyst who helps a patient harness the power of their unconscious mind, or
an instructor who helps a student see that their beloved shadows are but facades of
true beauty. Whereas once Arha worshipped the fearful darkness of the
Undertomb, Sparrowhawks light shows her the inspirational beauty of the holy
chamber.
Yet, this discovery also presents a disturbing challenge to Arhas faith. The
thrilling vision is quickly replaced with uncomfortable questioning, He had made
light where light was forbidden, where it had never been since worlds beginning.
Why did the Nameless Ones not strike him down? (p. 85). Immediately, his light
casts doubt upon the power that she has sacrificed so much to serve. In anger, she
traps him behind an iron door in the labyrinth and watches him from secret
peepholes above for days, taking pleasure in his starvation and thirst. Like Platos
freed slave, she rejects her first view of light.
While Arha is similar to Platos freed slave, her role as the student in the
encounters that follow is much more powerful than the freed slave in Platos
allegory. In many ways, the relationship between student and teacher in Le Guins
book shows that the student holds the teacher captive until the teacher convinces
the student to see another perspective. There is no detachment of the wise
instructor who, in Platos allegory, has the power to drag the reluctant student up
the mountain. It is a desperate, emotional captivity in which the teacher has risked
just as much as the student, and until the student rejects the powers of ignorance
the worship of The Nameless Onesthe teacher suffers. Le Guins student has
power over the instructor, but this power is also self-destructive. Arha can no
longer enter the Undertomb without confronting the wizard, She was afraid of his
power, the arts he had used to enter the Undertomb, the sorcery that kept the light
burning (p. 103). While the teacher is trapped and suffers, waiting on the student
34
THE WIZARDS BENEATH
to drop their antagonism, the student is also stunted from self-discovery until they
open themselves up to uncomfortable ideas.
The wizard is eventually weak enough for Arha to engage directly in
conversation. Arha asks Sparrowhawk to show her a wizardly illusion. He warns
her that illusions are tricky, and if you believe them, theyll frighten you, and you
may wish to kill me if fear makes you angry. And if you disbelieve them, youll
see them as only lies and foolery and so I forfeit my life again (p. 125).
Instead of presenting his teachings as fact to be obeyed, as her religious teachers
have done, Sparrowhawk encourages her to be a critical learner. He admits that his
teachings will be an illusion, but proposes that they might also convey truths. If
Arha does not analyze the illusion and the truth with an open mind, she might
reject the teaching with disastrous results.
While Sparrowhawks admission shows he is humble, the illusion he creates is
meant to shock Arha. In this way, he is like the antagonistic instructor seen in
Platos allegory. He chants a spell that seemingly replaces Arhas heavy black
robe with a gown of turquoise colored silk, bright and soft as the evening sky (p.
127). The robe is bejeweled and embroidered with thin silver threads and seed
pearls and tiny crumbs of crystal, so that it glittered softly, like rain in April (p.
127). In this scene, the student has no input on how they want to be viewed; their
role is chosen by the teacher. It is a kind of violation, and it is meant to be
shocking even though it is also meant to show the student a positive side of
themselves. She is being dragged up Platos mountain of enlightenment. Here, the
teacher puts a garment upon the student that shows how the teacher views the
students potential to live a life of expression and beauty instead of negativity and
cruelty. Compared to the heavy priestess garments, the gown is soft, showing
Arha that her teacher thinks she can be gentle, kind, and merciful instead of her
role as a cruel priestess enforcing draconian rules. The gowns majestic appearance
mirrors the language Le Guin uses to describe the Undertomb when Sparrowhawk
first enlightened it. These enlightening images are meant to shock Arha out of her
grim devotion to a death cult into a more positive, optimistic life.
In this ironic twist, the illusion is actually Arhas true self, her capacity for love
instead of violence: You told me to show you something worth seeing. I show
you yourself, he tells her (p. 127). However, she has to let go of her fear of the
unknown, the Nameless, in order to reach this goal. The student must be willing
to imagine that they can be better, but first they must let go of defeatist thinking
that resists change. Make it go away, is Arhas first shocked response to the
vision (p. 127). Like Platos student, Arha is afraid and resistant to the true power
within her.
Yet, amidst her despair, Arha has discovered a new purpose in her life, a
purpose that she is willing to risk her life for: Sparrowhawks friendship. Ill
bring food and water when I canI will come. I promise. Heres the flask. Hoard
it, I cant come back soon. But I will come back, she tells him (p. 137). In
contrast to her actions as priestess when she starved the prisoners to death, she
decides to save life, to become a nurturer instead of a destroyer. In the darkness of
a vast, lifeless cave devoted to an ancient, unchanging religious tradition, she has
35
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decided to preserve life. This is the transformative moment that the teachers
shocking lessons have been building toward. In this climactic scene, Sparrowhawk
recognizes her empathy and her risk. He returns the favor, calls her by her real
name, the one her mother gave her, and completes the destruction of her priestess
role: Take care, Tenar (p. 137). Later that night, Tenar dreams of her golden-
haired mother, and she wakes with terror, and exultation, there under the sun-
washed sky I have my name back. I am Tenar! (p. 140).
Images of light abound in Tenars new life, but her upbeat mood is quickly
halted by Kossil, the suspicious priestess who wants the wizard killed. Tenar says
that she has ordered Sparrowhawk buried alive in the Undertomb, but Kossil
suspects Tenar is lying and threatens her with death. Fearfully, Tenar sleeps in the
caves that night, but discovers Kossil with a lantern digging in the Undertomb for
the coffin that supposedly contains the body of the dead wizard. This flagrant
blasphemy is the final break for Tenars faith; the Nameless Ones do not punish
Kossil for her crime of bringing light into this holy place. She rushes to
Sparrowhawk, disconsolate: The Nameless Ones did nothing. They didnt kill
her or drive her mad. They are old, as she said. They are dead. They are all gone. I
am not a priestess anymore (p. 151).
According to most readings of Platos Allegory of the Den, this should be a
victorious moment where the student rejects the shadows on the back of the cave
wall as falsehoods and the instructor celebrates their enlightenment. However,
Sparrowhawk takes a different tack. Instead, he assures her that the Nameless
Ones do exist:
They do not die. They are dark and undying, and they hate the light: the brief,
bright light of our mortality. They are immortal, but they are not godsThe
Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but that is not all. The Earth is also
terrible, and dark, and cruel.And where men worship these things and
abase themselves before them, there evil breeds; there places are made in the
world where darkness gathers, places given over wholly to the Ones whom
we call Nameless, the ancient and holy Powers of the Earth before the light,
the powers of dark, of ruin, of madness. (Le Guin, 1970, p. 153)
This madness is caused by only seeing the negative forces of existence, the
randomness of death the rabbit shrieks dying, the hidden and destructive power
of nature mountains full of the hidden fire, and the predatory nature of our
animalistic sides sharks in the sea (p. 153). The Nameless Ones are human
tendencies toward pessimism and despair. When we notice the persistent threats in
nature and the seemingly unstoppable greed of men, we assume that these are the
true powers that drive existence. Instead, we need a healthy, powerful ego that
recognizes the dangers in life but balances that awareness with observations of
beauty and hope.
Tenars simple act of kindness toward the wizard defeats these pessimistic
powers. Sparrowhawk points out that, This is a most terrible place. One man
alone has not hope, here. I was dying of thirst when you gave me water, yet it
was not the water alone that saved me. It was the strength of the hands that gave
36
THE WIZARDS BENEATH
it (p. 152). The Nameless Ones are the fear, cruelty, and loneliness created by
ignorance, the resistance to exploring the unknown outside of our comfortable
caves. These powers are defeated by Tenars friendship, which creates the hope
that a better future exists by exploring those unknowns. Teachers need students to
have the strength to engage with difficult learning, even if that means taking
risks. Students need teachers to show us better versions of ourselves, even if they
have to shock us in order to do so. When teachers and students understand and
embrace these roles, friendship and hope defeat ignorance and despair.
This friendship is the true enlightenment that Le Guin offers, the hard-won
friendship between a teacher and a student. Sparrowhawk ends his lesson by
equalizing his relationship with Tenar: I came here a thief, an enemy, armed
against you; and you showed me mercy, and trusted me You have proved your
trust in me. I have made no return. I will give you what I have to give. My true
name is Ged. And this is yours to keep (p. 165). In Le Guins allegory of
learning, similar to Platos premise, the instructor must begin with an antagonistic
relationship with the student. However, Le Guin alters and adds to Platos allegory,
showing that the teacher and the student both takes risks by trusting each other.
That sense of mutual vulnerability eventually leads to an intimate bond of trust.
CHOOSING THE LIGHT
In a thrilling scene, Ged and Tenar cooperate to escape the temple, destroying it in
the process. Yet, in the subtle passage that opens the next chapter, Le Guins coded
language shows that even now, enlightened learning is still fraught with risk. After
their escape from the tombs, Tenar and Ged flee to the wilderness and collapse in
exhaustion. Tenar is the first to wake, and her time alone shows both the promise
and the challenge of her new situation. She opened her eyes to a golden light of
the evening sun that filled all earth and sky: a vast, clear, wintry sky, a vast,
barren, golden land of mountains and wide valleys (p. 181). Tenars new situation
presents challenges. The landscape is vast which means her path forward is full
of unknowns, some of which may prove threatening as symbolized in the wintry
sky and the barren land. However, the light is repeatedly referred to as
golden, and the choices Tenar has in front of her, while so numerous as to be
overwhelming, are also clear and running through wide valleys. Likewise,
Geds sleeping body shows both the power and the fragility of this master of
knowledge who destroyed the tombs, his left hand lay relaxed on the dirt, beside a
small thistle that still bore its ragged cloak of grey fluff and its tiny defense of
spikes and spines (p. 182). The process of learning is exhausting, and the product
is fragile and delicate, but beautiful and courageous too. Tenar sees both results,
and can decide which attitude to take. Significantly, she chooses to make a fire for
warmth, gathering fuel and using her skills with flint and steel. Instead of
despairing at the fragility of their refugee status by giving into the fear of the
unknowna fear governed by the Nameless Ones who have no power of making
all their power is to darken and destroy (p. 153)she creates light to warm
herself and her friend.
37
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Tenar and Ged make their way back to his boat, and on their seaward journey,
Ged gives her the choice of living in the cosmopolitan city of Havnor, or residing
on the quiet island of Gont with Geds former teacher, Ogion. Tenar is still
wracked by guilt over the executions she administered as priestess, Find some
isle where no one comes and put me there, and leave me. The evil must be paid for.
I am not free (p. 210). During this intense debate, where Tenar is tempted to
become the embittered, despairing Arha again, Ged counsels her to be patiently
hopeful: You come escaping evil; seeking freedom; seeking silence for a while
until you find your own way (p. 211). Tenar has a lot of emotional guilt to work
through before she can truly understand herself or choose a community to join. By
retiring to Gont, she is pursuing the hard work of introspection, like Freuds
patients confronting the hard truths of psychoanalysis. This shows she wants to
learn, and most importantly, that she has learned to trust her friend, Ged. She
knows she can face new, hard truths by trusting others.
The final image of the novel endorses this interpretation as she and Ged
disembark from their boat on the docks of the great city of Havnor. Come! he
said smiling, and she rose, and came. Gravely she walked beside him up the white
streets of Havnor, holding his hand, like a child coming home (p. 212). This
description of her as a child implies that her childhood has been returned to her
but also that her learning experience is just beginning. This can be an
overwhelming sensation, and perhaps that is why Tenar is still described as
walking gravely into Havnor. Learning is never finished, and most enlightening
transformations lead us to truths but also show us how much more there is to learn.
Le Guin captures this essential lesson best:
What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy
load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is
not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The
road goes upward to the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end
of it. (p. 204)
CONCLUSION
By studying the allegorical structures in the essays of Freud and Plato, students
learn to follow the extended metaphors of Le Guins allegory through close textual
analysis or explication. This is the primary reading comprehension and analytical
writing objective of the lesson. I assess their reading comprehension through class
discussions and activities, and I test their close reading and analytical writing skills
with timed explication essays. Additionally, students complete a personal journal
entry for each reading assignment. Journal entries prompt them to examine
learning experiences from their own life in comparison to the perspectives of
Freud, Plato, and Le Guin. After we have finished the novel, they then use these
entries as fuel for a narrative personal essay that analyzes their own learning
experiences. The objective of this assignment is to build descriptive, narrative
writing skills and to compose an introspective thesis. For my seniors, these
38
THE WIZARDS BENEATH
personal essays about learning can be used as college essays, or even better, as
motivation to focus on learning in life beyond their senior year.
While critical pedagogy does not often explicitly reference Freud or Plato, the
transformative, revolutionary goal of education is similar. Paulo Freire points out
in an interview with Donaldo Macedo (Freire & Macedo, 2003) that transformative
education needs a loving but challenging educator because in many cases,
individuals have not yet perceived themselves as conditioned; the contrary, they
passionately speak of their freedom (p. 355). Like Platos slaves, they would
rather cling to their illusions than investigate the real meaning of freedom. Like
Freud and Plato, Freire argues that in order to be educated about truths in the world
around us, we must learn about our inner selves as well:
When challenged by a critical educator, students begin to understand that the
more profound dimension of their freedom lies exactly in the recognition of
constraints that can be overcome. Then they discover for themselves in the
process of becoming more critical that it is impossible to deny the constitutive
power of their consciousness in the social practice in which they participate.
(p. 355)
In order to teach our students to change the world for the better and to alter the
communities around them, they need to understand their own consciousness, their
subjectivity in relation to their worlda self awareness also at the heart of
Freudian psychoanalysis. Like Plato, Freire also advocates that educators sow
doubt and uncertainty in their students, not comfort: Educators should stimulate
risk taking, without which there is no creativity. Instead of reinforcing the purely
mechanical repetitions of phrases and lists, educators should stimulate students to
doubt (p. 361). Only these self-aware learners who have embraced education as a
struggle can achieve true empathy and understanding of others. To Freire,
education is not just about perfecting reason but education is radically about love
(as cited in Wink, 2005, p. 2).
Le Guins book depicts this radical transformation as her protagonist struggles
to become more consciously self aware, encounters and resists a challenging
teacher, and then finally frees herself from her chains of conditioning through an
act of love. Students relate to Arhas adolescent stubbornness but also root for her
heroic teacher Ged to free her. The novel helps them empathize with the struggles
of both students and teachers. Students must understand that the learning process is
difficult, uncomfortable, and sometimes even scary. Yet, all three authors
encourage us to embrace those difficulties and turn our backs on the comforts of
ignorance in order to achieve enlightened knowledge of ourselvesto learn our
true names.
REFERENCES
Behrman, E. H. (2006). Teaching about language, power, and text: a review of classroom practices that
support critical literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(6), 490-498.
Boyum, S. (2010). The concept of philosophical education. Educational Theory, 60(5), 543-559.
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Britzman, D. (2015). Reading Freud today for the destiny of a psychology of education. Knowledge
Cultures, 3(2), 82-97.
Drew, C. (7 January 2011). Rethinking advanced placement. The New York Times. Retrieved from
www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html
Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (2003). Rethinking literacy: A dialogue. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano, & R. D.
Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (pp. 354-364). New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer.
Freud, S. (1965). New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York, NY:
Norton (Original work published 1933)
Hoover, E. (28 October 2015). Everything you need to know about the new SAT. The New York
Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/education/edlife/everything-you-need-to-
know-about-the-new-sat.html
Le Guin, U. K. (1970). The tombs of Atuan. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Lewison, M., Flint, A., Van Sluys, K., & Henkin, R. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The journey of
newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79(5), 382-391.
McLaren, P. (2016). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of
education (6th ed.). New York, NY: Paradigm Publishers.
Misch, D. A. (2003). The scholarship of teaching and learning: Lessons fromgasp!Sigmund Freud.
Journal of Scholarship and Teaching, 3(2), 21-33.
Plato. (2001). The allegory of the den. In P. Thompson (Ed.), Philosophy and literature (pp. 5-9). New
York, NY: Authors Choice Press.
Wink, J. (2005). Critical pedagogy: Notes from the real world (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Nathaniel Gee
Upper School English Department
Randolph School
40
MARK A. FABRIZI
3. YOURE A PRINCE, HARRY

The Politics of Oppression and Self-Interest in
J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter Series
Due to its incredible popularity, particularly among young people, the Harry Potter
series can be an excellent teaching tool for secondary teachers: The novels provide
academic motivation for many students who enjoyed the book as children, they
help enrich the imaginations of readers by immersing them in what J.R.R. Tolkien
(1939/1983) calls a Secondary World, and they open up new avenues of analysis
and literary discussion. Using Harry Potter in school also validates a much-loved
childhood novel through its incorporation in a teachers curriculum, and its
academic study helps students understand that there is more literary depth and
complexity to the novel than a cursory reading might yield, despite its designation
as a young adult novel. Indeed, a great deal of recent scholarship has been devoted
to Harry Potter as a literary work (e.g., Hallett, 2005; Hallett & Huey, 2012; Prinzi,
2009), as a tool for educators (e.g., Cherland, 2008; Frankel, 2013; Ruwe, 2013),
and as a vehicle to explore social, political, and philosophical topics (e.g., Baggett
& Klein, 2004; Patterson, 2009; Thomas & Snyder, 2010). Teachers can readily
take advantage of Harry Potters popularity to help students learn to be active,
conscious, critical consumers of media. Having used Harry Potter and the
Sorcerers Stone (Rowling, 1997) for five years when I taught a course in fantasy
literature as a high school English teacher, I can speak to its value as an
educational tool.
The purpose of this chapter is to present an interdisciplinary approach to
teaching English language arts skills by exploring connections among
Machiavellis (1532/1977) seminal text The Prince, the work of contemporary
author J.K. Rowling, and other fiction and nonfiction texts. Tisha Beaton (2006)
discusses such an approach through using Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
(Rowling, 1997) to support mathematics and science instruction within a larger
thematic unit, and her suggestion can easily be extended to incorporate other
disciplines as well. Scholar Peter Smagorinsky (2008) promotes the development
of interdisciplinary conceptual units of instruction which involve students in a
conversation that deepens as they progress through the texts, activities, and
discussions (p. 112). Furthermore, using The Prince as a lens through which to
view the Harry Potter books can encourage students to read Rowlings books from
an ethical perspective, and when teachers frame characters choices as ethical
dilemmas, as Friedman (2000) suggests in her essay on literature-based inquiry,
they provide opportunities for students to engage with larger issues of the text,
helping to make the text more significant to students and applicable to their lives.

FABRIZI
Most pre-teen readers, on first coming to Harry Potter, will probably never have
heard of Machiavelli, much less grappled with his ideas on politics and
government, and though the prose is dense and his ideas both complex and foreign,
approaching The Prince through the context of Harry Potter can make the task
more manageable. Stover (2003) and Bright (2011) both suggest using accessible
contemporary fiction as ways to bridge the gap between the world of the students
and the world of the textan intertextual approach. Using a familiar, undemanding
narrative such as the Harry Potter series can provide a ready context for teaching
the complex philosophical concepts posited by a sixteenth-century philosopher;
conversely, the latter can suggest surprising depth in Harry Potter, thus helping the
students understand both texts in terms of each other. Ford (2012) identifies
additional benefits to using fantasy works such as the Harry Potter novels, noting
that 1) they appeal to a variety of readers, 2) many students will already have
experienced the books in a non-academic setting, 3) the seven novels offer a
variety of lengths and reading difficulties, and 4) the books do not feel like
literature to the students and are thus not intimidating to them.
Furthermore, reading literary text in terms of philosophical treatises such as
Machiavellis (1532/1977) The Prince can help students make connections among
various time periods, position the novels in historical context, and see that there is
a larger conversation that occurs beyond the confines of the page. Such guided
interdisciplinary and intertextual readings that experienced readers (i.e., teachers)
provide in classrooms can further encourage students to find their own connections
among texts, thus enlarging their understanding of the literary world and their
purpose for reading. Therefore, teachers promoting an interdisciplinary approach
among their students, as opposed to a traditional banking concept of education
(Freire, 2000, p. 72), help create an academic environment that enables students
to examine larger aspects of human interpersonal, and lived-world questions
shaping [ELA instruction] (Beach, Thein, & Webb, 2016, p. 5).
However beneficial and appropriate an interdisciplinary approach might be,
such a method must incorporate a critical perspective as well so that teachers
encourage students to read resistantly, problematizing the text in a thoughtful way
that leads to a deeper understanding of both the authors position and the readers
reaction to it. In this way, teachers support a reading of the novel that can disrupt
the commonplace (Lewison, Flint, Van Sluys, & Henkin, 2002, p. 383)
understanding of the novel that many students already possess and enhance
classroom discussions surrounding any ethical issues presented in the text.
Therefore, a pedagogy informed by the tenets of critical literacy as articulated by
scholars such as Lankshear and McLaren (1993), Lewison et al. (2002),
McLaughlin and DeVoogd (2004), and Freire (2000), as well as elsewhere in this
book, is essential for teachers to embrace.
The political advice contained in Machiavellis (1532/1977) The Prince is
complex, nuanced, and sometimes brutal, and a thorough analysis and application
of his philosophy is beyond the scope of this chapter. I will therefore confine
myself to discussing two of his best-known precepts: his belief that the result of
ones actions determines their moral value (i.e., the ends justify the means); and
42
YOURE A PRINCE, HARRY
that a leader, when a choice must be made, should prefer that the populace fear
rather than love him or her in order that the leader retain authority (i.e., it is safer to
be feared than loved). I will also draw most heavily from the first book in the
Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (Rowling, 1997), since
that is read more frequently in secondary schools than the other six books.
THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS
The first order of business for Harry Potter and the other first-year students as they
enter Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in J. K. Rowlings (1997)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is participation in the Sorting ceremony in
which students are placed into one of four Houses according to their innate abilities
and personality traits. The Sorting Hat itself begins the ceremony with an
expository poem to explain the process and briefly outline each of the four Houses.
When Harrys turn comes, the Hat takes a long time to make its decision, debating
about an appropriate placement for the young wizard. Although it seems to want to
put him into Slytherin House (Not Slytherin, eh? said the [Sorting Hats] small
voice. Are you sure? [Rowling, 1997, p. 121]), Harrys desire to be placed
elsewhere ends the debate, and the Hat finally shouts, GRYFFINDOR! (p.
121), much to Harrys relief.
The initial Sorting Ceremony is a key moment for Harry, as the House in which
students are placed has a profound impact on them. And the selection is not
random: The Hat itself says that it can identify to each student where you ought to
be (Rowling, 1997, p. 117) and tell where you belong (Rowling, 2000, p. 177).
The Sorting Hats deliberation about Harrys placementSlytherin or
Gryffindoris significant since a students placement is determined by their
dominant trait: students with bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry in the case of
Gryffindor; and ambitious, cunning folk [who] use any means / to achieve their
ends (Rowling, 1997, p. 118) in the case of Slytherin. Which is Harrys dominant
virtue: Bravery or ambition? The Hat identifies both characteristics1 and cannot
decide between them, so Harry tips the scales toward Gryffindor.
This seems both a correct decision, since Harry proves himself brave and daring
on numerous occasions, and a satisfying one, since Rowling positions Gryffindor
as a desirable House by associating it with positive qualities such as courage and
selflessness and by making it seem appealing to sympathetic characters (e.g., Ron,
Hermione, and Harry himself). But this decision can be problematized since Harry
also demonstrates cunning and a willingness to use any means to achieve his ends.
It is this latter idea which is one of the most memorable concepts presented by
Niccol Machiavelli (1532/1977) in his sixteenth century treatise The Prince, is
explicitly associated with Slytherin House, and is displayed by Harry throughout
the seven-book series. Indeed, the entire series can be viewed as a struggle between
bravery and cunning, between the heirs of Gryffindor (embodied by Professor
Dumbledore) and of Slytherin (embodied by Lord Voldemort)though
Dumbledore often shows himself just as cunning (and nearly as ruthless) as
Voldemort. Harry, though officially a member of House Gryffindor and strongly
43
FABRIZI
allied with Dumbledore, often straddles the line between the two ideologies,
displaying great courage at times but also revealing a tendency to overlook
inconvenient rules and laws when he believes that his ends justify illicit means.
According to Machiavelli (1532/1977, p. 43), virtue and vice should be
considered as means to an end, not as concepts possessing intrinsic moral value.
They are merely tools, as he conceives them, used by rulers to achieve their goals.
Rules, moral precepts, and social expectations should not impact the actions of a
ruler, according to Machiavelli, for s/he is necessarily above such considerations as
s/he attempts to maintain the statein this case, Hogwarts. Does Harry break
rules, ignore moral principles, and in other ways, act as he sees fit, regardless of
the impact on others? Yes, he doesas do other characters, both good and
evilnumerous times throughout the series.
While Harrys actions have been seen as based on Thomas Hobbess concept
of summum malum (greatest evil) which must be avoided (Ionoaia, 2009, p. 49)
and that Harry Potter and his friends know what is good and choose to act morally
due to their firm disposition to act in such ways (p. 56), such an assessment is
rather generous, as the motivations of Harry and Friends are often ambiguous,
straddling the line between selfless and honorable, and self-serving and short-
sighted. For example, Harry and Ron (with Hermione and Neville in tow) sneak
out of the Gryffindor dormitory after hours so that Harry can take part in a
midnight duel with Draco Malfoy, risking a loss of house points to Gryffindor in
order to satisfy his own pride (Rowling, 1997, pp. 155-156), not for any high-
minded purpose. Harry and Hermione also use Harrys invisibility cloak to sneak
Hagrids illegally-obtained dragon through the halls of Hogwarts in order to
release it, instead of either alerting Dumbledore or simply arranging for the
dragons release in the relative convenience and seclusion of the forest near
Hagrids hut (pp. 239-241). In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(Rowling, 1999), Harry is given the Marauders Map by Fred and George Weasley
which he uses to sneak off to Hogsmeade, the local town, in order to join his
friends on a pleasurable outing (pp. 194-196). (Harry, who had not obtained
permission from his guardians, was not allowed to leave the campus.) Later in the
same book, Harry again sneaks off to Hogsmeade, this time using the invisibility
cloak to play tricks on his nemeses from Slytherin House (pp. 279-281). While his
actions are not necessarily evil or immoral, neither are they high-minded nor
courageous. His rule-breaking in each of these instances serve interests that are
largely selfish, dishonest, and superficial.
One of Harrys early acts of insubordination at Hogwarts occurs when the
Gryffindor and Slytherin students are receiving flying lessons with Madame Hooch
who, escorting Neville to the hospital wing, gives the students explicit instructions
to leave their broomsticks alone or they would be out of Hogwarts before you can
say Quidditch (Rowling, 1997, p. 147). Draco Malfoy, ever the trouble-maker,
steals Nevilles Remembrall, flying away with it and taunting Harry. Rather than
wait for Malfoy to become bored or get caught flying without permission, Harry
chases after him, barely catching the thrown Remembrall before it hits the ground.
Of course, Harry is caught by Professor McGonagall, but rather than punishing
44
him for his disobedience, the professor rewards him with the coveted role of
Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
While Harry has a strong argument to explain his noncompliancenamely, to
stand up to a bully and defend his friendProfessor McGonagall has a far less
honorable reason to explain herself: The Gryffindor House Quidditch Team needs
a seeker, and as House Leader, the teams performance is a reflection on her.
Harrys flying is impressive enough for her to overlook Harrys disobedience,
interrupt Professor Flitwicks class to pull out another student, and give Harry a
brand-new, state-of-the-art broomstick (Rowling, 1997), despite the fact that first-
year students are not allowed to have their own broomstick.2 Furthermore, she
even recognizes the impropriety of her gift and enlists Harrys cooperation in
keeping the secret (p. 164). In this scene, Harry and Professor McGonagall, two
good characters with whom the reader is positioned to identify, set aside rules
that are inconvenient for reasons that are noble and self-serving, respectively.
While it could be argued that, in standing up to a bully and supporting Neville,
Harry is acting courageously, especially given the consequences he would face if
he were caught; in point of fact, Neville was not present to witness Harrys support
of him and Malfoy would certainly have been punished if he were caught stealing
and flying without permission. Consider also how another Hogwarts student might
view the scene: Harry Potter breaks the rules yet is not punished for itwhere is
the fairness in that? Dont the rules apply to him, or is he special? Nevertheless,
Harry risks his life to retrieve the Remembrall rather than let justice take its course.
Machiavelli, who would perhaps applaud Harrys actions, exhorts leaders to view
virtue and vice subjectively, judging their own actions in terms of how their ends
are served rather than from an objective moral standpoint.
This sort of moral relativism continues throughout the first book, particularly
with Harry. Sometimes he is acting in support of his friends, as when he and Ron
ignore explicit instructions by Professor Dumbledore to return to their dorms when
a troll is discovered in the school in order that they may warn Hermione of the
danger (Rowling, 1997, pp. 173-174). At other times, Harry disobeys the rules to
serve his own interest, as when he sneaks out of his dorm at midnight to meet
Draco Malfoy in a wizards duel (pp. 155-156). And still other times Harry seems
to have the best interest of the school in mind, as when he and Ron hide beneath
Harrys invisibility cloak to access the Restricted section of the library as they
research the identity of Nicholas Flamel; and when Hermione petrifies Neville
when he tries to stop her, Ron, and Harry from leaving the Gryffindor common
room in order to protect the sorcerers stone from Professor Snape whom they
believe is trying to steal it. Although Harry and his two eleven-year-old friends
believe they are acting in the best interest of the school, their actions are
insubordinate and they flout rules put in place to protect them from inadvertently
harming or even killing themselves and others. In fact, Harry is actually wrong in
his belief that Professor Snape is attempting to steal the sorcerers stone, a fact he
discovers when Voldemort reveals himself near the end of the book (p. 293).
Harrys actions needlessly put Hogwarts at risk by jeopardizing the safety of the
stone which Voldemort nearly steals from him (p. 295).
45
FABRIZI
These scenes illustrate a moral ambiguity that can engage students by first
articulating the ethical dilemma, then identifying the complexities of the situation
and determining whether the character(s) acted appropriately, and finally
considering how they themselves might have behaved in similar circumstances.
Additionally, teachers can pose provocative dilemmas to students to begin
conversations about morality. For example, should a student be punished if they
provoke a fistfight while defending their friend from a bully, or should negative
consequences be disregarded and the student rewarded with a coveted spot on the
schools wrestling team? Is it appropriate for a teacher to break rules to give
special privileges to a student, then ask him or her to keep those privileges secret
from other students and administrators?
Examples from the first book in the series range in severity from the selfish and
shortsighted to the noble and courageous, corresponding to the extent to which we
can forgive eleven-year-old Harry.3 More troubling are the choices of Professor
Dumbledore, though his actions extend throughout the series. In the first book,
Dumbledore admits to providing young Harry with his fathers invisibility cloak
[j]ust in case (Rowling, 1997, p. 261) he finds it useful and because Harry
might like it (p. 299). In fact, Harry actually receives the cloak twice: once as a
Christmas gift (pp. 201-202), and again after Harry had lost it while breaking the
rules to help remove Hagrids dragon from campus. Providing a powerful magical
itemit is in fact one of the legendary Deathly Hallows sought after by Voldemort
among others (Rowling, 2007)to such a young child (who has lost the cloak
once already) might itself illustrate questionable judgment, though arguably it is
Harrys inheritance and therefore it should be given to him, whether or not he is
old enough to use it responsibly. (Notably, Dumbledore does not list this among
his reasons for bestowing the cloak on Harry.)
While Dumbledore may be earnest in his reasons for returning the cloak to
Harry, one cannot help but think that such an object was given to Harry to facilitate
his extra-curricular investigations around Hogwarts and beyond in this and
succeeding novels. This interpretation is not so implausible when one considers
that Dumbledore exhibits a consistent pattern of duplicity, reticence, and moral
ambiguity as he manipulates Harry, Snape, and others throughout the series
(Willson-Metzger, 2009). Given that Dumbledore is such an important person in
Harrys life and has even been identified as a father figure to the young wizard
(Carmeli, 2009), his actions would indeed have a significant impact on Harry,
particularly during his formative pre-teen and teenage years.
To Harry and many others, Dumbledore displayed admirable traits: honor,
generosity, selflessness, and courage; as such, he was a figure of respect, one
whom Harry emulated (Carmeli, 2009), especially since Dumbledore took Harry
under his wing and treated him with particular attention and kindness which,
Machiavelli might argue, creates a sense of obligation in Harry. This sense of
obligation is renewed near the end of the final book in the series: Dumbledore has
revealed his former motivations to unite the Deathly Hallows and avoid death
himself, and many of his machinations had previously come to light (e.g., his
manipulation of both Harry and Snape), yet nonetheless Harry finds forgiveness
46
for the old man (Rowling, 2007, p. 720). Through his self-serving and misleading
actions, Dumbledore illustrates a controversial assertion from Machiavelli; that is,
a leader should seem [emphasis added] to have admirable qualities, (Machiavelli,
1532/1977, p. 48), though he does not need to possess them in reality in order to
ensure the loyalty of others, even those whom he has manipulated and betrayed.
In the climactic sequence in the first novel, Harry, Ron, and Hermione
collaborate to overcome the magical barriers placed before the Sorcerers Stone,
and Harry ultimately thwarts Voldemorts attempt to retrieve the precious Stone
though at the time the three of them believed they were foiling Professor Snape. To
accomplish this task, the children break several rules: 1) They sneak out of the
dorm after hours; 2) Hermione attacks Neville who was trying to save them from
themselves and prevent them from costing Gryffindor more points toward the
house cup; 3) They make their way to the third-floor corridor which is out of
bounds, (Rowling, 1997, p. 127) according to Professor Dumbledore, and all three
are nearly killed several times by the traps that bar their way; and 4) Harry
endangers himself, the school, and the rest of the wizarding community by
successfully retrieving the Sorcerers Stone and placing it within reach of
Voldemorts minion Professor Quirrell, barely avoiding his own death and the loss
of the Stone by the merest of chances. Rather than expel them for their nocturnal
mischief, Professor Dumbledore awards them a total of one hundred sixty house
points. With the addition of Nevilles relatively minor ten-point awardfor
bravery (the primary attribute of House Gryffindor) in standing up to his friends
and trying to prevent their chicanery, arguably the most noble and commendable
action taken by any of the four students that nightGryffindor wins the House
Cup.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (Rowling, 1997) offers numerous
opportunities to evaluate the actions of the characters with respect to Machiavellis
philosophy of leadership. The penultimate scene of the novel gives students a
chance to examine and evaluate the behavior of the students and the reward each
receives through the framework of Machiavellis ideas: The Sorcerers Stone is
safe from Voldemort, though the goal was accomplished through significant rule-
breaking and other questionable behaviors. Other characters certainly exhibit
dubious traits on occasionDraco Malfoy lies and bullies others, and Professor
Quirrell is duplicitous throughout the novel and even endangers the school by
bringing a mountain troll on campusbut examining the actions of the good
characters, the ones with whom the reader is positioned to identify and therefore
emulate (e.g., Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall, etc.), is more productive since
they presumably embody the perspective the reader is expected to embrace. If we
want students to be critical readers and thinkers, it is important that they are able to
problematize the actions of the protagonists and evaluate them through an external
framework such as Machiavellis philosophy of leadership.
The next section will explore fictional manifestations of Machiavellis belief
that it is safer to be feared than loved, identifying opportunities for students to see
the tenet through the actions of various characters whose behaviors can then be
evaluated. In addition to examples from Book I in the series, I will draw from
47
FABRIZI
scenes in Book V: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling, 2003) as
it offers strongly contrasting approaches to leadership, though it is undoubtedly a
darker (and much longer) text than Book I. I will also offer additional nonfiction
texts with which to pair with the novels to offer alternate perspectives for students
to consider.
IT IS SAFER TO BE FEARED THAN LOVED
When Harry Potter, the titular character of the book series, is introduced to the
reader, he is a marginalized boy of nearly eleven years whose voice is silenced by
his oppressive and often antagonistic adoptive Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia
Dursley and by his abusive bully of a cousin, Dudley. His role as orphan in the
home of abusive relatives bequeaths the position of underdog, a position with
which the audience immediately sympathizes. Throughout the early stages of J. K.
Rowlings (1997) Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Harrys life with the
Dursleys is illuminated, and the readers frustrations at the extremity of abuse
Harry suffers throughout the early chapters of the novel help position the reader to
accept and validate Harrys perspective as he enacts his revenge. For example,
while visiting the zoo, Harry magically causes the safety glass separating Dudley
from a large boa constrictor to disappear, terrifying Dudley and his friend Piers as
the snake glides past them. While this action clearly seems inadvertent at the time,
Harry later ponders whether he had subconsciously got his revenge [by setting]
a boa constrictor on [Dudley] (p. 58), a fact which strikes Harry as curious more
than regrettable and hints at his less-forgiving nature. Vengeance, cruelty, and a
willingness to use violence and fear tactics to assert oneself are all hallmarks of
Machiavellis philosophy of leadership, and Harry demonstrates shades of each in
this brief scene, even if inadvertently. Students can be asked to consider whether
Harry really intended to get revenge on Dudley as well as to examine the final
quote in the novel, when Harry reveals his intentions to manipulate his cousin
Dudley using fear and intimidation in a much more deliberate way:
Oh, I will [have a good holiday], said Harry, and [Ron and Hermione] were
surprised at the grin that was spreading over his face. They [the Dursleys]
dont know were not allowed to use magic at home. Im going to have a lot
of fun with Dudley this summer . (p. 309)
Given the extremity of the abuse Harry has suffered at the hands of the Dursleys,
his perspective is understandable, especially since the reader discovers later that
Harry uses the specter of magic only as a threat to spare himself from being
targeted for further cruelty.
Soon after the incident at the zoo, Harry begins to receive letters of invitation
from Hogwarts, letters which Uncle Vernon callously prevents Harry from
opening, even going so far as to escape to an island in an attempt to avoid the
arrival of yet more letters. The frustrations the reader feels at this unfair treatment
and young Harrys impotence at preventing it, combined with our sympathies at
the abuse he has thus far suffered in the novel, cause the reader to smile
48
triumphantly when the half-giant Hagrid, in a fit of rage, magically causes a pigs
tail to grow on Dudleys ample bottom. Rowling makes it easy to cheer when
Dudley gets his comeuppance, but vigilante justiceeven if apparently justified
is rarely approved in society, and such vengeance is in fact argued against by
Simone de Beauvoir in her essay An Eye for an Eye (de Beauvoir, 2004). In the
case of Hagrid and Dudley, she might argue that while Hagrids motivations
ostensibly originate from his desire to support Harry by tipping the scales in the
boys favor, his reaction may instead have come from a desire to assert himself
over the muggles, dominating them through magic, a resource integral to his
identity as a wizard. Rowlings attempt to position Hagrids actions as supportive
of Harry can be seen in his choice of target: He identifies Dudley as victim (though
he is an innocent in this particular instance, if not in his overall treatment of Harry)
instead of Uncle Vernon who is the actual cause of Hagrids ire through his
insensitive comments regarding Dumbledore.
Furthermore, Hagrids reprisal is ultimately unhelpful in preventing future abuse
and can even escalate bullying episodes in the future (CASEL, 2009). The text
does not invite the reader (e.g., through Harrys voiced opposition) to challenge
Hagrids actions, thus validating the vengeance. Hagrid allows his emotions to
cloud his judgment, maiming eleven-year-old Dudley and defying a punishment
inflicted upon him by his own wizard community (Hagrid admits that his wand
was broken by the authorities after he was expelled from Hogwarts and that he is
not supposed to work magic)and he even invites young Harry as an accomplice
in the subterfuge, much like Professor McGonagall does when gifting Harry with a
broomstick. Does the punishment Hagrid inflicts on Dudley fit the crime, and will
it end the oppression Harry endures at the hands of his relatives? The answer to
both questions is no. Hagrids anger at that moment was directed toward Mr.
Dursley, not Dudley who must now have the tail surgically removed; and when
Harry returns to the Dursleys home the following summer, he continues to endure
torment at their hands, albeit it is mitigated by the fact that they now fear Harry
and his wizardly powers.
Still, Hagrid has effectively cowed the Dursleys for the moment and endeared
himself to Harry, allowing him to spirit the boy away to Hogwarts at last. In this
way, Hagrids actions illustrate a manifestation of the Machiavellian tenet that to
be feared is much safer than to be loved (Machiavelli, 1532/1977, p. 46). In
provoking fear in the Dursleys, Hagrid has secured their cooperation in his
endeavor and has engendered in Harry a sense of obligation for providing support.
Students can be invited to engage with this scene, balancing Hagrids actions
against de Beauvoirs argument and with contemporary research on bullying,
questioning his motivations and tactics, and offering alternatives to reconcile the
characters. Some students may feel that, in taking up Harrys part, Hagrid acted
appropriately in that situation, and the diverse interpretations students have of this
scene speaks to its moral ambiguity, especially in the eyes of young readers.
Machiavelli may encourage leaders to provoke fear among their followers, but
he certainly exhorts them to avoid being hated by those they lead. Hagrid follows
this advice and stops short of cruelty toward the Dursleys; not so for Professor
49
FABRIZI
Dolores Umbridge who engenders not only the fear of the students of Hogwarts
when she appears as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling, 2003), but also their hatred as well.
For much of the year, Umbridge keeps the students and teachers in check with her
sweetly-veiled threats and especially through her acts of malice implemented under
the authority of her newly-minted position as Hogwarts High Inquisitor
(Rowling, 2003, p. 306), and her behavior offers a stark contrast to Harry.
Umbridge oppresses the students and faculty through the implementation of
Educational Decrees which limit the freedoms of residents through such
proposals as eliminating all student organizations and clubs (Rowling, 2003, pp.
351-2), giving herself authority to adjudicate all punishments (p. 416), and
preventing teachers from discussing with the students anything that is not strictly
related to the subjects they are paid to teach (p. 551). Through the limitations of
these and other freedomsand the threat of more strictures to comeUmbridge
has secured the fear and hatred of nearly all inhabitants of Hogwarts, putting her
position of authority at Hogwarts on rather shaky ground since she might drive her
subjects to revolt, as Machiavelli might argue. Students can be encouraged to
identify manifestations of Machiavellian ideology in Umbridges leadership style,
especially when she oversteps her authority and indulges in malicious behavior.
Perhaps if Umbridge had not escalated her behavior to the level of viciousness
and wanton crueltyby firing Professor Trelawney, disenfranchising the students
by refusing to teach them any real defensive magic, and physically punishing
Harry by scarring his hand during detentionsshe could have cowed the
population without encouraging revolution. But the students nevertheless do rebel
against her, forming Dumbledores Army, an informal group of students who meet
to learn magic under the tutelage of Harry Potter who teaches them defensive
spells to help arm them against dark magic, advice that Machiavelli would
certainly have given the young wizard since he believed that arming ones subjects
tends to make them more loyal (Machiavelli, 1532/1977, p. 57). Umbridges
oppressive methods help to realize Machiavellis warning against engendering the
hatred of the population: Umbridge is ultimately ousted from her teaching position
at Hogwarts.
Harry Potter is himself later ostracized, this time by a combination of yellow
journalism (courtesy of Rita Skeeter, writer for the Daily Prophet) (Rowling, 2000)
and Ministry of Magic scare tactics (Rowling, 2007), the sum of which, enacted
upon a largely ignorant and/or jealous wizard population, ultimately results in
Harry being forced to flee Hogwarts. Through Skeeter, Rowling seems to be
exploring the publics general obsession with the media as well as their willingness
to believe the most outrageous nonsense, even when they knowor should
knowbetter. This is certainly the case with Rons mother Molly Weasley who,
upon reading the fabrications of Skeeter (Rowling, 2000), turns cold toward
Hermione Granger of whom Skeeter had accused Harry of being enamored.
Hermione was finally able to stop Skeeter from continuing to publish lies and
half-truths about Harry and his friends after she captured Rita, who had
transformed into a beetle, and sealed her in a jar. Hermione continued to hold
50
Skeeter, an unregistered animagus who could turn into a beetle at will, in the jar,
preventing her from transforming into her human self. She also blackmailed
Skeeterhardly a noble, courageous, or morally laudable thing to do,
threatening to turn her in to the Ministry of Magic and forcing her to quit writing
for a whole year (Rowling, 2000, p. 728). Despite Hermiones efforts, the
Ministry of Magic used Skeeters influential articles to position Harry as
misguided in his perceptions about the return of Voldemort. In this way, the
Ministry was able to quell a general panic within the wizard community at the
return of such a monstrous threat to their safety.
Why would the public believe these fabrications? Why would the Ministry want
to mislead the population into thinking that Voldemort was dead and gone?
Machiavelli might reason that since Harry is neither feared nor loved by the
general populace and is only a spoiled celebrity in their eyes, he is virtually
defenseless against the vilification he faces. According to Machiavelli, people
are ungrateful, fickle, fearful of danger and greedy for gain (Machiavelli,
1532/1977, p. 46). Their fear of Voldemort is strong and believing in his re-
emergence would have terrifying consequences for them; disbelieving Harry and
finding comfort in ignorance is, for many of them, preferable to the terror and
uncertainty they would feel if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned to power. As
long as Voldemort remains a figure of the past, they need not be faced with the
choice of whether to oppose him: Their fear of Voldemort is greater than their
hatred of him at this point.
Furthermore, their inaction is not without precedent, considering the rise of
Hitler in pre-World War II Germany and the attendant laissez-faire attitude of
German intellectuals at that time, an attitude which gave rise to the untitled mid-
1940s poem written by Pastor Martin Niemller (1946):
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for meand there was no one left to speak for me.
Given the fear Voldemort generates among the population of wizards and the terror
he created during his earlier campaign, such an attitude is easy to imagine. People
might wish to punish Harry for troubling them by stirring the bitter cup many of
them had drunk only a decade-and-a-half earlier, allowing Harry to hang high as a
lonely scapegoat rather than join him and risk ostracismor worseby calling
attention to themselves. Better to bury ones head in the sand rather than risk
getting it cut off.
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CONCLUSIONS
Understanding Machiavelli and the connections between his theories and the Harry
Potter novels can help a reader become more aware of a subtle moral framework
underlying the text and thus resist naturalizing that morality, whether it is
embodied by good or evil characters. Umbridge does not work within the
boundaries prescribed for her, using her authority and power to modify the rules or
implement new ones, as with the many arbitrary Educational Decrees she
implements as Hogwarts High Inquisitor which help her maintain control over the
students and faculty. Harry, too, works outside established boundaries (e.g., by
initiating Dumbledores Army), uses deception and duplicity (e.g., polyjuice
potion, his invisibility cloak, etc.) to uncover information, and ignores
inconvenient rules (e.g., sneaking into the Restricted Section of the library,
breaking into Gringotts Bank, obtaining teachers assistance when competing in
the Triwizard Tournament, etc.) in order to get his own way. Harrys role as
abused outsider-underdog enables Rowling to position the reader to validate his
motives and endorse his methods, leading her adolescent readers to accept and
naturalize those choices.
Of course, the majority of examples discussed above measure Harrys behaviors
in terms of the established rules of Hogwarts, rules which go largely unchallenged
by the inhabitants of the wizarding world, except (ironically) by Dolores Umbridge
(Rowling, 2003) and (justifiably) by Hermione Granger in her attempt to liberate
the house elves (Rowling, 2000). Might the novels be in part an attempt to
challenge the appropriateness of such rules? Could Harrys rule-breaking and
subversive actions be interpreted as an effort to question Hogwarts rules as a moral
axis? Possibly, though the novels do not invite such a critique, and Harry and
others accept those rules unquestioningly. Umbridges attempt to subvert the rules
of Hogwarts for her own purpose is clearly positioned as selfish, unethical, and
objectionable to faculty and students alike. Hermiones attempt to rescue the house
elves from enslavement ends rather ineffectually (and unsuccessfully). The reader
is not invited to question Harrys moral universe as defined by Hogwarts rules;
therefore, Harrys actions must be judged within those parameters. In addition to
engaging students to evaluate Harrys actions through a Machiavellian lens,
students can be encouraged to question the very rules by which Harry and the other
students are required to operate at Hogwarts and the laws by which the adult
witches and wizards of Harrys world live.
As noted above, it has been argued that the Harry Potter novels are founded in a
Hobbesean ethics of avoidance of the greatest evil and that the novels provide a
consistent, yet adjustable, ethical code whose role is to encourage young people to
distinguish between right and wrong and act accordingly (Ionoaia, 2009, p. 54).
Yet in many instances, Harrys behavior does not suggest adherence to a universal
morality, and his choices are too often a matter of expediencehardly an ethical
code children should follow. For example, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets (Rowling, 1998), Harry and Ron are magically prevented from accessing
Platform 9. Rather than alert Rons parents or send an owl to Professor
52
Dumbledore, Harry and Ron take it upon themselves to drive Rons fathers flying
car to Hogwarts where it is nearly destroyed by the Whomping Willow, Harry and
Ron are almost killed, and Rons father is almost fired from the Ministry of Magic
for possession of a contraband item. While this scene does not suggest an immoral
decision, it does illustrate Harrys decision-making process which does not always
consider the implications of his actions. Many of these examples suggest that
Harry and his friends assume that they know better than those in authority. He does
not make his decisions based on any moral foundation; he does so on the basis of
his own assumptions that no one really knows what is going on except for him
and, based upon his successes, the moral universe of the novel seems to agree with
him.
In addition to applying Machiavellis ideas as a lens to examine the choices
characters make in Rowlings books, the characters choices can be viewed
through a framework of moral development. Whited and Grimes (2002) consider
the first four books of the series through the lens of Lawrence Kohlbergs theories
of moral development, measuring character actions against his six-stage model of
moral reasoning. This view considers character growth as measured through a
developmental structure of morality, rather than asking students to make an
implicit value judgment on character actions by applying Machiavellis ideas.
The abundance and variety of characters who lead others in the Harry Potter
novels (e.g., Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape, Umbridge, Fudge, etc.), and
whether they are positioned as positive or negative role models by the author
(i.e., good or evil), provide numerous opportunities for students to demonstrate
both their conceptual and their practical understandings of morality. Students
might be assigned to determine the relative influence of Machiavellis theories on a
particular characters leadership style, for example, evaluating why each may have
failed or succeeded in their attempts to motivate their followers or lead groups
effectively, or they might be asked to identify which of Kohlbergs stages of moral
development a character seems to work within based upon their responses to
various scenarios.
A critical examination of the Harry Potter novels through a moral lens as
provided by Machiavelli, de Beauvoir, Kohlberg, and others can help readers
develop critical literacy skills that license them to question other texts and the
messages they convey, leading to richer, more fulfilling reading experiences. The
Harry Potter series is incredibly popular, but reading the novels simply to enjoy the
plot and character development and refraining from a deeper engagement with the
moral choices present in the novel, limits the interactions readers have with the
text. Fantasy connects with our lives today as well as the ideas of the past, and
readers inquiring into Harrys morality and questioning his choices enrich their
reading experience with the series, particularly when that reading is informed by
Machiavellis sixteenth century treatise on leadership.
53
FABRIZI
NOTES
1
While the Hat notes that Harry has Not a bad mind (Rowling, 1997, p. 121), his subsequent
middling record as a student and the Hats half-hearted intellectual assessment would preclude his
placement in Ravenclaw, a House for those of sharpest [emphasis added] mind (Rowling, 2003, p.
205).
2
In fact, her favoritism toward Harry, a budding Quidditch star, is reminiscent of the way many
young athletes are indulged in American society, especially in secondary school and higher
education.
3
Perhaps Professor McGonagalls behavior is less forgivable since she is an adult and (presumably)
knows better, even if her goal to win the Quidditch Cup was relatively innocuous.
REFERENCES
Baggett, D., & Klein, S. E. (Eds.). (2004). Harry Potter and philosophy: If Aristotle ran Hogwarts.
Chicago, IL: Open Court Pub.
Beach, R., Thein, A. H., & Webb, A. (2016). Teaching to exceed the English Language Arts Common
Core State Standards: A critical inquiry approach for 6-12 classrooms (2nd ed.). New York, NY:
Routledge.
Beaton, T. (2006). Harry Potter as a context for interdisciplinary studies. English Journal, 95(3), 100-
103.
Bright, A. (2011). Writing Homer, reading Riordan: Intertextual study in contemporary adolescent
literature. The Journal of Childrens Literature, 37(1), 38-47.
Carmeli, R. (2009). Four models of fatherhood: Paternal contributors to Harry Potters psychological
development. In D. Patterson (Ed.), Harry Potter's world wide influence (pp. 11-34). Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Cherland, M. (December 2008/January 2009). Harrys girls: Harry Potter and the discourse of gender.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult literacy, 52(4), 273-282. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.52.4.1
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (2009). Social and emotional
learning and bullying prevention. Chicago, IL: American Institute for Research.
de Beauvoir, S. (2004). An eye for an eye. In S. de Beauvoir & M. A. Simons (Eds.). Simone de
Beauvoir: Philosophical writings (pp. 237-260). Urbana: University of Illinois.
Ford, J. (2012). Fantasy classics: Hobbits and Harry in interdisciplinary courses. In E. Dial-Driver, S.
Emmons, & J. Ford (Eds.), Fantasy media in the classroom: Essays on teaching with film,
television, literature, graphic novels, and video games (pp. 138-147). Jefferson, NC: McFarland &
Co., Inc.
Frankel, V. E. (Ed.) (2013). Teaching with Harry Potter: Essays on classroom wizardry from
elementary school to college. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York, NY: Continuum.
Friedman, A. A. (2000). Nurturing reflective judgment through literature-based inquiry. English
Journal, 89(6), 96-104.
Hallett, C. J., & Huey, P. J. (Eds.). (2012). J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter. New York, NY: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Hallett, C. W. (Ed.) (2005). Scholarly studies in Harry Potter. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Ionoaia, E. (2009). Moral fibre and outstanding courage: Harry Potters ethic of courage as a paradigm
for the muggle world. In D. Patterson (Ed.), Harry Potters world wide influence (pp. 49-76).
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Lankshear, C. & McLaren, P. L. (Eds.). (1993). Critical literacy: Politics, praxis, and the postmodern.
Albany: SUNY Press.
Lewison, M., Flint, A. S., Van Sluys, K., & Henkin, R. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The journey
of newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79(5), 382-392.
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Machiavelli, N. (1977). The prince (2nd ed.) (R. M. Adams, Ed., & R. M. Adams, Trans.). New York,
NY: W. W. Norton. (Original work published in 1532)
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. L. (2004). Critical literacy: Enhancing students comprehension of
text. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
Niemller, M. (1946). First they came for the Socialists. Retrieved February 5, 2016, from
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392
Patterson, D. (Ed.) (2009). Harry Potters world wide influence. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge
Scholars Publishing.
Prinzi, T. (2009). Harry Potter & imagination: The way between two worlds. Allentown, PA: Zossima
Press.
Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.
Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine
Books.
Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine
Books.
Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.
Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine
Books.
Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the deathly hallows. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.
Ruwe, D. (2013). International quidditch: Using cultural translation exercises to teach word choice and
audience. English Journal, 102(4), 82-88.
Smagorinsky, P. (2008). Teaching English by design: How to create and carry out instructional units.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Stover, L. T. (2003). Mind the gap: Building bridges between adolescent readers and texts. English
Journal, 92(4), 77-83.
Thomas, J. E., & Snyder, F. G. (Eds.). (2010). The law and Harry Potter. Durham, NC: Carolina
Academic Press.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1983). On fairy-stories. In C. Tolkien (Ed.), The monsters and the critics and other
essays (pp. 5-48). London, UK: HarperCollins. (Original work published in 1939)
Whited, L. A., & Grimes, M. K. (2002). What would Harry do? J. K. Rowling and Lawrence
Kohlbergs theories of moral development. In L. A. Whited (Ed.), The ivory tower and Harry
Potter: Perspectives on a literary phenomenon (pp. 182-208). Columbia: University of Missouri
Press.
Willson-Metzger, A. (2009). The life and lies of Albus Dumbledore: The ethics of information sharing
and concealment in the Harry Potter novels. In D. Patterson (Ed.), Harry Potters world wide
influence (pp. 293-304). Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Mark A. Fabrizi
Department of Education
Eastern Connecticut State University
55
NATHAN FREDRICKSON
4. DESIGNING A COURSE INTEGRATING CRITICAL

PEDAGOGY, FANTASY LITERATURE,
AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
This chapter is intended as an aid for designing either a full course on the
intersection of critical pedagogy, fantasy literature, and religious studies or at least
material for one or two lessons along these lines in a course in religious studies or
English, based on the conviction that teachers of both literature and religion may
benefit from each others critical insights and material. Furthermore, this chapters
proposals will hopefully be flexible enough to aid course development for high
school, undergraduate, or graduate levels.
Thus, this chapter is structured thematically, moving through a variety of topics
that might be discussed in such settings. Under each topic, a bibliography of
potential texts is provided, stratified by grade level. It is presumed that at the high
school level the students would only read the fantasy texts themselves and that
other information would be delivered through lectures and classroom discussions.
Perhaps advanced high school students might be asked to read some of the
readings in the higher-level strata. The necessarily abbreviated discussion offered
here under each topical heading should give a sense of how lectures might be
structured and what sources one might use. The topics are as follows: (1) defining
key terms, (2) colonialism, (3) capitalism, (4) perspectivism and pragmatism, (5)
feminism and queer theory, (6) interrogating the self, (7) royal ideology and the
monomyth, and (8) critical pedagogy and reflexivity. These topics are intended to
link together, producing a course that makes a larger coherent argument, but since
they are subdivided, they may be used in isolation or even spread out into a two-
semester undergraduate course.
Other details of course design have been omitted since they will vary depending
on the type and level of course being offered, as well as individual instructor
preference and personality. To turn this chapters suggestions into a full course, an
instructor would need to decide on course objectives and the concrete measures of
their achievement (e.g., traditional papers, quizzes, and exams or alternatives like
composing a critically literate fantasy story or making a website or blog for fantasy
critique), classroom policies and expectations, modes or platforms of access to
materials and assignments (e.g., in person or online), and so on.
RATIONALE
Using fiction to motivate action and promote critical thinking is a familiar feature
of evidence-based syllabus design, and, following McCutcheon (2001) and others,

FREDRICKSON
religious studies may be regarded as a critical field that should welcome the use of
fantasy literature both as datum for study and subject for pedagogy, given fantasys
capacity to promote alternative perspective-taking. Likewise, critically literate
students will benefit from knowledge of religious studies.
Fundamental to the study of religion is the realization that religion itself is a
power-laden term. Critical analyses of religion have traced its development and
contestation (e.g., Asad, 1993, 2003; Fitzgerald, 2000, 2007a, 2007b; Masuzawa,
2005; McCutcheon, 1997, 2001; Nongbri, 2013; Styers, 2004). One of religions
primary conceptual opposites is magica term often used, especially in some of
the foundational theories of religion, to describe the practices and beliefs of the so-
called primitive or superstitious peoples of the world. Relative to a normative
Protestantism, Catholicism was for some theorists the model of magical
superstition, unconsciously mirroring early and proto-orthodox Christian critiques
of so-called pagans. However, magic and religion are not so easily distinguished.
For example, in the cultural life of many African Americans, it is not reasonable to
attempt to make a sharp divide between religion and magic (Chireau, 2003).
Hence, the utility of looking at fantasy literature to think critically about religion:
fantasy literature tends to favor the sort of medieval (Catholic) or pagan worlds
against which religion tends to be understood.
Fantasy literature, in which magic is ontologically affirmedoften together
with the affirmation of medieval, ancient, or alternative forms of social and
economic organization, provides a unique space in which and with which to think
through classical theorists of religion critically. Indeed, although sometimes
framed as a reason for reluctance to include in a curriculum (Dickerson & OHara,
2006), the prominence of religious elements in fantasy is a positive reason for its
use in the religious studies classroom. Furthermore, since the genre often contains
fictional races, such as dwarves and orcs, who have essentialized moral and
intellectual properties linked to bodily traits (cf. Omi & Winant, 1994), fantasy
literature provides a useful, relatively detached space for critical thought regarding
the representation of marginalized and stigmatized people.
Although the genre contains many examples of sexism, contemporary fantasy
authors have been some of the most adventurous and experimental in pushing the
boundaries of categories like gender, sexuality, and even the bounds of human
nature, again giving a voice to the silenced and representations of empowerment to
the oppressed. Some have argued that estranged literatures are inherently more
critical and generative of social change than mimetic literature, though emphasis is
usually placed on science fiction (e.g., Easton & Schroeder, 2008). This may or
may not be the case. Some of the potential topics and texts discussed in this
chapter provide opportunities for students to read suspiciously because they
illustrate things like misogyny or racism, but other texts chosen for this course are
resistant writings, expressions of critically literate authors. This variety should help
cultivate the recursive or reflexive attitude that is one of the primary characteristics
of critical literacy.
Fiction allows one to approach the perspective of the other both in safety and
yet with vulnerability. One of the primary objectives of this course is
58
DESIGNING A COURSE
conscientizao, conscientization, which is to say, both critical consciousness

and consciousness-raising. The students and the teacher should be transformed,
and this should include transformed, enlarged behavior, not merely some new
vocabulary words or memorized facts. As an intervention in society, the course
seeks to use the educational system and popular fantasy works, which often
function to socialize people into mystified complicity in the naturalized existing
order (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 471; cf. Berger, 1967; Barthes, 2012), instead to, in
Elkins and Suvins words (1979, p. 269), be the advocate of an ideal non-
alienated and libertarian reader who has the right to receive all the evidence of
how, why, and in whose interest the text has interpreted our common universe.
1. DEFINING RELIGION, MAGIC, AND FANTASY
This topic sets the groundwork for the rest of the course. As discussed briefly
above, religion and magic are problematic terms. One might base an overview
of the meanings of religion on J. Z. Smiths (1998) essay Religion, Religions,
Religious.
Moving on to the topic of magic, one might begin discussion with a question
such as, Why might thinkers influenced by Protestant thought see a similarity
between Catholicism and magic? This way of framing the question makes explicit
the fact that magic is defined from a particular perspective, and that definition
serves specific interests. If there are any Catholics in the class, perhaps they might
be called on to explain what the sacraments are, and the instructor could then
explain the concept of sacramentality. This may provide a more sympathetic basis
for a Smith-like historical overview of magic that draws on Otto and Stausbergs
(2013) introductory sections in Defining Magic: A Reader (pp. 1-18, 68-70, 126-
128, 194-196).
What is meant by fantasy may also be introduced. At higher levels, excerpts
from texts like James and Mendlesohn (2012), Mass and Levine (2002),
Mendlesohn (2008), and Mendlesohn and James (2012) might be assigned. For
high school and lower undergraduate levels, however, it may be sufficient to
brainstorm together a list of the stereotypical features of the fantasy genre. Once
the students are helped to realize that there are entertainment industries reinforcing
these conventions, that these are conventions and thus could be otherwise, and that
some of these conventions may be problematic (e.g., racist, misogynist, etc.), they
should have a good foundation for the rest of the course.
Bibliography 1
Fictional texts (high school):
Rowling, J. K., & GrandPr, M. (2000). Harry Potter and the goblet of fire.
One might use the Harry Potter series because of its familiarity and likely
connection to the backgrounds and interests of the students. As Dewey (1916)
notes, effective pedagogy requires such connections. Furthermore, an unusual
number of useful critical resources have been written on Harry Potter. I
59
FREDRICKSON
specifically suggest Goblet of Fire because of its focus on the global wizarding
culture as represented by education and by athletic and academic contest. This
supplies material for discussion of issues like colonialism and globalization.
Stroud, J. (2006). Ptolemys gate. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for
Children.
This may be a less familiar series, and students might be encouraged to read plot
summaries of the first two books before reading this one. This volume explores
the cyclical nature of the storyworlds history of domination and rebellion,
which can inform a discussion of Marxs way of reading history. This
storyworld should pair nicely with discussions of the colonialist formation of
concepts like religion and magic and, later, the critique of the monomyth.
Clarke, S. (2006). Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. New York: Tor.
Clarkes work is long and would take a few weeks to complete, but it is a rich
source of material for classroom discussion. Her narrative structure is playful
and self-subverting in a way that promotes critical engagement, and her
narrative itself picks up on important themes in the course: for example, her
depiction of empire and magic, her theory of history, her heroes, her female
characters, and her psychology and treatment of madness.
Undergraduate:
Martin, C. (2012). A critical introduction to the study of religion. Sheffield;
Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
One might focus on the introductory chapter, Studying Religion: Laying the
Groundwork.
Otto, B. C., & Stausberg, M. (Eds.). (2013). Defining magic: A reader. Sheffield;
Bristol, CT: Equinox.
Smith, J. Z. (1998). Religion, religions, religious. In M. C. Taylor (Ed.), Critical
terms for religious studies (269-284). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
What are some of the stages in the development of the meaning of the words
religion, religions, and religious, and how do these relate to historical
developments in who had the power to decide what counted as normative? What
do you think religion means, and what challenges to defining it can you see as
you try?
Graduate:
Bush, S. S. (2014). Visions of religion: Experience, meaning, and power. New
York, NY: Oxford University Press.
In particular, one might assign the chapter, From Meaning to Power.
James, E., & Mendlesohn, F. (Eds.). (2012). The Cambridge companion to fantasy
literature. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mass, W., & Levine, S. P. (Eds.). (2002). Fantasy. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven
Press.
Mendlesohn, F. (2008). Rhetorics of fantasy. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan
University Press.
60
DESIGNING A COURSE
Mendlesohn, F., & James, E. (2012). A Short History of Fantasy. Chicago: Libri
Publishing.
Styers, R. (2004). Making magic: Religion, magic, and science in the modern
world. New York: Oxford University Press.
2. COLONIALISM
This topic may pick up on the previous topic of religion versus magic by
beginning with the notion of othering (cf. Rana, 2009). After students are helped
to appreciate the necessity of others for the formation of a sense of self, they may
be helped to realize how a Western, civilized, Protestant, scientific, rational
discourse of religion needed to define itself against an Oriental, primitive,
Catholic othernamely, magic. Palss (2006) chapter on Tylor (1889) and Frazer
(1998) might be read with this in mind. Drawing again on Smith (1998), one may
point out the historical link between contact with and colonization of other peoples
and the project of categorization, the Orientalist project of mastery through the
representation of the other (cf. Said, 1978). At the graduate level, one might
consider Masuzawas (2005) discussion of Buddhism, Islam, and the Worlds
Parliament of Religions. Tylors and Frazers (cf. Pals, 2006) developmental
schemas of cultural evolutionin which magic begins as psychological error and
social manipulation, turns into religion, and culminates in Protestant Christianity
and science (cf. Pals, 2006)may be discussed relative to the colonialist and
modern (and racist) project of maintaining hegemony through conceptual hierarchy
(cf. Lincoln, 1989; West, 1982, pp. 47-65).
Again drawing on Smith (1998), the instructor might note that one of the oldest
forms of comparative religion is the heresiological model, giving an account of the
false forms of religion. The orthodox and true comes to know itself in part
through the definition of the false other. At the college level, this may lead to a
discussion of contemporary Christian opposition to the Harry Potter books
informed by McAvan (2012) using Albaneses (2007) work on Metaphysical
religion in the United States to explain further the class division in American
culture between (Neoplatonic) high and (African, native, and European) folk
magic. Again, following McAvan, one can observe that certain Christians
anxieties are provoked by Harry Potter because it contains features that embody a
conceptual opposite, an other, against which they know themselves.
One might use the Lamb (2015) chapter to discuss how fantasy texts often
reflect the colonialist project. Lamb notes that Rowling in some ways undermines
her decolonizing project through unconscious adoption of a British nostalgia for a
colonial and imperial pasta past depicted even more explicitly in Ptolemys
Gate. Furthermore, the touristic appeal of fantasy worlds and quests resembles in
some respects the exoticized spectacles colonizers enjoyed turning the colonized
into. On the other hand, by treating pre-modern worlds as desirable and worthy of
imaginative touristic exploration, perhaps well-made fantasy texts help dethrone
the modern worldview from its privileged status.
61
FREDRICKSON
Bibliography 2
Undergraduate:
Lamb, H. (2015). The wizard, the muggle, and the other: (Post) colonialism in
Harry Potter. In C. K Farr (Ed.), Wizard of their age: Critical essays from the
Harry Potter generation. Albany: SUNY Press.
McAvan, E. (2012). Harry Potter and the origins of the Occult. In C. J. Hallett & P.
J. Huey (Eds.), J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter. Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rana, M. (2009). Creating magical worlds: Otherness and othering in Harry
Potter. Frankfurt am Main; New York: Peter Lang.
The two most useful chapters are The Process of Othering and The
Presentation of Otherness in the Harry Potter- Novels.
Graduate:
Albanese, C. L. (2007). A republic of mind and spirit: A cultural history of
American metaphysical religion. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Barratt, B. (2012). The politics of Harry Potter. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Consider in particular Purebloods and Mudbloods: Race, Species, and Power
and Death Eaters and Dark Wizards: Terror and Counterterror.
Frazer, J. G., & Frazer, R. (1998). The golden bough: A study in magic and
religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lincoln, B. (1989). Discourse and the construction of society: Comparative studies
of myth, ritual, and classification. New York: Oxford University Press.
Masuzawa, T. (2005). The invention of world religions: Or, how European
universalism was preserved in the language of pluralism. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
Pals, D. L. (2006). Eight theories of religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
Tylor, E. B. (1889). Primitive culture: Researches into the development of
mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art, and custom. New York: Holt.
West, C. (1982). Prophesy deliverance!: An Afro-American revolutionary
Christianity. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
3. CAPITALISM
One might begin by telling the story of capitalism along Weberian lines. The goal
should be to help students realize the ways the secular economy depends on the
sacred in order to be intelligible. Webers (1905/1958) argument is that the
Protestant ethic, as a universalized form of Catholic monasticism, generated the
spirit of capitalism by turning the whole world itselfthe secularinto the field of
ascetic, disenchanted, rationalized labor (cf. Pals, 2006). It transformed the
Catholic sacramental economy of grace (e.g., Southern, 1970, pp. 100-169) into the
secular economy of capital. Thus, capitalism finds part of its origin in religious
motives and logics. This story may be complicated and linked to the previous
62
DESIGNING A COURSE
theme of colonization by pointing out that Europes massive expansion as an

economic power also coincided with its colonialist conquests in the Americas,
Africa, and Asia, which not only expanded its markets but also reduced its slave
laborers to interchangeable, industrialized components of an increasingly global
apparatus. Christian theological notions of blood as emblematic of difference and
superiority (Anidjar, 2014) as well as royal sovereignty and calling to evangelize
all were used to justify colonial economic domination and transfer of wealth.
Finally, the religion of capital, which threatens to reduce allespecially those not
of European bloodto capital, is softened by a doctrine of common humanity
and innate human rights. This, too, may be linked to Reformed Protestant
understandings of human equality before God, covenant, and conscience (cf.
Lewis, 1954, pp. 39-41; Witte, 2007), as well as Christian humanism and
Enlightenment critiques that defined themselves against religious superstition.
Capitalisms opposite tends to be presented, not as religion, to which as we have
seen it is closely tied, but as Marxism. It has often been noted (e.g., Pals, 2006;
Russell, 1945) that Marxism itself may be aptly compared to a religion and that its
way of reading and critiquing history is in some respects religious. It is a
transformed, materialist system that retains much of its Hegelian logic. Hegels
logic, in turn, is fundamentally Christian, and Marxism offers a similarly totalizing
way of understanding historys progress, as well as a messianic figure, Marx, who
possesses the key to reading it and its apocalyptic consummation. Indeed, although
continuing the Enlightenment critique of the Christian order, Marx and Engels
found in early Christianity, the Peasant War, and the figure of Mnzer an
anticipation of the coming revolution and its ideal of a classless society (cf.
Badiou, 2009).
When one thinks about these two economic systems relative to fantasy
literature, some interesting possible lines of class discussion open up. For example,
one of the foremost theorists of science fiction, Darko Suvin, who was also heavily
influenced by Marxist thought, expressed skepticism regarding whether fantasy
might evoke critical thinking. Suvin (1979) understands fantasy as another
mystificatory expression of the superstructure that alienates people from re-
presenting reality to themselves in a cognitive mode. Why might he have this
attitude? Is it not likely that it is because fantasy tends to take readers into pre-
modern worlds? However, rather than viewing this as an obstacle to critical
analysis of the globalized, capitalist order, might it not be an opportunity to see the
world in a different way? Students should be encouraged to criticize how the genre
of fantasy is constrained and determined by market forces, which sometimes
promote formulaic writing, but they should also think about how such forces
incentivize creativity.
Bibliography 3
Fictional text:
Goodkind, T. (2000). Faith of the fallen. New York: Tor.
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FREDRICKSON
Again, students may want to read plot summaries of the preceding books before
reading this one. Faith of the Fallen may be used to think about what is
religion-like in contemporary neoliberal Capitalism and Libertarianism. Ask:
What do we think of Goodkinds critique of a socialist society? According to
Guilfoy (2014), Terry Pratchetts fantasy series reflects Libertarian ideology,
and it is in this respect comparable to Goodkinds. In what ways may
Goodkinds narrative be designed to naturalize and support a particular
ideology? What values and ideals does he stress, and to what ideals is he
indifferent and antagonistic?
Undergraduate:
Barratt, B. (2012). The politics of Harry Potter. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
The most relevant chapter is Grunnings and Galleons: Materialism in the
Wizarding and Muggle Worlds.
Guilfoy, K. (2014). Capitalism, socialism, and democracy on the Diskworld. In J.
M. Held & J. B. South (Eds.), Philosophy and Terry Pratchett. Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan.
Students might read the chapter, A Source of Social Action: Max Weber.
Graduate:
Anidjar, G. (2014). Blood: a critique of Christianity. New York: Columbia
University Press.
Badiou, A. (2009). St. Paul, founder of the universal subject. In J. D. Caputo & L.
Alcoff (Eds.), St. Paul among the philosophers. Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press.
Lewis, C. S. (1954). English literature in the sixteenth century, excluding drama.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Russell, B. (1945). A history of western philosophy, and its connection with
political and social circumstances from the earliest times to the present day.
New York: Simon and Schuster.
Southern, R. W. (1970). Western society and the Church in the Middle Ages.
Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
Suvin, D. (1979). Metamorphoses of science fiction: On the poetics and history of
a literary genre. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Weber, M. (1958). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York:
Scribner.
Witte, J. (2007). The reformation of rights: law, religion, and human rights in
early modern Calvinism. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
4. PERSPECTIVISM AND PRAGMATISM
Rather than treating the contemporary, secular perspective as natural, as if it were

the only objective, rational point of view, the previous topic should have helped
students to realize that its fundamental values have a history and are contingent on
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a vast network of constitutive factors. This leads quite smoothly into the next topic:
perspectivism and pragmatism.
Like Marx and Weber in the previous topic, Nietzsche is one of the seminal
critical figures who forever altered the way the contemporary world thinks. Like
everyone else, his way of thinking is in part defined against and in relation to
received ways of thinking. As with Marx and the Protestants who reformed the
Western world, it may be useful to think about how Nietzsche was engaged in
creating a religion. What are his distinctive values and ideals, his myth? How are
they meant, like Christian denunciations of heresy, both as refutations of
contradictory values and ideals and as ways of creating a new way of being, a new
kind of identity?
At one point or another, Nietzsche turns his critical, despising gaze on most of
his contemporary influences, including Schopenhauer, Wagner and the vlkisch
movement, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, socialism, democracy, and
capitalism. Instructors might focus on the critical Nietzschean postures they feel
most comfortable helping students understand. It may be more important, however,
to explain the positive, yes-saying aspect of Nietzsches philosophy: the manner
in which he celebrated values that he felt had been lost in the modern, Christian
world (see Benson, 2008; Roberts, 1998; Young, 2006).
Nietzsches philosophical and artistic project attempted to represent an
alternative constellation of pagan values: his Overman is faithful to the earth,
tied to his people, rejects lifeless abstractions, has an aristocratic and manly self-
confidence, and willingly squanders himself in the creative act. By representing a
robust alternative to the values of his contemporaries, Nietzsche enacted the
perspectivism at the heart of his philosophy. He illustrated the manner in which
perspective, motivated by the will-to-power that defines all life, generates values
that serve its interests, including the sexist, anti-democratic, iconoclastic
consequences of his ideals. But unlike Marx, who has a similar critical insight
regarding the way the values celebrated by the superstructure serve the modes of
production of the material base, Nietzsche maintains an attitude of ironic humor
regarding even his own project.
After outlining Nietzsches critical project, an instructor might return to Weber
and explain how he, influenced by Nietzsche, predicted that the secularized world
would be characterized by a new polytheism and a movement to re-enchant the
world. Students might then be encouraged to think about how fantasy authors
celebrate and promote new and different values or gods. They might be asked to
brainstorm a list of fantasy subgenres and their characteristics. Each of these
reflects the desires and interests of scattered communities in the contemporary
world. Likewise, perhaps the growing popularity of fantasy worlds in the
entertainment industries and even the development of real religions based on them
are manifestations of or methods for re-enchantment (e.g., Cusack, 2010; Kirby,
2013).
An instructor might point out the parallels between perspectivism and
pragmatism in philosophy of science1. That is, just as Nietzsches perspectivism
critiques a Christian worldview that claims to know the one truth, the total
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narrative of the world, and the one ultimate essence of humanity, so too
pragmatism rejects a realist interpretation of science. Rather than claiming, as
realism does, that science describes the ultimately true, fundamental constituents of
the world in the pure language of mathematics, pragmatism treats the models
supplied and constantly refined by scientists as useful or instrumental insofar as
they seem to be warranted by their accurate predictions of phenomena at different
levels. But they remain models, abstractions that are actually less real than the
phenomena from which they are derived and to which they refer2.
Turning to fantasy literature, students may be encouraged to reflect on how
reading fantasy allows them to shift out of this world into a variety of other worlds
and how, within those worlds, readers are permitted to shift among the
perspectives of different characters. They should be developing a growing
awareness of how and why fantasy is a genre that invites critical thinking.
Bibliography 4
Fictional texts:
Pullman, P. (2000). The amber spyglass. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Again, students may wish to read plot summaries of the previous books. Some
Christians condemned Pullmans work for describing the death of God. Since
the death of the incarnate God is central to many forms of Christianity, one
might ask students why placing emphasis on the death of God would be so
controversial. How is Pullman engaged in a similar critique to Nietzsches? For
those students familiar with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, how is Pullman
trying to challenge their narratives (see Hatlen [2005])?
Grossman, L. (2010). The magicians: A novel. New York: Penguin Books.
Questions for students: How does the novel seem to relate critically to other
famous fantasy stories like The Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter-
series? How do its characters reflect contemporary consciousness as influenced
by Nietzsche? What do you think of Quentins nostalgia and his locating real
meaning in Fillory? What went wrong in the case of Martin? How, then, is
Grossmans narrative critical of its protagonists and its own tradition?
Undergraduate:
Blount, D. (2003). berhobbits: Tolkien, Nietzsche, and the will to power. In G.
Bassham & E. Bronson (Eds.), The Lord of the rings and philosophy: One book
to rule them all. Chicago; [Berkeley, Calif.]: Open Court; Distributed by
Publishers Group West.
Hatlen, B. (2005). Pullmans His dark materials: A challenge to the fantasies of J.
R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, with an epilogue on Pullmans neo-romantic
reading of Paradise lost. In M. Lenz & C. Scott (Eds.), His dark materials
illuminated: Critical essays on Philip Pullmans trilogy. Detroit: Wayne State
University Press.
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DESIGNING A COURSE
Mayock, R. (2010). Perspectivism and tragedy: A Nietzschean interpretation of

Alices adventure. In R. B. Davis (Ed.), Alice in Wonderland and philosophy:
Curiouser and curiouser. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Graduate:
Albertson, D. (2014). Mathematical theologies: Nicholas of Cusa and the legacy of
Thierry of Chartres. New York City: Oxford University Press.
Benson, B. E. (2008). Pious Nietzsche: Decadence and Dionysian faith.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Cusack, C. M. (2010). Invented religions: Imagination, fiction and faith. Farnham,
Surrey, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Dewey, J. (1934). A common faith. New Haven; London: Yale University Press; H.
Milford, Oxford University Press.
Kirby, D. (2013). Fantasy and belief: Alternative religions, popular narratives and
digital cultures. Bristol, CT: Equinox.
Roberts, T. T. (1998). Contesting spirit: Nietzsche, affirmation, religion. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Yates, F. (1964). Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. London: Routledge.
Yates, F. (1972). The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. London: Routledge.
Yates, F. (1979). The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. London:
Routledge.
Young, J. (2006). Nietzsches philosophy of religion. Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press.
5. FEMINISM AND QUEER THEORY
The previous themes focus on Nietzsche naturally invites a critique of his sexism,
which leads smoothly into the topic of feminism. What happens when one
privileges the perspective of those who have been historically silenced,
marginalized, and stigmatized? Nietzsche chose to select as his ideal the figure of
an aristocratic male pagan, but feminism invites us to hear new voices.
One might begin with a brief history of first-, second-, and third-wave feminism
in the United States, from the initial struggle for suffrage and freedom from
coverture, to the struggle against domestic abuse and sexual exploitation and for
reproductive and employment rights, to the deeper poststructural critique of
previous feminist essentialism. In the context of a class like this, one might make a
point to discuss examples of feminist myth- and history-making, which illustrate
the fact that religious myths advance particular interests (e.g., goddess religions
meant to celebrate the female, Nation of Islams pro-black mythic history,
Christian Identity, etc.) and that histories are narratives (cf. Nietzsche, 2007),
constructed through omission as much as through citation. Indeed, womanism,
usually treated as a feature of third-wave feminism, may be used to point out the
constructedness or fictionality of history (cf. Hemmings, 2011). That is, women of
color, working-class and lower-class women, and lesbian women were all active in
feminism even before the so-called third wave.
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FREDRICKSON
Depending on the fantasy texts one has read in the class so far, the discussion of
feminism relative to fantasy may go in two main directions. The text or texts the
instructor chooses to highlight may be critically literate; they may explicitly depict
female characters with empowered subjectivities who break free from or
intentionally inhabit what would normally be regarded as essentialized female
qualities, roles, or stereotypes. On the other hand, the text or texts may be useful in
a more negative sense, as examples or opportunities for criticism precisely because
they represent women in traditionally essentialist ways.
Moving on to queer theory, the instructor might use third-wave feminism as a
starting point. Just as women may not be encompassed by a single perspective
they are of many religions and none, of all classes, cultures, and backgrounds, and
so onhuman sexuality is fantastically diverse. For the purpose of a class like this,
it is worth reflecting on how sexual and romantic identity, like other aspects of
identity, may take a narrative form. Indeed, in some kinds of sexual expression,
people intentionally adopt specific roles and scripts, sometimes supplied by fantasy
stories. More generally, gender and sexuality are performed in accord with
regulative discourses and disciplinary regimes that we learn by being socialized
into the norms of a society that tends to assume or imply a binary body and a
compulsory heterosexuality, neither of which reflect the actual complexity of the
world. This has historically led to oppression and violence against sexual
minorities.
Queer theory resists essentialism in the realm of gender and sexuality,
asserting that there are people who fall outside the normative categories. Indeed,
queer as a category that denies categorization even resists gay and lesbian as
identities with, again, presumed roles, scripts, and other essentialized traits. On the
other hand, transgender individuals explicitly affirm and desire to enact relatively
conventional gender roles. Students might be encouraged to think critically about
all of this by adopting different perspectives. Why would a transgender person find
queer theory unhelpful? How might a Marxist critique the identity politics of a gay
rights activist? Given past discussions of otherness and how identity is formed,
might that help one understand why some people feel that speech, stories, and laws
that support LGBT people are attacks? How may telling stories be a form of
activism?
Students may be encouraged to think about whether a gay student would be able
to find a positive representation of himself in the stories the course has considered
so far. With whom might a lesbian student identify in this courses fantasy stories?
Students might even be asked how a queer or kinky reader might reinterpret one of
the courses stories.
Bibliography 5
Fictional texts:
Bradley, M. Z. (1982). The mists of Avalon. New York: Knopf.
Butler, O. E. (1988). Wild seed. New York: Popular Library.
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DESIGNING A COURSE
Butlers narrative stands out as exceptional for its time. As a critically literate
text, it offers many opportunities to think about the intersection and negotiation
of issues like race, gender, subjectivity, and power.
James, E. L. (2012). Fifty shades of Grey. New York: Vintage Books.
Meyer, S. (2008). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Co.
If this novel is selected, the instructor may find it useful to spend some time
explaining the connections between Mormon deification and marriage,
including such concepts as celestial marriage and sealing, plural marriage and
the godhead, and Heavenly Mother. Possible questions for students include the
following: In what ways does Bella express her own character, resist conformity
to expectations, and demonstrate her incompatibility with female stereotypes? In
what ways might Bella disappoint as a feminist hero? For those of you who
have watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer or True Blood or who have read Anne
Rice novels, how does Twilight compare to other popular contemporary
representatives of the vampire genre? Who is marginalized or silenced in
Twilight? How might someone interpret (either negatively or positively)
Twilight through a gay or kinky lens (cf. Fifty Shades of Grey [James, 2011],
which is itself worthy of critique)?
Undergraduate:
Gendler, T. S. (2010). Is Dumbledore gay?: Whos to say? In G. Bassham (Ed.),
The ultimate Harry Potter and philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles. Hoboken,
N.J.: Wiley.
McClimans, L. & Wisnewski, J. (2009). Undead patriarchy and the possibility of
love. In R. Housel & J. Wisnewski (Eds.), Twilight and philosophy: Vampires,
vegetarians, and the pursuit of immortality. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Myers, A. E. (2009). Edward Cullen and Bella Swan: Byronic and feminist
heroes... or not. In R. Housel & J. Wisnewski (Eds.), Twilight and philosophy:
Vampires, vegetarians, and the pursuit of immortality. Hoboken, N.J.: John
Wiley & Sons.
Rhonda, N. (2011). When you kiss me, I want to die: Arrested feminism in
Buffy the vampire slayer and the Twilight series. In G. L. Anatol & M. Kramar
(Eds.), Bringing Light to Twilight: Perspectives on a Pop Culture Phenomenon.
New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Graduate:
Hemmings, C. (2011). Why stories matter: The political grammar of feminist
theory. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Melzer, P. (2006). Alien constructions: Science fiction and feminist thought.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
Consider the chapter, Beyond Binary Gender: Genderqueer Identities and
Intersexed Bodies in Octavia E. Butler's Wild Seed and Imago and Melissa
Scott's Shadow Man.
Nietzsche, F. W. (2007). On the uses and disadvantages of history for life. In P.
Fritzsche (Ed.), Nietzsche and the death of God: Selected writings (pp. 51-65).
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FREDRICKSON
(P. Fritzsche, Trans.) Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin. (Original work

published 1874)
Sedgwick, E. K. (1997). Novel gazing: Queer readings in fiction. Durham, NC:
Duke University Press.
Students might focus on the Introduction.
6. INTERROGATING THE SELF
Previous topics have primarily criticized the social; this topic turns to the
individual. Since gender and sexuality are important aspects of the human psyche,
however, this topic connects with the developing argument of the course.
One way of understanding the postmodern world is, as Lyotard (1984) states,
that it is characterized by skepticism regarding meta-narratives, totalizing accounts
of everything. Certainly, we saw this in our discussion of perspectivism and
pragmatism. However, the postmodern may also be understood in terms of a
transformed understanding of the self, and Freud was one of the seminal thinkers
who brought about this new, critical stance.
The instructor might begin with a guided class discussion of Freuds vocabulary
(cf. Pals, 2006). Do students know what terms like psychoanalysis,
unconscious, ego, superego, id, repression and wish fulfillment
mean? Students tend to want to focus on the apparent absurdity of Freuds fixation
on sexual motives, but they should be encouraged to appreciate how dramatically
he changed the way people think about the self. Instead of a cohesive, conscious,
rational agent, we now often think of ourselves as a bundle of conflicting drives
and functions. This is significant. If the self is composed of dynamic
components, is it also, in a sense, fictional? If the moderns thought that a rational
human self would be able to represent itself and its world to itself with a perfect
clarity leading to mastery, we tend not to be as confident. We tend to think that
human motives are less clear, even to the actors themselves, and that our powers
are more finite and frail.
Novels let us have direct access to the minds of characters, and we guess even
more based on what they say and do. However, one might ask ones students,
How may this Freudian, psychoanalytic perspective make readers more
suspicious of human motives and behaviors that they otherwise might accept at
face value because the novel seems to let them see directly into the minds of
characters? What might some of the consequences be if one were to read a sacred
text in a psychological register?3
Bettelheim (1976) has argued that fairy tales have a therapeutic structure that
helps account for their popularity. Similarly, Campbell (2004) drew on the Jungian
perspective (cf. Cech, 1992) to argue that myths and legends help integrate the self,
putting the conscious mind in touch with its unconscious forces as identified by
Jung. Students might be asked whether they think reading has a therapeutic value
and if so, why that might be the case.
The instructor might also encourage the class to think critically about theories
like Freuds and Jungs. Yes, they encourage a critical view of the self. The mind
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is not just given, and it certainly is not unitary or purely rational. However, these
theories also claim to know what human nature is. Some of its components are
unconscious, but they may still be discovered and named through analysis of
things like dreams and stories. What if the self, especially insofar as it is technical
and creative, is never finished or complete? What if individual human cognition is
actually distributed and extended among its social, built, and natural
environments? Realizing that we are intimately linked to our world may help us be
critical of policies and practices that are harmful to it4. Might fantasy literature be
used to help people understand challenging concepts like vast, geological
timescales?
As with the weeks before, the fantasy text or texts selected may facilitate
interrogation of the self in either a positive or a negative way. They may
uncritically assume a stable, rational self that is the master of the natural world and
that uses the other living things and natural materials to advance its interests. Or
they may be critically literate and directly interrogate the self.
Bibliography 6
Fictional texts:
Le Guin, U. K. (1968). A wizard of earthsea. Berkeley: Parnassus Press.
Students might be asked, Why was it necessary for Ged to accept and integrate
with his shadow? How is this consistent with the religious or magical system in
the novel? How might one interpret this psychologically? Other texts already
suggested, such as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and The Magicians, also
have robust psychological components.
Hobb, R. (2005). Shamans crossing. New York: EOS.
The devastation of the natural world inevitably has a stronger and more
immediate impact on the lives of those who live in more intimate relation to it,
with less of a technological buffer and with less reserved resources. Hobb links
various themes we have discussed so faranti-imperialism/colonialism,
posthumanism, and environmentalism. Students might evaluate and critique her
narratives success relative to these aims.
Undergraduate:
Gooding, R. (2011). Clockwork: Philip Pullmans posthuman fairy tale. Childrens
Literature in Education, 42(4), 308324.
Light, A. (2003). Tolkiens green time: Environmental themes in The lord of the
rings. In G. Bassham & E. Bronson (Eds.), The lord of the rings and
philosophy: One book to rule them all. Berkeley, California: Open Court.
They might read Religion and Personality: Sigmund Freud.
Graduate:
Bettelheim, B. (1976). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of
fairy tales. New York: Random House.
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FREDRICKSON
Campbell, J. (2004). The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press.
Cech, J. (1992). Shadows in the classroom: Teaching childrens literature from a
Jungian perspective. In G. E. Sadler (Ed.), Teaching childrens literature:
Issues, pedagogy, resources. New York: Modern Language Association of
America.
Hollywood, A. M. (2002). Sensible ecstasy: Mysticism, sexual difference, and the
demands of history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lyotard, J.-F., Bennington, G., & Massumi, B. (1984). The postmodern condition:
A report on knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Rieff, P. (1987). The triumph of the therapeutic: Uses of faith after Freud.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wood, R. C. (2015). Tolkien and postmodernism. In R. C. Wood (Ed.), Tolkien
among the moderns. Notre Dame, Indiana : University of Notre Dame Press.
7. ROYAL IDEOLOGY AND THE MONOMYTH
The previous theme introduced Campbells (2004) thought, although the

monomyth itself was not explicitly discussed. This theme is quite specific to
fantasy literature, which is heavily determined by royal ideology. Students should
be helped to realize how theological ideas embedded in story structure may help
maintain political and social structures.
After outlining at least some of Campbells 17 stages of the monomyth, students
might be invited to think of films and texts that seem to fit the monomyth structure.
They might further be asked to group them into stories they enjoy and stories they
do not. What makes a version of the monomyth satisfying? What makes a story
feel clich?
The instructor may point out how many traditional stories fit the monomyth
(e.g., Gilgamesh and Enkidu, David and Jonathan, Odysseus, Aeneas, Jesus). Then,
ask students what political structure these stories help to naturalize. Once they
realize that the stories justify kingship, the divine nature of that kingship should be
explained: the king deserves to rule because of divine choice, making his victory
and rule both hard-won and inevitable; as the earthly embodiment of divine rule, a
king establishes and sustains the natural and social (i.e., legal) order and is the
primal enemy of chaos and lawlessness.
Students should be helped to consider how this way of telling stories is
conventionalit could be otherwise. Yet, it is so persistent and ubiquitous, it
shapes the way we tell history in terms of great men and the way we still tend to
tell stories. As an example, the instructor might help the students think through
some of the royal ideology in C. S. Lewiss The Chronicles of Narnia. In fact, the
instructor might point out, people are encouraged to tell stories this way if they
want to be financially successful. Whether the story is treated as reflective of
innate psychological aspects of the human mind (Campbell, 1949) or as a formula
for storytelling sanctified by its success in the marketplace (cf. Vogler, 2007), both
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DESIGNING A COURSE
interpretations naturalize an ideology intended to support a political order (cf.

Jewett & Lawrence, 1977).
The monomyth can be viewed as possessing an initiatory structure, a
therapeutic (cf. Bettleheim, 1976) initiation into an integrated subjectivity that
identifies with the royal self. Indeed, as the self-sufficient source of law and the
master of its world, the modern subject that we previously criticized in contrast to
the postmodern self is characterized by these royal or sovereign qualities. Through
a form of wish fulfillment, one fantasizes living a sovereign life, the American
dream of a nation of kings or Christ figures, but this fantasy may in fact help
sustain the actual oppression of ourselves and others.
The royal figure that tends to be the focus of fantasy stories naturally calls forth
a host of subservient others. Students may notice how our critical perspective
takingseeing the story from the perspectives of marginalized races, the poor and
powerless, sexual minorities, lower animals, and so ontends to dethrone the
sovereign around whom many fantasy stories are structured, and in this way we
may find ourselves agreeing with aspects of Suvins critique of fantasy as
mystificatory.
Bibliography 7
Fictional text:
Eddings, D. (1984). Enchanters end game. New York: Ballantine Books.
This is a fine example of a standard popular fantasy work that exhibits the royal
ideological character of the monomyth.
Undergraduate:
Campbell, J. (2004). The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Graduate:
Bettelheim, B. (1976). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of
fairy tales. New York: Random House.
Jewett, R. & Lawrence, J. S. (1977). The American monomyth. Garden City, NJ:
Anchor Press.
Vogler, C. (2007). The writers journey: Mythic structure for writers. Studio City,
CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
8. CRITICAL PEDAGOGY AND REFLEXIVITY
This final theme is the most optional and potentially the most uncomfortable for
instructors. It offers an opportunity for students to critique critical pedagogy and
the instructors implementation of it, to think about the goals of the class and the
methods used to achieve and measure them. As mentioned above, this chapter does
not define the specific course objectives and measures individual instructors might
select, but it is probably the case that every course may be improved. And this
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FREDRICKSON
theme may be one of the only occasions in the students academic lives in which
they are helped to realize that their educational system may, in addition to
liberating and empowering them, also be hampering such goals through some of its
conventional and routinized features.
The instructor might explain Freires (2000) notion of the banking approach
to education and how features of the courseprobably those most required by the
educational institution itselfhave been designed to habituate students with
memorized information and prove whether and to what degree they have done so.
Likewise, one might point out how students have been introduced to critical
thinkers and their vocabulary and have been taught to read texts in terms of those
perspectives and concepts. This, one may note, will give them social capital; they
may now use some impressive concepts to show that they are part of an elite,
critically literate group.
However, as Dewey (1916) would say, education should be part of a progressive
project that helps reform and transform democracy, extending its goods and
enlarging its participants. Through social, interactive experience, the students
educative environment should have raised their consciousness and expanded their
powers for activity in the world. Let students evaluate to what degree and in what
ways this has or has not been true.
For some, this course might have caused distress. Each theme has asked one to
question something foundational, sometimes the very assumptions and
perspectives of the weeks before. The students may have asked themselves, Is
nothing certain? Dewey (1934) offers an alternative ideal, at the heart of both art
and science, instead of certainty: namely, what Keats (1899, p. 277) called
negative capability, the ability to live and act outside the bounds of a
predetermined or certain world (cf. Jeffcoat, 2014).
Many of the concepts we have discussed are very abstract. Students might be
asked how they can be used to help ordinary people. How can they be converted
into action? Can fantasy literature help in this process, and, if so, how? Is there a
kind of magic or enchantment in making people desire and dream? This may lead
into a discussion of the students papers or projects.
Bibliography 8
Fictional text:
Dahl, R. (1988). Matilda. New York, N.Y.: Viking Kestrel.
Undergraduate:
Jeffcoat, T. (2014). Deweys marvelous medicine: Negative capability and the
wonder of Roald Dahl. In J. M. Held (Ed.), Roald Dahl and philosophy: A little
nonsense now and then. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Karavitis, J. V. (2014). Matilda and the philosophy of education: Or, whats an
education for? In J. M. Held (Ed.), Roald Dahl and philosophy: A little
nonsense now and then. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
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Graduate:
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of
education. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. New York: Minton, Balch & Company.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Keats, J. (1899). The complete poetical works and letters of John Keats,
Cambridge edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
NOTES
1
And at the graduate level, Nietzsches invented philosophical religion might be compared to
Deweys (1934) proposal of a democratic, scientific common faith.
2
Advanced students might be encouraged to wrestle with Heideggers critique of this theme.
Heidegger regarded Nietzsches positing of new values that are expressions of ones will-to-power
as yet another form of the nihilism Nietzsche himself diagnosed. That is, any active, assertive,
willed expression of values is nihilistic because it closes one off from the disclosure of Being.
Because Heidegger was so influenced by mystical and especially apophatic thought, he felt that the
positing of values and models that are characteristic of, for example, the perspectivism and
pragmatism discussed above, are new forms of the hubristic, anthropocentric metaphysics that has
controlled Western thought. Heideggers own critique of calculative thinking may be criticized in
turn by reflecting on the manner in which he is engaged in a metaphysical project that attempts to
define and naturalize a particular conception of the human essence rooted in a romanticized, sexist,
ethnocentric ideal. But the puzzle runs deeper. If students are encouraged to think about the
magical/mystical (i.e., Neoplatonic, Hermetic, Pythagorean) origins of modern scientific thought,
especially in its mathematical form (e.g., Yates, 1964, 1972, 1979; cf. Albertson, 2014), not only
will they come to further appreciate the magico-religious genealogy of contemporary thought, but
Heideggers own mysticism proves to entangle him in its own calculative elements.
3
Picking up on footnote 2, advanced students might be encouraged to critique the therapeutic focus
on the self. Rieff (1966) has argued that a primary feature of the contemporary, secularized world is
the triumph of the therapeutic. Students might be encouraged to ask, Is our culture deeply
interested in acquiring happiness and self-realization at the expense of self-sacrifice for greater
goods? Is it abandoning the communal claims of traditional religions for an individualistic gospel of
self-discovery and self-advancement? Note how this resembles Heideggers argument.
4
Continuing the critical perspective in footnotes 2 and 3, the topic of the environment brings up
another significant critical challenge. We have seen how the categories we use to think come from
historically contingent social arrangements and particular organizations of material goods and
services. We have also seen how the human mind has vast and complicated processes going on
below the threshold of consciousness. Both of these levels of analysis make it hard to believe
comfortably in a self-determining, self-aware rational agent, defined against the animal world and
the colonized lower races. Advanced students may be encouraged to consider the ways our lives
and selves are linked to our environments. A number of our critical ways of thinking have stressed
human comfort, even framing human flourishing in terms of rights. If we shift our perspective to
the environment, making the earths resources and biodiversity our highest value, how might that
come into conflict with other, anthropocentric ideals and political projects the course has
considered? In what ways may such a perspective be counterintuitive and difficult? This is another
place in the course where students can be helped to realize that the different critical perspectives
being explored are not necessarily consistent with each other. One may note, too, how the post-
modern may appeal to pre-modern (i.e., fantastic) subjectivities (cf., e.g., Hollywood, 2002).
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REFERENCES
Asad, T. (1993). Genealogies of religion: Discipline and reasons of power in Christianity and Islam.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Asad, T. (2003). Formations of the secular: Christianity, Islam, modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
Barthes, R. (2012). Mythologies. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.
Berger, P. L. (1967). The sacred canopy: Elements of a sociological theory of religion. Garden City,
NY: Doubleday.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research
for the sociology of education. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Chireau, Y. P. (2003). Black magic: Religion and the African American conjuring tradition. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
Dickerson, M., & OHara, D. (2006) From Homer to Harry Potter: A handbook on myth and fantasy.
Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.
Easton, L., & Schroeder, R. (2008). The influence of imagination: Essays on science fiction and fantasy
as agents of social change. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Elkins, C., & Suvin, D. (1979). Preliminary Reflections on Teaching Science Fiction Critically.
Science-Fiction Studies, 6, 26370.
Fitzgerald, T. (2000). The ideology of religious studies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Fitzgerald, T. (2007a). Discourse on civility and barbarity: A critical history of religion and related
categories. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Fitzgerald, T. (2007b). Religion and the secular: Historical and colonial formations. London; Oakville,
CT: Equinox Pub.
Masuzawa, T. (2005). The invention of world religions: Or, how European universalism was preserved
in the language of pluralism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
McCutcheon, R. T. (1997). Manufacturing religion: The discourse on sui generis religion and the
politics of nostalgia. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
McCutcheon, R. T. (2001). Critics not caretakers: Redescribing the public study of religion. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press.
Nongbri, B. (2013). Before religion: A history of a modern concept. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press.
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1994). Racial formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Styers, R. (2004). Making magic: Religion, magic, and science in the modern world. New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
Nathan Fredrickson
Department of Religious Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara
76
PART TWO
GENDER, CLASS, AND PRIVILEGE

MARTHA M. JOHNSON-OLIN
5. STRONG WOMEN IN FAIRY TALES EXISTED

LONG BEFORE FROZEN
Teaching Gender Studies via Folklore
Fairy tales represent one of the richest genres to teach. The stories are short,
students tend to enjoy the material, and a wealth of resources exists in the public
domain. These stories can be used to teach narrative comparison, literary diversity,
tale transmission, and the influence of popular culture.1 Yet, as we teach and
discuss fairy tales, instructors must take care to avoid indoctrinating students in
common misconceptions of the genre. These misunderstandings can take several
forms: (a) claiming older tales are too violent for even high school and college
students to understand, (b) suggesting that all fairy tales exist to subjugate women,
(c) implying that men never lack power in these tales, or (d) implying that only
psychological readings of fairy tales are relevant ways to examine the stories.
Just as many children are now raised alongside images of the Disney Princesses
and taught to imagine themselves as Cinderella, Jasmine, or Ariel, we, as scholars
and teachers, have to examine how fairy tales offer fantasies of a culture alongside
the plot. Orenstein (2011) strives to understand the possible indoctrination of
children, particularly young girls, via princess culture and the marketing that
surrounds fairy tale films. The recent success of Frozen (2013), an adaptation of
Hans Christian Andersons The Snow Queen that removes most of the original
story to focus on the bond between two sisters, alludes to a welcome reception for
fairy tales containing heroines who do more than sing with animals and await
rescue. Fairy tales, especially when recorded in literature and film, can become
cultural touchstones that capture social ideologies or social fantasies. Let It Go
can become a mantra for women because it speaks to the women of today rather
than reflecting the historical realities of Andersons world. Neither the source tale
nor the film match the cultures that produced them perfectly, nor should they. Yet,
when teaching students about this genre and how women, in particular, are
portrayed, educators must take care to avoid adding another layer of fantasy to an
already complex genre.
In my college classes on fairy tales, I frequently see two patterns in the
knowledge my students bring with them to class. Most students arrive thinking
fairy tales were created exclusively by Disney. They are shocked to discover that
tales long predated animated films, and in composition sections, I have had to
repeatedly remind students that Charles Perrault did not borrow from Disneys
Cinderella (1950) to create his Cendrillon. This type of logic error suggests that
students enter the classroom with a notion of fairy tales that is shaped by their natal
exposure and elements of popular culture. They already possess a fantasy of the

JOHNSON-OLIN
fairy tale. Since most fairy tale renditions in America are produced by Disney,
students begin to assume that one company authors and generates all such stories.
This assumption is furthered when alternate retellings, such as Stephen Sondheims
Into the Woods (2014) are produced and promoted by the same corporation, further
leading students to provide the company with more than its fair share of credit.
The second group of students has been taught that all fairy tales subjugate
women: each tale exists to teach domesticity and force women to be content with
their roles as wives and mothers. For example, Beauty and the Beast variants are
merely models of Stockholm syndrome. Where students in the first group have
trouble comprehending that Cinderella stories span the globe, students in the
second category insist that all stories, regardless of origin, demean women. The
second group means well. They are aware of gendered assumptions and political
contexts for literature, but in arriving with such strong preconceived notions, they
often fail to read the tales closely, seeing patriarchy in each story and little else.
This second group can also be dangerous because in their ignorance, they assume
that novels like Ella Enchanted and films like Frozen with stronger (i.e., more
active) fairy tale heroines are new inventions created by feminist authors or
filmmakers to save or reinvent a flawed genre. These students also possess a
fantasy of the fairy tale. While tales with lessons of subjugation exist, empowering
tales also occur. Yet, too often, the second group has been taught that tales are out
to indoctrinate rather than to surround audiences with a plethora of ideas and
options through storytelling.
In the classroom, we have to be careful. Every time we describe a tale as old-
fashioned or sexist for its depiction of gender norms, we reinforce these binaries
that students often bring to our classrooms. Most of the time, we mean well when
we decide to remove a story from a class or skip a version in an anthology because
of themes of violence against women, level of gore, or archaic gender norms, yet
we risk reshaping the fairy tale genre for our students.
Because both groups of students possess a limited view of the fairy tale, they
fail to recognize the genres potential for change. Lthi (1992) defines the genre as
all-encompassing; it absorbs the world and reflects what it sees, and Zipes (2002)
remarks that fairy tales real enchantment emanates from these dramatic
conflicts whose resolutions allow us to glean the possibility of making the world,
this is shaping the world in accord with our needs and desires (p. 23). Fairy tales
act as sites of cultural fantasy while also serving as stages for authors and
filmmakers to reimagine how our culture operates. The tales indoctrinate as much
as they liberate. Some are designed to highlight womens roles in the home, but
others exist to praise a woman who defies authority. The challenge for instructors
becomes how to help students see the relevance of the fairy tale in part for its
history and in part for its potential to alter perspectives.
THE RICH SCHOLARLY TRADITION ACCOMPANYING FAIRY TALES
Much has been written on gender and fairy tales. Bettelheim (2010) claims that
children identify with a tales protagonist, regardless of gender, because of the
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STRONG WOMEN IN FAIRY TALES
genres messages of selfhood, but this message can be difficult to process given the
gendered marketing we see today. Zipes (2012) gathers together a useful sampling
of earlier work by Rowe, Gilbert and Gubar, and Lieberman to explore how
women and fairy tales are discussed. The collection presents a useful starting point
to teachers looking to see how critics have explored gender and fairy tales, and also
includes a sampling of fairy tale revisions. Stone (1975, 1980, 1985, 1986)
examines how Disney adapts fairy tales and contributes to messages of true love
rather than active female characters, and her work allows researchers to see the
inherent contradiction in folklore study between what the stories, readers, and
filmmakers say. Haase (2000) provides an overview of feminist fairy tale
scholarship, and Rettl (2001) advocates the study of feminist fairy tale revisions
because of the way in which versions reclaim space for women and encourage an
expansion of the genre itself. The research on women in the tales, how female
authors speak through the narratives, and how female readers can find themselves
via the stories is vast.
It would be impossible to recount every powerful article and overview
discussing womens roles in fairy tales, so for the sake of brevity, I will focus
instead on the intersections of feminist readings of fairy tales and the questions that
feminist criticism offers students and teachers when approaching a genre as
simultaneously diverse and indeterminate as the fairy tale. Fisher and Silber (2000)
consider the need for feminist approaches to fairy tales because of the extreme
influence the genre exerts on cultural imagination: Many parents, educators, and
literary critics know that it remains impossible to read these charming tales and
ignore their capacity for reinforcing limiting sex role stereotypes and conservative
ways of thinking about family that act upon children when they are most
impressionable (p. 121). This approach to questioning authorial and narrative
assumptions provides a useful platform to teach students to engage primary sources
critically, but the method is not without its own assumptions.
When read for examples of feminine agency, many fairy tales can seem to offer
few roles for women besides that of wife, mother, or object to be won, leading to
scholars claiming the genre offers little place for women. Fisher and Silber (2000)
continue:
Offering only blissful fantasies of feminine helplessness, the best-known
fairy tales stir readers to anticipate and even welcome miraculous masculine
rescue. Once rescued, the young woman will be elevated by the princes
choosing of her as a bride. In marriage she will remain dependent on her
husbands will, as was her good mother before her. (p. 126)
This idea of reader anticipation suggests a unity to the folktale and its tropes that is
not consistent with the genre. This approach can work if applied to many of the
stories from Western Europe, but even while analyzing variants of a single tale or
versions from diverse regions, differences occur. For example, Gilbert and Gubar
(1979) have famously analyzed the relationship dynamics between Snow White
and her stepmother, suggesting that all women will become the wicked queen in
time because of how competition among women is encouraged, but their reading,
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while insightful and useful, falls apart when applied to Snow White variants like
Gold Tree, Silver Tree and Lasair Gheug, the King of Irelands Daughter.
Both stories were published in the nineteenth century, but may be far older.
Fisher and Silber (2000) suggest the ending of the fairy tale implies that
everything in a story is finished as the original social structure is rebuilt:
Happy endings also seal behind their thin facade ineffable female anger,
aggression, fear of powerlessness, fear of men not pronouncing them
sexually desirable, and, most of all, womens fears of being condemned for
having spoken authentically of their uncomfortable feelings and experiences.
The Good and True Princess has learned to maintain silence, for she comes to
see her truths would be punished as disruptive. (p. 129)
Yet, several older variants like to leave complicated endings that fail to reflect
this pattern in its entirety. In Gold Tree, Silver Tree, an Irish retelling of the
Snow White story, the kings second wife saves the protagonist after the main
characters mother attempts to kill her. At the tales resolution, the king has two
wives with their story still ending happily resolved. The women do not compete
for their husbands affection, and it is difficult to read the tale as anything other
than a cultural fantasy with the implied polyamorous relationship at the end of the
story.
In Lasair Gheug, a Scottish retelling of Snow White, the heroine is trapped by
an oath of silence so that she cannot reveal her stepmothers actions before being
placed in the usual death-like sleep. The new stepmother to the protagonists
children realizes that her slumber is unnatural. Her subsequent actions directly
contribute to the tales resolution so that the heroine can overcome the vow of
silence. While the competition that Gilbert and Gubar (1979) famously analyze
exists, it does not manifest as neatly as it does in the Grimm variant they discuss,
and this version offers an example of women helping women that is also an
essential part of feminist criticism.
It is important to highlight fairy tales that reflect feminist themes accurately.
Angela Carters The Bloody Chamber is a lush retelling of Perraults
Bluebeard, and Carters use of the mother as rescuer serves as an important
feminist image. Yet, it would be easy for students to see Carters change as the first
time a woman assisted another woman in folklore if they accept Gilbert and
Gubars discussion of competition as pervasive and inherent to the folktale. As
instructors, we have to make sure to convey that Carters change, while important,
is not the first time that women are shown helping other women in folklore. Failing
to do so creates another layer of fantasy between the tales and our students. In the
genre, women can be heroic rather than merely objectified; their positions may
change from the role of male helpmate that Fisher and Silber see.
Works like Fisher and Silber (2000) offer a way to react to a larger tradition of
criticism that requires women to have limited roles within the fairy tale genre. The
authors answer back to the psychological approach to the genre typified by
Bettelheim (2010). Too often, Bettelheim sees mothers and women in general as
part of the problem in the stories. Feminist criticism usefully teaches students and
82
scholars to question literary texts above all. Bacchilega (1997) explores twentieth-
century fairy tales for their depiction of women, and her work reminds scholars
that fairy tales were and remain an unstable genre. The narratives continuously
change, thereby making them a useful way to assess cultural understanding.
Bacchilega (2008) highlights the value of feminist criticism in particular when
approaching the fairy tale because this critical approach can move past an older
idea of exclusively psychoanalytic readings by recognizing that the labeling of
desire within the genre remains a political act based in contemporary cultural
norms. Like the stories themselves, the role of women will change depending on a
variety of contexts. Psychoanalytic readings have important uses, but they are not
the only way to approach fairy tales. For Bacchilega, Angela Carters work, among
others, recognizes the transformative potential for the reader/viewer/listener,
suggesting the ongoing importance of the genre (p. 17). We have to work to show
students how they fit into this role as reader/viewer/listener.
Feminist criticism offers students and teachers a chance to study the fairy tale
and simultaneously recognize, reject, and embrace its subversive and oppressive
potential:
It has become possible, rather than rejecting or endorsing the fairy tale
wholesale, to study these narratives as sites of competing, historically and
socially framed, desires, narratives which continue to play a privileged
function in the reproduction of various social constructs, including gender
and narrative. (Bacchilega, 1993, p. 11)
As instructors we need to accept and demonstrate the fluidity Bacchilega
references. We cannot teach students that fairy tales are merely older models of
society without producing a false heteronormative lens for our students. To do so
reinforces the perspective that all fairy tales exist to indoctrinate women or to
merely entertain with socially permissible messages. Fairy tales have not always
been as sanitized or safe as they are now, so it is our role to help students see
how a common and familiar genre can carry a multitude of powerful messages.
ASKING QUESTIONS TO ENCOURAGE CRITICAL THINKING
Using feminist criticism to teach students can be helpful, but another challenge
comes from the material itself. At the college level, most first- and second-year
students will struggle if presented with Gilbert and Gubars (1979) work, so
instead of providing the research as texts to read alongside fairy tales, it is better to
embed the goals of feminist criticism: to explore the themes, labels, desires, and
roles within each tale.
Since part of the struggle of teaching the genre is representation, we must have
students read the primary sources. Students need to encounter the Brothers Grimm,
Charles Perrault, and even Disney while being encouraged to ask the critical
questions spelled out in feminist criticism. If students learn to ask how Wilhelm
Grimms editing of the stories to add moralistic components contributes to ideas of
indoctrination, then students gain the ability to see the fairy tale for what it is, a
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tool to explore, rather than limit, the world. One way to encourage students to read
primary sources closely is to provide them with stories that are unfamiliar.
Students often feel they know how to respond to The Little Mermaid, but since
their responses can be influenced by everything from marketing to nostalgia, it can
be useful to challenge their view of the fairy tale by introducing them to stories that
do not resemble tales that are popular today. Stories from the Brothers Grimm
work well as a starting point since students rarely even know popular variants, like
the Grimm Cinderella, and are not accustomed to stories like The Three
Spinners, The Fisherman and His Wife, and The Six Swans.
Stories like The Three Spinners require that students reevaluate what they
expect from a fairy tale. Because of the popular stories often retold by Disney,
students tend to see the genre as a medium for positive, upbeat events where
characters are rewarded for virtuous behavior. In this story, which shares elements
with Rumpelstiltskin narratives, a lazy heroine who hates to spin manages to make
a deal with three other women who all bear physical markers of the price of their
manual labor. By keeping a simple promise, the heroine manages to avoid a life of
hard work as her husband, who sees the other women and is horrified by the
changes to their bodies, proclaims that she will not lose her beauty to a life of
labor.
My students often find this story unsatisfying, even after reading versions of
Cinderella where they once commented about that tales use of housework. I
suggest to them that part of their rejection of the story comes from how they have
been taught to understand the genre through larger cultural influence. The students
have been trained to look for clearly labeled female protagonists, nice girls who are
obedient, and obvious antagonists, wicked witches who reject social hierarchies.
The students find a tale like The Three Spinners odd because they have been
taught to see only roles for women by a common fantasy of the tales themselves:
Trained to regard other women as adversaries, female protagonists in the tales
never find contentment in the company of compassionate mothers, other female
relations, or friends (Fisher & Silber, 2000, p. 130). The students often protest
that they are responding to the obvious vice in the protagonist, but the students
have to articulate what they feel about the story. When I point out that the tale
shows a woman doing something other than housework, involves women helping
women, and breaks patterns of stories dependent on female obedience, students
frequently give the story another examination. It becomes popular for essay and
exam topics as the students need to think about the narrative and from where their
initial rejections originated.
Once students start to consider the many elements shaping their views of the
fairy tales, it becomes possible to expose them to less familiar narratives and have
them see the conflicting messages as a positive force that reflects the creative
potential of the genre. Students tend to quickly judge the female spouse in The
Fisherman and His Wife quite harshly as the narrative encourages. Her greed and
nagging drive the plot, but they soon also begin to comment on her weak husband
who concedes to her grandiose requests. They stop seeing the tale as a commentary
on women and nagging and instead see the tales larger point, a discussion of
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contentment and valuing what one has. The students can move beyond a surface
level reading that only sees a focus on gender, and they begin to understand that
the spouses roles could be flipped without transforming the point of the tale. The
story is not a message about gender roles; it seeks to offer a lesson on ownership
and property that can play out in every home.
When the students possess the ability to see a more nuanced tale for its merits,
they can begin to handle a more advanced story like The Six Swans. In this tale,
a heroine must remain silent for years while spinning shirts made of star flowers or
thistles to free her brothers from a curse. When I teach this story, I mention how
critics tend to see fairy tales encouraging women to silence themselves: In the
fairy tales even relatively strong female characters cannot escape entirely the
injunction to remain silent (Fisher & Silber, 2000, p. 127). I ask the students to
explain what silence means in a tale type like Cinderella, where the heroine will
usually cry quietly and not complain about the abuse she endures, when compared
to a story like The Six Swans, where the heroine intentionally remains silent in
order to save her siblings. We discuss how silence can move from a sign of
limitation to a signal of strength. A heroine who sews shirts from flowers that sting
her hands, who must give birth without crying out, and who nearly burns at the
stake at the tales conclusion does not lack strength, and the structure of the story
suggests that the composer also wanted the audience to see the sheer willpower of
a woman who could remain silent in the face of such adversity. By having the
students see ambition in a silent heroine rather than in the witch the protagonist
thwarts, they begin to see how the stories contain useful messages even when
produced inside patriarchal systems. They learn that problems with the tales are
often more about issues of understanding and perception rather than the narratives
themselves.
In addition to teaching students how to read the tales closely, we need to model
how to discuss and consider parts of larger story telling traditions and tale types.
Most of our students do not realize the science behind folklore studies. They often
cannot name more than three or four tale types, and most cannot list more than a
few key fairy tale authors and editors. Even if they are aware of fairy tale authors
other than Disney, they often assume that tales circulated in a logical transmission
process with Perrault naturally giving way to Grimm, so one method to help
students move past their original views of the genre involves helping them
negotiate the legacy of the fairy tale by focusing in-depth on one older tale.
Cinderella works well for this type of analysis. Because of its long history, this
tale type occurs all over the world, and its stories contain both male and female
protagonists. When students see that Cinderella heroines can also be Irish cinder
lads, they can begin to move past messages of female indoctrination. Male
Cinderellas also spend time at the hearth and wear ashes, and they encounter just as
much starvation, abuse, and isolation as their female counterparts. To say that
Cinderella variants attempt to subjugate women is to overlook the larger themes of
triumph inherent in the tale.
Once students understand the base plot is not inherently sexist, nor does it
require a character of a particular gender, it becomes easier to discuss ways in
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JOHNSON-OLIN
which elements are added to the narrative that lead to the themes others see in the
stories. Male protagonists of Cinderella versions do not tend to meet their
significant other at a bride-finding ball, and while similar transformations and
token exchanges occur, his story does not contain as much of a fetishism of the
small, feminine foot. By showing students variants where the slipper is exchanged
for nose rings, hair, and other objects, instructors reveal how the stories are
transformed by various authors for a variety of audiences. There is no doubt that
some tales were altered to highlight or limit feminine behavior, but it is possible to
show students how such alterations occur even within a single tale type.
By having students learn the basic components of a tale, we can have them
explore how a tale was altered. The German Cinderella, Ashenputtle, did not
contain the famous ending where birds descend and blind the stepsisters for their
aggressive treatment of the tales heroine in the first edition, but if we as teachers
help our students to see how the themes of piety were inserted by Wilhelm Grimm
in later editions (Grimm & Grimm, 2014), then we show them how the stories have
changed and continue to do so. The tales themselves are not pious, sexist, focused
on romance, or limiting. We, as audience, are the ones who read themes from one
variant onto other versions.
Such encouragement of critical thinking about the tales also allows students to
see how modern perceptions of the stories are shaped more by marketing than
narrative structure. Teachers can introduce Bettelheims claims and help students
consider his views alongside the presence of the Disney Princesses without a
corresponding club for Disney Princes, or just Disney characters. This process
creates a space for instructors to ask students about the influence of fairy tale films
and other merchandise and how these elements have transformed the genre. How
might marketing alter a collection of stories to serve as a model of female behavior
not consistently built into the tales? This process of using feminist criticism to ask
key questions provides students with a way to take ownership of their
understanding of the tales. The stories become living works for them to explore.
It is important for students to work with primary narratives to see how stories
have been transformed to include a variety of different voices. One way to look at
gender and story structure is to examine Beauty and the Beast variants. Most
students know the Disney version, Beauty and the Beast (1991), which is heavily
based on the retelling by Madame Jean-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Showing
them the earlier version by Madame Gabrielle-Susanne Barbot de Gallon de
Villeneuve is helpful, and it becomes possible to discuss the gendered elements of
the tale by looking at other sub-variants of this tale type, including the Frog Prince,
the Frog Princess, and Little Red Riding Hood. These alternate beast stories
highlight narrative aspects that can relate to gender but that may not be as limiting
as first assumed. For example, students often cite the time Beauty spends at the
Beasts castle as imprisonment, suggesting the fairy tale encourages Stockholm
syndrome and models domestic abuse. Without literary context and access to older
tales, students forget to consider how women may have composed versions to
discuss the social codes for women. By showing them the versions by Villeneuve
and Beaumont, it becomes possible to ask students why women might include such
86
themes in stories meant for other women. The tales can move from limiting to
liberating if ideas of social constraint, arranged marriage, and transformation take
on a human element. With the information about authorship, students can see how
any fairy tale can be manipulated to carry multiple and even conflicting messages.
Teachers can remind students about early marriage structures and kinship
systems before exploring how the tales themselves can be quite subversive (Zipes,
2006). Even within more traditional Beauty and the Beast narratives, the heroine
speaks her mind. Whether choosing to go to the Beasts castle or having to
verbalize her love for a monster to signal the pinnacle transformation, the plot of
the tale revolves around what a woman says. We can show students the many
forms agency can take if we look at story elements carefully. Once students see the
diverse range of action in the fairy tale, it becomes possible to make them aware of
the historical connections between women and storytelling (Rowe, 1986). For
students, the realization that women can speak to other women via Beauty and the
Beast (and other stories) begins to transform their notions of gender and genre.
They begin to grasp how both concepts are more fluid than previously thought, and
with exposure to additional variants, students soon relinquish more rigid notions of
how a fairy tale operates.
Primary sources represent the best way to challenge students. As they encounter
stories that look increasingly less like televised fairy tales, they begin to see how
fluidly the fairy tale operates as a genre. Giovanni Strapolas The Pig King
becomes one way to encourage students to see linguistic agency in fairy tale
heroines. Students begin to reassess their understanding of Beauty and the Beast
after reading a story that includes a heroine actively talking back to her mother-in-
law and a discussion of female sexual pleasure. The students soon realize that the
tale type does not have to represent imprisonment. While some versions include a
captive woman trapped by circumstances who falls in love with a figure many
would label abusive, the same tale type can create opportunities to examine
freedoms for all sexes being offered via cultural fantasy if read closely. The fact
that this tale type circles the globe suggests that elements of the larger narrative
appeal to a wide variety of cultures, and students begin to explore what it means
that elements like captivity do not remain consistent. Similarly, students learn from
stories where men are the beauty figure, such as Urashima the Fisherman. When
students encounter traditional Beauty and the Beast narratives alongside tales like
Alexander Afanasyevs The Frog Princess, students quickly realize that their
notions of the standard fairy tale need expansion.
This exposure to a wide variety of international narratives also helps students to
see how cultural fantasies vary. While the German Rapunzel shows a heroine
who lives in isolation and sings to pass the time until her prince arrives,
Giambattista Basiles Petrosinella contains a main character who drugs the
ogress guarding her so that the protagonist may copulate with the prince. While we
must recognize the different audiences and purposes between Basiles bawdier
tales and the moralizing of Wilhelm Grimm, we can show students how these
stories are actively manipulated by authors to create images of strong or
submissive women and men that serve authorial and political purposes.
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SEEING STORIES AS PART OF AN ONGOING CONVERSATION
Once students have a grasp of how tales manipulate readers and are manipulated
by authors, editors, and filmmakers, it becomes possible for them to see how
stories can exist in conversation with each other as much as with the audience. In
class, I demonstrate this process by showing how a story may change between
editions or how a tale becomes lost over time, thereby changing the conversation
about a tale.
One example of the conversation between stories occurs with Catskin Cinderella
narratives. This variant on Cinderella shares festivals, gowns, and sometimes fairy
godmothers with its more traditional counterpart, but due to the trope of incestuous
parental desire, this tale does not appear in as many edited collections. It includes
useful themes of fleeing an unsafe home, enduring hardship, and controlling the
pace of the relationship, and yet it is no longer commonly read. One needs only
open a current fairy tale anthology to see traditional Cinderellas, heavily edited
Sleeping Beauties, and even Rapunzels without the twins often conceived during
the plot. The omission by itself is telling since Sleeping Beauty narratives possess
a far darker history of ravishment and yet remain in current collections while a
story of a young woman fleeing an abusive home becomes expunged.
Most students reject Catskin stories initially because they lack familiarity with
this plot. They react with revulsion and disgust in part due to the dark themes the
narrative contains and in part because they are not used to this type of message
within a fairy tale, but this tale type lends itself to analysis via questions common
to feminist criticism. This storyline, although less popular, contains the stronger
heroine when she is compared with her traditional Cinderella counterpart. Where
Cinderella stays home awaiting salvation via the fairy godmother or via the correct
time to attend the ball, the Catskin heroine leaves home to avoid incestuous desire.
While she sometimes has the guidance of a fairy godmother, she often does not.
Even more interesting is the lack of male Catskin figures fleeing horrific maternal
lust. While these protagonists may exist, they are far rarer. As instructors, we can
use this lack to teach students about cultural fantasies and the role of folklore.
While audiences want to imagine a man or a woman surviving abuse and marrying
well, only women appear to encounter paternal abuse in the natal home in these
early stories. While it does not suggest men do not encounter abusive or at least
neglectful fathers, for they occur in many tales, the lack of gender parity suggests
the Catskin storyline exists to do more than comment on persecuted women. While
the tale can operate as a cultural fantasy of a woman in peril or as a recounting of a
womans strength (Nicolaisen, 1993), the tale can also operate in concert with
other stories that we no longer tell as often.
During the last five years, I have been encountering increasing numbers of
students unfamiliar with Bluebeard variants, and it is not just the Brothers Grimm
Fitchers Bird or Joseph Jacobs Mr. Fox receiving less attention. Even the
traditional French retelling remains unknown with students similarly disgusted by
the tale when they realize that fairy tales can also include serial killers. These gaps
in knowledge can translate into larger problems when students do not understand
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foundational sources referenced heavily in later literature (Yolen, 2000), but more
importantly, the loss of fairy tales from an informal canon of well-known stories
suggests how students enter our classrooms failing to see how oral stories
functioned as a type of ongoing conversation.
This role of tales creating a composite message can be replicated when looking
at collections by the Brothers Grimm, Italo Calvino, etc., if we teach students to
explore the themes in a wider variety of stories. The Catskin Cinderella tale type
transforms from a creepy Cinderella story to a more profound discussion of what
a young woman might do if her natal home becomes unsafe. While no one expects
an actual woman to ask for a dress of the sun, moon, and stars, the process of
stalling for time, fleeing home, and rebuilding ones life easily explains the tales
popularity before fairy tales became childrens literature. The desperate heroine
in Bluebeard stalling her aggressive husband by saying her prayers begins to offer
a model of hindering an abusive spouse, sending for help, and seeking to escape a
new home if it is unsafe. While neither tale should be read as only discussing the
dangers of the natal or marital home, these themes, commonly explored in modern
revisions of both tale types, help students to see why even these darker stories
matter in a genre now associated with dolls, princess outfits, and other
memorabilia.
As students begin to comprehend how these tales have been excised,
manipulated, and transformed with time, medium, and political agenda, they
understand how all fairy tales are examples of cultural fantasies. Cinderella (2015)
is no less a fantasy of a fairy tale heroine than Perraults warnings for young
women in his Little Red Riding Hood. Each author does not merely retell a
story. As tropes are stressed, deemphasized, or transformed, the story contains new
messages for audiences. As editors sanitize a Brothers Grimm retelling, they
paraphrase a tale, and when they remove a story like Allerleirauh, a German
Catskin retelling, they leave readers with only half of a conversation. When both a
Catskin variant and a Bluebeard story are removed, students begin to receive a
distorted view of the many messages that worked in tandem. This exclusion limits
the genre and distances audiences from the tales.
Instead, if students start to see the tales as ongoing voices in a larger discussion,
they begin to imagine a response for themselves within the stories. The students
become quite interested in which stories survive and which do not. Students can
then begin to speculate and decide for themselves why a story like Cinderella
becomes gendered to the point that students were once surprised by the male
versions and why stories like The Golden Goose are not as frequently retold.
I take this process of exploration one step further by assigning a paper on
agency in fairy tales. I ask that the students define action for themselves and
choose the stories they wish to examine from those provided on the course reading
list. Early in the semester, I often receive papers on how fairy tales subjugate
women when initially asking for a comparison of tales, but the students often
produce well-considered essays about fairy tales after reading a variety of tale
types and looking at the narratives as pliable for this second assignment. More
importantly, the students move beyond binaries of active and passive. I receive
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JOHNSON-OLIN
papers about masculinity expressed through non-conformity from sophomores, and

the first-year students write about how the protagonists of Rapunzel stories may be
more capable than first assumed. The arguments about fairy tales constraining
people are gone, replaced by discussions of what the genre has to offer its many
audiences. The assignment works because the students have to take ownership of
understanding the stories for themselves, and students transcend current cultural
debates to look at how fairy tales speak to readers.
TALES SPEAKING THE CHANGES A SOCIETY MAY NEED
When students work with these primary sources, the process removes the
innocence students may attribute to the fairy tale, but it also prepares them to see
the genre as alive and ever-changing. They realize the majesty of the fairy tale over
time, and suddenly, the themes of women helping women in Gold Tree, Silver
Tree are not new. Women helped women in fairy tales long before Frozen, and
heroines decidedly travelled long before Merida picked up her bow in Brave. Fairy
tales with new messages have always existed because of how the genre works
and because some of these messages have remained important for hundreds of
years.
Once my students know several classic tale types, I introduce current revisions,
and we discuss how the stories continue to evolve. Students often gravitate to
feminist revisions the most. The works of Angela Carter, Anne Sexton, and Emma
Donoghue resonate with the students because they see authors transforming stories
in the same ways they might desire. I find that once students see how flexible the
tales can be, they stop offering pronouncements about Stockholm syndrome or
gender exclusivity. Students also begin to see that the heteronormativity inherent to
the early fairy tale is about older social codes, power, and authorial choice. They
accept and welcome a lesbian retelling like Donoghues Tale of the Shoe
because the revision confirms their hopes that fairy tales remain relevant and that
everyone deserves a place in a cultural fantasy that includes them. A story that can
be adapted reveals itself as still alive and teaching us hundreds of years after a
particular variant became part of our public consciousness.
Neil Gaimans success adapting Sleeping Beauty in The Sleeper and the Spindle
does not suggest that our society values the story of a victimized, unconscious
woman as occurs in many of the classic retellings; instead, the revision
acknowledges that misfortune occurs when people focus on selfish desires,
essentially forcing others to sleep to support someone elses power. Students
respect the single mother rescuing her daughter in Carters The Bloody Chamber
and the ironic tone in Sextons Cinderella because they see single parents and
sarcastic responses to winning the lottery in their everyday lives.
By teaching the questions we gain through studying feminist criticism and fairy
tales, we teach students to develop the agency of fairy tale characters for
themselves. With each retelling, students find a place for themselves within the
stories. They might not make a silent princess laugh with the antics of a golden
goose, but they now see that causing the laughter is the heroic part, not being the
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stereotypical hero or heroine of a given tale. Students can leave our classes
realizing how their lives are the stories that are unfolding. They shape and can
control them as much as any author. They will become the Cinderellas, princes,
and fairy godmothers of each others narratives if they only see how their own
story is just as important as the tales they encounter.
NOTE
1
While stories from the oral tradition, the French contes de fees, the German Mrchen, etc. are not
synonymous and interchangeable when studying a particular tale type or setting, I merge them here
because students are not aware of these distinctions when approaching the genre. I use the term fairy
tale to include both oral and literary fairy tales to consider the larger pedagogical values of the genre
itself rather than any one aspect of it.
REFERENCES
Bacchilega, C. (1993). An introduction to the innocent persecuted heroine fairy tale. Western
Folklore, 52(1), 1-12.
Bacchilega, C. (1997). Postmodern fairy tales: Gender and narrative strategies. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Bacchilega, C. (2008). Preface to the special issue on erotic tales. Marvels & Tales, 22(1), 13-23.
Bettelheim, B. (2010). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York,
NY: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1975)
Fisher, J., & Silber, E. (2000). Good and bad beyond belief: Teaching gender lessons through fairy tales
and feminist theory. Womens Studies Quarterly, 28(3/4), 121-36.
Gilbert, S., & Gubar, S. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-
century literary imagination. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Grimm, J., & Grimm, W. (2014). The complete first edition: The original folk & fairy tales of the
brothers Grimm. (J. Zipes, Trans.) Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Haase, D. (2000). Feminist fairy-tale scholarship: A critical survey and bibliography. Marvels & Tales,
14(1), 15-63.
Lthi, M. (1982). The European folktale: Form and nature. (J. D. Niles, Trans.) Bloomington: Indiana
University Press. (Original work published 1947)
Nicolaisen, W. F. H. (1993). Why tell stories about innocent, persecuted heroines? Western Folklore,
52(1), 61-71.
Orenstein, P. (2011). Cinderella ate my daughter: Dispatches from the front lines of the new girlie-girl
culture. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Rettl, L. (2001). Fairy tales re-visited gender concepts in traditional fairy and feminist fairy tales. AAA:
Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 26(2) 181-98.
Rowe, K. (1986). To spin a yarn: The female voice in folklore and fairy tale. In R. Bottigheimer (Ed.),
Fairy tales and society: Illusion, allusion, and paradigm (pp. 53-74). Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press.
Stone, K. (1975). Things Walt Disney never told us. The Journal of American Folklore, 88, 42-50.
Stone, K. (1980). Fairy tales for adults: Walt Disneys Americanization of the mrchen. In N. Burlakoff
& C. Lindahl (Eds.), Folklore on two continents: Essays in honor of Linda Dgh (pp. 40-48).
Bloomington, IN: Trickster Press.
Stone, K. (1985). The misuses of enchantment: Controversies of the significance of fairy tales. In R. A.
Jordan & S. J. Kalik (Eds.), Womens folklore, womens culture (pp. 125-45). Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
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Stone, K. (1986). Feminist approaches to the interpretation of fairy tales. In R. Bottigheimer (Ed.),
Fairy tales and society: Illusion, allusion, and paradigm (pp. 229-36). Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press.
Yolen, J. (2000). Touch magic: Fantasy, faerie and folklore in the literature of childhood. (Expanded
edition). Atlanta, GA: August House.
Zipes, J. (2002). Breaking the magic spell: Radical theories of folk and fairy tales. (Revised and
expanded edition). Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Zipes, J. (2006). Fairy tales and the art of subversion: The classical genre for children and the process
of civilization (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Zipes, J. (2012). Dont bet on the prince: Contemporary feminist fairy tales in North America and
England (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Martha M. Johnson-Olin
Liberal Arts DivisionEnglish
Potomac State College of West Virginia University
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MARGARET A. ROBBINS AND JENNIFER JACKSON WHITLEY
6. FROM FLEDGLING TO BUFFY

Critical Literacy, Fantasy, and Engagement in Secondary ELA Classrooms
I like being in space because there are better

parts for women in spaceI dont have to
subject myself to just being the love interest or
playing a character that doesnt feel relevant
to the story or playing a woman that doesnt
feel like an actual depiction of a real woman.
Actress Zoe Saldana (Rich, 2014)
It is with Saldanas wordspaired with our love of speculative fictionthat the

idea for this chapter began. Why is it that we see more strong female leads in
speculative fiction, especially those from marginalized ethnic backgrounds? Why
do we have to travel through time and space, through worlds and magical
kingdoms, to see a womans potential, to see ourselves as strong female leads in
our own worlds outside the ones we read about? While these questions are for a
different project altogether, we begin grappling with them in this piece,
understanding that there are spaces for women in texts and in classrooms that
cannot and should not be overlooked. These questions drive us to be critical of
ourselves as teachers and researchers, a practice necessary when situating oneself
within critical literacy.
Through our scholarship and reading, we have noticed a growing trend in
female protagonists who show strength and agency in the fantasy genre,
particularly strong female protagonists of color. Specifically, in this chapter, we
will explain why Fledgling by Octavia Butler (2005) and The Left Hand of
Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1987) would be suitable for critical literacy
discussions in high school classrooms, especially with older students in their junior
and senior years. These novels address issues of marginalized voices, social
justice, and gender. We will acknowledge the perspectives of feminism and critical
pedagogy and also bring in scholarship related to fantasy literature. Additionally,
we will discuss how scenes from the hit TV show and comic Buffy the Vampire
Slayer (Whedon, 1997)among other popular culture referencescan be used in
conjunction with these novels to encourage critical media literacy skills. Our
chapter will include a critical literary analysis of each novel, lesson plan ideas, and
an explanation of how to include the parallel texts in a classroom setting while
teaching critical literacy skills and required state-mandated standards.

ROBBINS AND WHITLEY
OVERVIEW OF FANTASY LITERATURE AND SPECULATIVE FICTION
Although research on the speculative fiction realm is still emerging, scholars have
differing definitions of fantasy versus science fiction. William L. Godshalk (1975)
contends that science fiction is a sub-genre of fantasy and falls under the umbrella
of realistic fantasy, and that the other umbrellas include pure fantasy,
philosophic fantasy, and critical fantasy. However, Amy Goldschlager and Avon
Eos (1997) distinguish science fiction and fantasy by stating that fantasy is, A
genre not based in reality presupposing that magic and mythical/supernatural
creatures exist, whereas science fiction is a genre that extrapolates from current
scientific trends and that tends to predict the future. Goldschlager and Eos (1997)
note several subgenres within this realm, such as urban fantasy, hard science
fiction, and historical fantasy, yet they consider speculative fiction to be the
catchall term for science fiction and fantasy. Concurrently, in the chapter of the
anthology Octavias Brood entitled The Only Lasting Truth: The Theme of
Change in the Works of Octavia E. Butler, Due (2015) notes that the speculative
fiction umbrella term refers to science fiction, fantasy, and horrorthe fiction of
fantastic scenarios and world-building (p. 260). The novels we discuss are most
closely defined as fantasy, yet due to the blurring of genres and their references to
alien life, they could also be considered speculative fiction.
We have noticed a recent increase of work by females and authors of color
related to speculative fiction and social issues. For instance, the anthology
Octavias Brood (2015) is named after Octavia Butler because she explored the
intersections of identity and imagination, the gray areas of race, class, gender,
sexuality, love, militarism, inequality, oppression, resistance, andmost
importanthope (p. 3). Therefore, Imarisha (2015b) and her co-editor A.M.
Brown desire to coin a new term called visionary fiction, which encompasses
all of the fantastic, with the arc always bending toward justice (p. 4) because they
believe the following:
This space is vital for any process of decolonization, because the
decolonization of the imagination is the most dangerous and subversive form
there is: for it is where all other forms of decolonization are born. Once the
imagination is unshackled, liberation is limitless. (p. 4)
Fiction, especially speculative fiction, can be an avenue to explore a more fair and
just world. Therefore, Octavia Butlers and Ursula K. Le Guins works, along with
the works of the aforementioned anthology, are appropriate to study from a critical
literacy lens, which allows educators to advocate for social justice.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theories that guide the analysis of our work are feminist poststructuralism,
critical literacy, and queer theory, all of which are influenced by postmodern ideas.
Since the central characters of our novels push boundaries of gender, race, and
sexuality, feminist poststructuralism and queer theory are pertinent theoretical
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FROM FLEDGLING TO BUFFY
perspectives. Many of our classroom activities and parallel texts are influenced by
ideas of critical pedagogy and critical literacy. We want students to analyze the
texts to see how they challenge the status quo and provide visions for a better
world, opportunities that speculative fiction and fantasy fiction tend to afford.
Additionally, through class activities, students can discuss how they can interact
with both the texts and the outer community to change behavior and perceptions in
a positive way.
Feminist Poststructuralism
Feminist poststructuralism is one of the lenses we use to analyze the texts
discussed in this chapter. Bothelo and Rudman (2009) stated, Poststructuralists
and cultural theorists maintain that we can only make sense of reality through
language. Feminist poststructural theories demonstrate how language constructs
subjectivity (p. 101). Language, power, meaning-making, and gender equity
issues are all major components of feminist poststructural theory. As St. Pierre
(2000) noted, poststructural feministsserve as eloquent modelswho, having
duly struggled with the schizophrenia of language, move resolutely toward faint
intelligibilities they hope will enhance the lives of women (p. 479). Feminist
poststructuralism draws on both womens rights and the nuances of language, as
described in Foucaults theory of discourse and Derridas ideas on deconstruction
(St. Pierre, 2000). Weedon (1997) wrote, feminist poststructuralism makes the
primary assumption that it is language which enables us to think, speak and give
meaning to the world around us. Meaning and consciousness do not exist outside
language (p. 31). Therefore, language plays a crucial role in the formation of our
worldviews and our ability to give voice to our own meaning making. Also
pertinent to feminist poststructuralism is the idea of intersectionality, as our gender
identity intersects with race, class, and other elements of identity to shape our
worldviews and our interactions with others (Butler, 2007; Weedon, 1997).
Particularly pertinent to science fiction and fantasy literature are the feminist
poststructuralist theories of Donna Haraway. In her 1991 essay Situated
Knowledges, Haraway expressed her belief that feminism and science were alike
in their re-envisioning of the future. She noted that feminism was appearing in
speculative fiction stories and that embodiment, objectivity, and situated
knowledges were the points where science, science fantasy, and science fiction
converge (p. 596). Haraway (1991) stated the following about the relationship
among feminism, science, and speculative fiction: Perhaps our hopes for
accountability, for politics, for ecofeminism, turn on re-visioning the world as
coding trickster with whom we must learn to converse (p. 596). Speculative
fiction, like feminism, envisions a better world.
Haraways (2000) essay A Cyborg Manifesto explained in more detail how
science fiction and fantasy connect to feminism. Haraway (2000) pointed out that a
cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexuality, pre-
oedipal symbiosis, unalienated labor, or other seductions to organic wholeness
through the final appropriation of all of the powers of the parts into a higher unity
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(p. 292). The cyborg, like many speculative fiction figures such as those discussed
in Le Guins (1987) The Left Hand of Darkness, defies traditional gender
expectations, as many cyborg figures are androgynous. Therefore, speculative
fiction stories explore and question gender binaries from a poststructural
perspective, as many cyborg females are figures of great power in the superhero
and speculative fiction novels.
Critical Literacy
Critical literacy is pertinent to texts that can be studied from a feminist
poststructuralist and/or queer theory lens. Critical literacies involve people using
language to exercise power, to enhance everyday life in school and communities,
and to question practices of privilege and injustice (Comber, 2001, p. 1). The
added step to critical literacy is praxis, or action, to improve the surrounding
community (Comber, 2001; Lewison, Flint, & Sluys, 2002). Lewison, Flint, and
Sluys (2002) noted that critical literacy has four main components: Disrupting the
commonplace, interrogating multiple viewpoints, focusing on socio-political
issues, and taking a stand and promoting social justice (p. 382). To be engaged
fully in the process, students need to participate in all four components, yet some
teachers may choose to implement only some elements in their classrooms.
Queer Theory
The core of queer theory is to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange
(Spiegel, 2008). We argue, then, that speculative fiction provides queer spaces for
non-dominant narratives to exist. In other words, these novels offer readers
characters, worlds, and spaces that challenge our everyday thinking. Moreover,
queer theory asks us to challenge what it means to be normal. Judith Butler
(2007) wrote, If gender is something that one becomesbut can never bethen
gender itself is a kind of becoming or activity; it should not be understood as a
noun or substantial thing or a static cultural marker, but rather as an incessant and
repeated action of some sort (p. 152). By fostering spaces in our classrooms that
allow students to challengeor queernormativity, we encourage critical literacy.
Ryan and Hermann-Willmarth (2013) noted that queer theory is a theory that
highlights strangeness, especially around the constructed classifications of genders,
sexualities, bodies, and desires (p. 146). Some people think that queer theory only
relates to LGBTQ issues. However, in reality, it questions and deconstructs
normativity as related to gender, sexualities, bodies, and desire (Ryan &
Hermann-Willmarth, 2013, p. 142). Queer literary theory, then, is a disruption of
what is considered normal and troubles conventional ideas of the status quo (Ryan
& Hermann-Willmarth, 2013). Therefore, we feel that queer theory provides an
appropriate theoretical backbone for this piece, as speculative fiction does just that:
troubles our world and what it means to be and exist within it.
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ANALYSIS OF FLEDGLING AND PARALLEL TEXTS
Fledgling (2005) is a work that blurs the boundaries of science fiction and fantasy,
as it is about a special race of vampires who some speculate were originally from
another planet. The protagonist and her family, comprised of both chosen humans
and vampires, must escape another race of vampires who are out to destroy them.
The novel raises important questions about race, class, gender, sexuality, and
power, and it is therefore an appropriate text to analyze with the perspective of
feminist poststructuralism using critical pedagogy and critical literacy strategies.
The central character, Shori Matthews, is a vampire who does not fit all of
societys definitions of physical appeal: she is Black, short, and older than her
physical appearance makes her seem. Yet, she is still able to seduce humans to be
her symbionts, or blood suppliers, and to achieve a position of power in her tribe
because of her charm and intelligence. In a classroom setting, students could
compare and contrast her to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and to other, more
traditional vampire narrative figures.
One aspect of this book that some scholars have explored is Shoris non-
traditional relationships. Early in the book, Shori, who is Black due to genetic
engineering and from a special race of normally-light vampires who could be from
another planet, meets a male human named Wright, who is described early on as
being tall and physically domineering. The initial circumstances of Wrights and
Shoris meeting appear to be from a more traditional narrative; Shori, found naked
and injured, is rescued by Wright, who is in the more powerful position and
therefore could physically dominate Shori (Loeffler, 2015).
However, the reader learns very quickly that Shoris and Wrights story will not
be a traditional romance. First of all, Wright seems reluctant to take Shori into his
home, in part because he is concerned about the assumptions people will make
about him as a grown young man who is interacting with a female who appears to
be a child. Secondly, Shori sexually seduces Wright initially, rather than the more
typical reverse, and we learn that she is actually fifty-three years old, but looks
younger because her race ages slowly (Loeffler, 2015). Therefore, the initial sexual
encounter between Wright and Shori raises a critical question about sexuality and
age appropriateness, as Shori appears to be a child of about ten years old by human
standards, but is actually a mature adult through chronological age and lived
experiences. Arguably, age is a social construction. Although the questions raised
by this book may spark interesting debate, Fledgling (2005) does not advocate for
child sexualityit merely asks the question: Who gets to decide the appropriate
age for sexual maturity? This question, as well as other ideas, is an interesting
point to raise among high school students.
Over time, Wright becomes much more emotionally dependent on Shori than
the reverse, as Shori seems more concerned with the pragmatic aspects of the
relationship, such as the feeding (Loeffler, 2015). When Shori asks Wright if he
intends to leave her when the situation with the vampires becomes more
dangerous, he responds, I cant leave you, I cant even really want to leave you
(Butler, 2005, p. 84). Therefore, through the feedings and their sexual encounters,
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ROBBINS AND WHITLEY
which usually go hand in hand, Wright has become very attached to Shori. This
portrayal is a contrast to many traditional vampire narratives, where the male is the
subject figure and the female is depicted as the object; Butlers tale, then, is a
postmodern vampire narrative (Loeffler, 2015).
As congruent with other vampires of her race, Shori takes on other symbionts
into her family, both male and female. More polygamous practices are considered
acceptable within the community. Therefore, Shoris family transcends typical
boundaries of both race and gender. Wright is White, and Shori is Black, yet Shori
is the more powerful partner of that relationship, which is contrary to typical
narratives. Also, Shori has androgynous qualities and seems to be polysexual,
which could drive critical conversations with students about what it means to be a
sexual being versus a sexualized one, a topic relevant to feminist poststructuralism
and queer theory alike.
Shori has parallels with Buffy the Vampire Slayer of the hit cult classic
television series (Whedon, 1997) and the follow-up comic series. Like Buffy, Shori
pushes boundaries of gender and has roles of power typically assigned to men,
such as being the primary fighter and caretaker of her family and/or social group.
Unlike Buffy, though, Shori is not described as Aryan or conventionally attractive,
yet still is very powerful. Through making comparisons with the Buffy television
show and comic sections, students can discuss how the portrayal of females in
vampire narratives has changed over time.
As a parallel text to Fledgling, the anthology Octavias Brood (2015) includes
several short stories that could be important to studying superheroes and strong
female protagonists of color. The Token Superhero by David F. Walker (2015)
describes a young man who hesitates to remain the tokenized African-American
superhero until he realizes that his work can help the disadvantaged youth of his
city. Alonzo, the main character, notes that his superhero training meant that hed
be trained to use his powers to fight for truth, justice, and all that other stuff they
talked about in the comic books, movies, and television shows that recounted the
adventures of superheroes and crime fighters (p. 16). Black Angel by Walidah
Imarisha (2015a) describes an Angel fallen from heaven who defies God in order
to help the struggling people of the world, particularly in Harlem, with the result of
being kicked out of the kingdom. the river by Adrienne Maree Brown (2015) is a
poetic piece about the effects of gentrification on the economically struggling city
of Detroit. Evidence by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (2015) includes past and present
excerpts of journals and letters about a queer girl who has found a happier society
in the future. Much like Fledgling (2005), these stories question binaries of race
and gender and could be studied with high school students using lenses of
feminism, critical literacy, and queer theory.
ANALYSIS OF THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS AND RELATED TOPICS
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1987) is the one of her many
works written within the Hainish Cycle, a series of books set in the fictional
Hainish universe that offers readers a critique on gender issuesspecifically, what
98
it means to perform gender and/or embody gender roles. This novel examines
sexuality and androgyny, which could spark thoughtful discussions during
secondary-level class readings regarding social justice issues, such as gender,
sexuality, and gender expression, especially when paired with dominant
representations of similar topics. In the novel, Genly Ai, the protagonist, comes to
the planet Winteror Gethen in its own languagein order to recruit its citizens
to join the Ekumen, a governmental system containing 83 planets. He lives there
for two years in order to complete his mission, during which time he befriends
Estraven, the prime minister.
After Estraven, Ais most significant supporter, is accused of traitorous acts and
therefore banished from Karhide, a country within Gethen, King Argaven tells Ai
that Karhide will not join the Ekumen. Ai, feeling as if he must start over, travels
to Orgoreyn, another country found on Gethen that happens to be in dispute with
Karhide, in order to recruit their vote. At first, he feels positive about the visit
because their governmental leadersThe Orgoreyn Commensalstreat him with
more respect than King Argaven. Estraven, who traveled to Orgoreyn after being
banished, warns Ai not to trust them, but he fails to listen, growing tired of
Estravens secrecy. The Orgoreyn Commensals true intentions were revealed
when Ai is kidnapped during the night and taken to a Volunteer Farm, similar to a
concentration camp, where he almost dies until rescued by Estraven. It is in their
escape and travels thereafter where their relationship grows into something
powerful, as they have failed to understand each other until this time. Although
The Left Hand of Darkness (1987) offers much in the form of literary and political
analysis, it is in Ais and Estravens complicated relationship where classroom
conversations founded in critical literacy have the most potential.
Specifically, the characters in The Left Hand of Darkness (1987) share the
typical identifiers of both men and women, but citizens of Gethen have the choice
to choose ones sex at certain times in the year. A thoughtful project to do with
students when these topics arise would be to examine words and ideas that students
typically associate with men versus women, and then disrupt those ideas when the
first gender-fluid characters in the Hainish universe are introduced. Teachers might
ask students how these characters exhibit concepts identified as traditionally male
and/or female, and what we might call these characters, since they do not always
identify as a man or woman. Teachers can introduce a critical discussion of gender
pronouns, as shown in Figure 1.
This graphic demonstrates a few appropriate pronouns to use when discussing
the diversity and complexity of gender roles with students. When paired with The
Left Hand of Darkness, the graphic can spark a thoughtful discussion of what it
means to be a man, woman, or gender fluid/queer.
According to Michael Warner (1999), Identity, like stigma, tars us all with the
same brush, but it also allows us to distance ourselves from any actual
manifestation of queerness (p. 31). Moreover, he wrote, Everyone deviates from
the norm in some context or other, and that the statistical norm has no moral value
(p. 70). Both of these ideologies are addressed in Le Guins work through her
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ROBBIN
NS AND WHITL
LEY
Figurre 1. Gender prronouns.

((Source: Trans Student
S Educatiional Resourcess, www.transstuudent.org/graphhics)
portrayyal of kemmerr. During kem mmerGethennians oestrus pperiodthe inndividual

beginss by remaininng completelyy androgynouus. It is not uuntil the indivvidual is
stimulated through sexual
s impulse and interactiion with a parrtner when thaat beings
sexuall parts morph iinto what bothh partners need. Kemmer offfers readers a contrary
portrayyal of sexualiitywithout bbeing too grraphic for a secondary settingin
compaarison to typiccal narratives.. Through a ccritical readingg of this text, students
can annalyze the roole of kemmeer in order too begin an understanding
u of non-
normaative portrayalls of gender annd sexualitynot only insidde the novel iitself, but
also byy transferring that knowledgge to their ownn society.
In aaddition to disscussions of ggender and sexxuality, The LLeft Hand of D Darkness
(1987)) also invokess thoughts in rrelation to pow
wer, politics, aand social jusstice. The
planet of Gethen hhas never haad a war, buut does not sshy away froom harsh
punishhments throughh exile and violence. Considering the plaatform topics ddiscussed
duringg the United States 20166 presidentiall campaign, including torrture and
accommmodating refuugees, studentts could relatee many currennt, political ideeas to the
issues raised in the nnovel. Moreovver, language plays a key roole in Le Guinns work.
Ai, andd most peoplee of the Ekumeen, can mindspeak, whichh is similar to ttelepathy
but is different in thhat it allows ppeople to com
mmunicate witth one anotheer despite
what llanguage theyy speak. Howeever, the peopple of Gethen cannot mindsspeak, so
miscom mmunicationss arise, muchh like the onnes we see oor hear abouut in our
100
classrooms when teaching students who do not speak English as their first
language. Finally, the feminist, queer, and critical issues raised in the novel can
help teachers translate complicated theory into manageable examples for students.
Teachers can pick and choose topics to discuss depending on what they are most
familiar and comfortable withand what they deem appropriate for their audience.
We understand that certain classroom climates and/or work places make it difficult
to discuss controversial topics, such as sexuality and gender queerness, but we
want to encourage teachers to find spaces for these conversations whenever they
can.
APPLICATION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Most teachers in a K-12 setting are expected to teach according to various state-
mandated standards. The advantage of these standardized rules is that they are
usually fairly vague and open to interpretation. The disadvantage, however, is that
their high-stakes presence can discourage teachers and/or curriculum developers
from straying too far from the norm when it comes to lesson plans, mentor texts,
and forms of assessment. We argue that these books, while definitely not typical
choices for a high school English/Language Arts classroom, fulfill the
requirements laid out for teachers by state-mandated standards while also
challenging the normativity too often found in high school curriculum in order to
build critical literacy skills with students. In this section, we will discuss some
general and specific activities teachers can do while using Fledgling and The Left
Hand of Darkness as mentor texts.
The Genderbread Person

Arguably, the most difficultor controversialtopics that these novels raise are in
reference to gender, gender roles, and sexual identity. According to Warner (1999),
American culture presents a paradox. Of all nations, it is the most obsessed with
sex, and of all nations, it is the most easily scandalized. The United States is the
land of sexual shame (p. 21). It is in this context where we see the difficulty of
discussing sex and sexual identity in a high school classroom. However, there are
incredible resources to help teachers approach these topics in interesting and
unique ways, such as through The Genderbread Person activity.
The Genderbread Person Activity

This activity can spark critical conversations with high school students and can
accompany both texts, as they both address gender identity. Specifically, teachers
could introduce this activity before beginning either text in order to have students
consider the complexity of gender and gender identity before being immersed in
the texts themselves. By doing so, teachers encourage preliminary discussion that
may help prepare students for critical conversations before they happen
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ROBBIN
NS AND WHITL
LEY
organiically, insteadd of having to backtrackk once a deebate or conttroversial

discussion topic camme up in class..
Figure 22. The genderbreead person.

(SSource: http://its
tspronouncedmeetrosexual.com//2015/03/the-geenderbread-persson-v3/)
In aaddition to disscussing the ggraphic to expplain that gendder and sexuaality exist
on a sspectrum rather than as sett binaries, teaachers might w want to have students
either draw a dot oon the arrowss to represent where they think they falll on the
spectruums or write a reflection off where they tthink they aree on these conntinuums.
Ratherr than asking tthe students too turn these chharts in, it might be best too open up
the flooor for discusssion and ask qquestions suchh as, Which of these prom mpts were
easy ffor you to ideentify yourselff as, and which were hardder? Why? Woould you
have pplaced yoursellf on differentt continuums at different tim mes in your liife? For
instancce, some girlss are tomboyssa problem matic term in itselfat
i a yooung age,
but ass they get oldder, they mighht wear makeeup and dresses to perform m a more
feminnine gender role. Converrsely, some m men might bee interested inn music,
theaterr, or other arttistic fields, but
b not pursuee them becausse they feel ssociety is
encourraging them to make mooney in a more m typicallly-male fieldd. These
converrsations can hhelp students too realize that gender and seexuality are noot always
as binnary as they sseem. Parallell to the The Genderbread Person is thee Gender
Unicorrn, which is very similar, except that iit separates roomantic attracction and
sexuall attraction. Iff the two graphhics were commpared and coontrasted to eaach other,
studennts could discuss what, if any,a differentiiation exists bbetween romaantic and
sexuall attraction annd if they woould identify themselves differently
d on the two
spectruums.
102
FROM
M FLEDGLING TO
T BUFFY
Buffy Characters
C vs. Shori
As preeviously statedd, Buffy the VVampire Slayerr would be an intriguing chaaracter to
compaare and contraast with Shori from Fledgliing (2005). Allthough Buffyy is not a
vampire, she does have superheero-like qualitties, and like Shori, she physically
assertss herself over both humans and supernatuural beings. B Buffy is very attractive
a
by soccietys standarrds: she is slennder and petitee with blond hhair and light eyes and
skin, aalthough somee of the comiccs show her figgure as more voluptuous thhan in the
televission show. Buuffys physicaal strength gives her poweer, as does heer sexual
appeall. Shori has daark skin, is veery short, and does not typiify societys ddefinition
of attractive, yet shee has other waays of seducinng people and gaining the power she
needs. To have a viisual represenntation of the similarities
s annd differences between
Buffy and Shori, stuudents could fi fill out the Vennn diagram graaphic organizeer below.
If teacchers wanted to focus on ccomparing andd contrasting vampire figuures, they
could compare Shorri to Angel orr Spike from B Buffy the Vammpire Slayer ((1997) or
other vampire
v figures from literatture and/or poop culture. Stuudents could eeven turn
this graphic organiizer into an expository coompare and ccontrast essayy of two
characcters. In terms of critical liteeracy skills, itt would be impportant to disccuss how
Shori and the chharacter of ccomparison (S Spike, Angell, Buffy, or another
vampire/superhero ffigure) either typifies the sttatus quos perrception of a powerful
figure,, or trouble peeoples percepttions of who sshould be in chharge and whyy.
Compaare and Contrrast Venn Diaggram
Figure 3. Com
mpare and conttrast Venn diagrram.
(SSource: http://crrazyspeechworlld.com/2013/04//spring-into-speeech-blog-hop.hhtml)
Populaar Culture andd Gender Expression

While we obviouslly love Buffy the Vampiree Slayer, theree are many ttelevision
shows, recent youngg adult (YA) nnovels, and poopular culture references thaat tie into
our meentor texts as w
well as some oof the activitiees already menntioned in thiss chapter.
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ROBBINS AND WHITLEY
Because many state-mandated standards, including the Common Core State

Standards (http://www.corestandards.org), ask that students compare texts from
various multimedia platforms, we believe bringing in references to popular culture
will not only fulfill these standards, but will also engage students in the work.
Critically responding to diverse television shows. There are many television

shows currently running that consider gender and sexuality in a critical way. The
Fosters (2013) is an ABC Family television show that features an interracial
lesbian couple and their children. Episodes deal with sexuality, gender expression,
(dis)ability, race, class, and more, and could make for topical discussions when
paired with one or both of our mentor texts, Fledgling (2005) and The Left Hand of
Darkness (1987). Additionally, other shows like Transparent (2014), an
Amazon.com original and I Am Jazz (2015), aired on TLC, deal directly with
transgender identity and gender expression. These episodes would pair well with
the gender pronoun activity mentioned earlier in this chapter.
Pairing YA novels with mentor texts. There are several young adult literature
novels that would be good pairings with the primary texts and secondary popular
culture sources we have mentioned because they, too, can be analyzed from
feminist poststructuralist and queer theory perspectives. David Levithans (2012)
novel, Every Day, features A, a soul who wakes up in a different body every
morning and who must perform the roles of that person for a day. No matter which
body A wakes up in, A is in love with the same person, Rhiannon. In the follow-up
novel, Another Day, also by David Levithan (2015), the reader gets to experience
A and Rhiannons love story from Rhiannons perspective. The novels raise
important questions about how gender, identity, and embodiment affect peoples
identity construction and other peoples perceptions of those views. In either a
literature circles activity or a text-pairing scenario, these novels would be excellent
in conjunction with Fledgling (2005) and/or The Left Hand of Darkness (1987).
Because both novels discuss controversial topics using academic language, we
believe incorporating YA literature into the curriculum will build students
understanding of these difficult topics while increasing their engagement with both
novels.
Also pertinent to gender identity and feminist issues are YA romances that
present characters who perform gender in non-traditional ways. Rainbow Rowells
(2013) award-winning novel, Eleanor and Park, presents a female character who
intentionally defies clothing expectations for women in order to express her
individually and who overcomes struggles with her inner strength. Park, the
primary male protagonist, feels comfortable wearing makeup to express his
identity and grows to love Eleanor for being herself. Eleanor and Park are both
unconventional characters that disrupt traditional gender roles and who grapple
with intersectionality issues. Eleanor faces challenges because of her weight, her
socioeconomic status, and her abusive stepfather; Park faces challenges of being a
more effeminate half-Asian male. Yet, Eleanor and Park genuinely love each other
and are willing to stand up to others in order to preserve their relationship and each
104
others dignity. Although Eleanor and Park is marketed as a realistic fiction book,
its 1980s pop culture references, unconventional characters, and exploration of
gender roles make it a strong addition to this literary unit. Other realistic YA
romance novels that explore and trouble traditional gender roles include Isla and
the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (2015), If I Stay by Gail Foreman
(2010), and its companion novel Where She Went by Gail Foreman (2012).
CONCLUSION
Thinking back to Saldanas quote, we see the affordances speculative fiction offers
readers, but also some of its drawbacks. Because it is speculativefantasy, science
fiction, comics/graphica, etc.these incredible women are not always realistic.
However, we notice a growing trend in literature, television shows, and movies
alike to feature female protagonists who show a great deal of agency, and we
believe it is in these genres where those doors may have been opened. Moreover,
as explained in this chapter using Fledgling and The Left Hand of Darkness,
speculative fictionespecially when taught in a critical classroom setting
encourages analytical reading both of texts and of our world. By becoming critical
of ourselves and of the books we read, we encourage the same practice of critical
literacy in our students. This practice pushes back against dominant discourses and
breaks down the power structures in our classrooms to create a democratic
educational process sorely missing from the standards-based models enveloping
our schools. Moreover, it is fun to critique the words of a novel and relate that
critique to our worlds. Paulo Freire (2000) wrote,
Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate
integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and
bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by
which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover
how to participate in the transformation of their world (p. 34)
We believe wholeheartedly in the second half of Freires wordseducation is
powerful and can change lives; using a foundation of critical literacy in our classes
will help our students consider ideassuch as gender and sexualityand disrupt
normative beliefs about them.
There are many possibilities for the secondary English/Language Arts
classroom. Most K-12 educators work in a setting ruled by vague standards,
seemingly impossible top-down mandates, and stressful high-stakes testing. It is
our hope that this chapter addresses the parts in all of us that led us to be teachers
in the first place: a love of literature, a love of students, and a love of language. It
is in those parts where we find ourselves most happy and passionate about our
jobs, and where we see students light up with a passion of their own. Fledgling by
Octavia Butler (2005) and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
(1987) contain narratives that foster those spaces. We encourage teachers to
incorporate fantasy and other speculative fiction in their lessonsthese texts give
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us more room to see what our world could be instead of the dominant discourses
that tell us what it is.
REFERENCES
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NY: Routledge.
Bredeweg, B., & Paige, P. (Producers). (2013). The Fosters. Burbank, CA: ABC Family.
Brown, A.M. (2015). The river. In W. Imarisha & A. Brown (Eds.), Octavias brood: Science fiction
stories from social justice movements (pp. 23-32). Oakland, CA: AK Press.
Butler, J. (2007). Gender trouble. New York, NY: Routledge.
Butler, O. (2005). Fledgling. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing.
Comber, B. (2001). Negotiating critical literacies. School Talk, 6(3), 1-3.
Due, T. (2015). The only lasting truth: The theme of change in the works of Octavia E. Butler. In W.
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movements (pp. 259-277). Oakland, CA: AK Press.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
Foreman, G. (2010). If I stay. New York: Speak.
Foreman, G. (2012). Where she went. New York: Speak.
Gender pronouns. Trans student educational resources. Retrieved from
http://www.transstudent.org/pronouns101
Goldschlager, A., & Eros, A. (1997). Science fiction and fantasy: A genre with many faces. Retrieved
from https://www.sfsite.com/columns/amy26.htm
Godshalk, W. (1975). Alfred Bester: Science fiction or fantasy? Extrapolation, 16(2), 149-155.
Gumbs, A. P. (2015). Evidence. In W. Imarisha & A. Brown (Eds.), Octavias brood: Science fiction
Haraway, D. J. (1991). Situated knowledge: The science question in feminism and the privilege of
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Haraway, D. (2000). A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist feminism in the late
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York, NY: Routledge.
Hsu, V., & Soloway, J. (Producers). (2014). Transparent. Los Angeles, CA: Amazon Studios.
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Imarisha, W. (2015). Introduction. In W. Imarisha & A. Brown (Eds.), Octavias brood: Science fiction
James, A., Miller, C. K., & St. John, D. (Producers). (2015). I am Jazz. Silver Spring, MA: TLC.
Le Guin, U. K. (1987). The left hand of darkness. New York, NY: Ace Books.
Le Guin, U. K. (1989). Dancing at the edge of the world: Thoughts on words, women, places. New
York, NY: Grove Press.
Levithan, D. (2012). Every day. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Levithan, D. (2015). Another day. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Lewison, M., Flint, A. S., Van Sluys, K., & Henkin, R. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The journey
of newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79(5), 382-392.
Loeffler, M. L. (2015). Do you love me Shori, or do I just taste good? Re-conceptualizations of
interracial desire, romantic love, and the nuclear family in Octavia Butlers Fledgling. In U. M.
Anyiwo (Ed.), Race in the vampire narrative (pp. 109-121). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense
Publishers.
Perkins, S. (2015). Isla and the happily ever after. New York, NY: Push.
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Rowell, R. (2013). Eleanor and Park. New York, NY: St. Martins Griffin.
Ryan, C. L., & Hermann-Wilmarth, J. M. (2013). Already on the shelf: Queer readings of award-
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Spiegel, S. (2008). Things made strange: On the concept of estrangement in science fiction theory.
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Qualitative Studies in Education, 13(5), 477-515.
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Walker, D. (2015). The token superhero. In W. Imarisha & A. Brown (Eds.), Octavias brood: Science
fiction stories from social justice movements. (pp. 15-22) Oakland, CA: AK Press.
Warner, M. (1999). The trouble with normal: Sex, politics, and the ethics of queer life. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Weedon, C. (1997). Feminist practice & poststructuralist theory: Second edition. Malden, MA:
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Margaret A. Robbins
Language and Literacy Education Department
The University of Georgia
Jennifer Jackson Whitley

Language and Literacy Education Department
The University of Georgia
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HANNAH SWAMIDOSS
7. GENDER, CLASS, AND MARGINALIZATION IN

BEATRIX POTTER
Examining the ways in which Beatrix Potters childrens fantasy literature

frequently enforces gender and class expectations and marginalizes various
characters offers a useful way to teach students the value of using critical literacy
frameworks of reading multiple texts and reading from a resistant perspective.
Apart from the continued popularity of her childrens books, Beatrix Potter (1866-
1943) herself has proven to be a captivating figure long after her death: adult and
juvenile biographies, a movie, and a series of mystery novels in which a
fictionalized Potter plays detective attest to sustained interest in her life.1
Consequently, juxtaposing Potters own experiences with the adverse limitations of
gender and class against her depictions of these two aspects in her picture books is
a constructive way to analyze gender roles and class privileges and expectations in
her work. Often gender or class status leads to a characters marginalization.
Students quickly realize that despite difficult circumstances, Potter successfully
circumvented the boundaries imposed by gender and class in her own life. She,
however, does not fully extend these privileges to the characters in her books.
Accordingly, Edward H. Behrmans (2006) observations on the need to introduce
students to the subjectivity of authorship (p. 492) through reading multiple texts
and to cultivate a conscious awareness of the influences upon text interpretation
(p. 493) by developing a position resistant to the authors worldview become
productive means of interpreting Potters works and situating them in the contexts
of her life and time period. Such readings demonstrate the repeated silencing,
placation, or marginalization of certain characters through gender and class.
Using critical literacy to analyze Potters works helps students understand what
Elizabeth Bishop (2014) defines as the politics of daily life within contemporary
society (p. 52). Bishop observes that critical literacy (with all its various
approaches) offers students a way to locate and actively seek out contradictions
within modes of life, theories, and substantive intellectual positions (p. 52). The
methods of reading multiple texts and reading from a resistant perspective help to
locate discrepancies which lie beneath the veneer of daily life. In his discussion of
this type of reading, Behrman (2006) demonstrates the value of looking at multiple
narratives; he argues: By experiencing different treatments of the same topic or
event, students begin to recognize that text is not true in any absolute sense but a
rendering as portrayed by an author (p. 493). Reading from a resistant perspective
complements the disruption of hegemonic narratives by allowing students to
actively analyze the perspectives of characters on the margins of the narrative or to
question what elements are included or excluded in a narrative (Behrman, 2006,
pp. 493-494). In the context of Bishops and Behrmans ideas on critical literacy,

SWAMIDOSS
Potters narratives are particularly useful in that they seem to portray ordinary life
devoid of political stances, but students come to understand what passes as normal
in the text has ties to larger social, economic, and political structures. Students
realize that the intended audience for Potters works, young children, may not see
such connections and consequently understand the need and practical implications
for critical literacy.
In addition to these methods of reading and in order to better understand
Potters work, students need to appreciate the special opportunities of fantasy
literature. Rosemary Jackson (1981) provides a helpful framework when she
argues that fantasy literature is essentially a literature of desire (p. 3) which
negotiates or reworks societal restraints, opening up subversive socio-political
spaces in the process (pp. 3-5). Jackson (1981) uses the terms lack, absence,
and loss to explain the desire such literature expresses (p. 3). Maria Nikolajeva
(2012), in her study of childrens fantasy literature, discusses the central
importance that power takes in various works. With these frameworks and
concepts, students have a concrete starting point for textual analysis. What desire,
for instance, does Peter Rabbit (The Tale of Peter Rabbit, 1901) express in
disobeying his mother and heading off to Mr. McGregors garden? Who has the
most power in the text? Neither Peter nor McGregor masters the other in the
encounter in the garden. While Peters mother is proven right in her warnings
about McGregors garden, she does not know about Peters escapade. Such
ambivalence in the text invites further analysis.
Equally important is the need to situate Potters work within the canon of
childrens literature. Charles Kingsleys The Water-Babies (1863) is often seen as
the first major work for children that moved away from pure didacticism. Fittingly,
The Water-Babies is a fantasy novel in which the protagonist Tom, a chimney
sweep, desires to be physically and morally clean and begins a fantastical journey
in the natural world to do so, with moral choices giving him great agency. Other
childrens fantasy literature quickly followed the publication of The Water-Babies
with Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Through the
Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871), George MacDonalds At the
Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872), The Princess
and Curdie (1883) and Kenneth Grahames The Wind in the Willows (1908).
Through their fantastical worlds, these authors offer biting social critique while
also being lighthearted. In joining this tradition of fantasy literature, Potter
combines social satire with humor; her warm pictures of animals and the English
countryside blunt the violence and harshness of this world.
Potters range of picture books provides many choices for a variety of courses.
Potters works would fit in well with courses on Victorian or Edwardian literature,
gender studies, popular culture, and of course childrens literature. While I have
used various combinations of her books, I would like to bring attention to four
texts that for the purposes of critical literacy have several elements of interest: The
Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908), The Tale of Samuel Whiskers (1908), The
Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909), and The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910). While
The Tale of Peter Rabbit mentioned earlier addresses issues of property and
110
GENDER, CLASS, AND MARGINALIZATION
community, the interplay between Peter and his mother, and between Peter and
McGregor, depicts a childs typical testing of boundaries and facing danger.2 In
Samuel Whiskers, on the other hand, Tom Kitten (a child) is nearly murdered, and
the precious eggs of Jemima Puddle-Duck (an aspiring but careless mother) are
eaten by some puppies. Although elements of community occur in Jemima Puddle-
Duck and Samuel Whiskers, the importance of a correctly structured community
becomes much more pronounced in Ginger and Pickles and Mrs. Tittlemouse. The
proprietors of a popular village shop, Ginger (a cat) and Pickles (a dog) fail the
community by not making wise business choices resulting in the closing of their
store. Community is again of central importance in Mrs. Tittlemouse, particularly
the right type of community which in this case means no creatures with dirty little
feet (Potter, 1910/1938, p. 18). Significantly, the marginalization of certain
individuals within a community becomes vitally important in the resolutions of
these texts. Using Behrmans categories of reading multiple texts and reading from
a resistant perspective, I will examine these four books of Potter and demonstrate
the systems of power and the marginalization these narratives produce, particularly
in terms of gender and class. I will first take a brief look at Potters life to help
situate her works.
BEATRIX POTTER
Linda Lear (2007) begins her biography of Potter with the loss of a ring given to
her by Norman Warne and the purchase of Potters much loved property in the
Lake District, Hill Top Farm. With the mention of Warne, Hill Top Farm, and the
fact that at the time of the loss of the ring Potter is happily married to William
Heelis, Lear adeptly pinpoints defining moments in Potters life. At the beginning
of her career as an author, Potter met Norman Warne, the editor assigned to her
from the publishing house Frederick Warne & Company. This professional
relationship developed into friendship and then romance, and Warne proposed to
Potter in July of 1905. Potters parents immediately opposed the engagement
because they saw Warne as a social inferior, and Potter and Warne made no public
announcement of their engagement. Tragically, Warne died in August of 1905.
Potter continued to have close ties with the family, and Fredrick Warne and
Company continued to be her publishers. As her career flourished, Potter, a savvy
businesswoman, created toys, board games, and wallpaper which capitalized on her
characters. Sales from her books and other merchandise helped Potter buy her first
property, Hill Top Farm, and she continued to acquire more land. Potters
biographers note the importance of this purchase as it provided Potter
independence from her parents; Ruth MacDonald (1986) writes of Hill Top []
the purchase of the house gave her the ideal, personal space, the cozy, simple home
life that she had longed for since her teens (p. 18). Heelis, a lawyer, helped Potter
with these subsequent purchases, and in October 1913, Potter and Heelis married.
Although her parents once again objected to the match because of social
inferiority, they did attend the wedding.
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Coupled with these key moments in which class expectations conflicted with
personal happiness and fulfillment, Potter also experienced the limitations of
gender. During her childhood, Potter developed a love for nature which she
expressed through art. From 1892 to 1897, Potter studied and drew fungi, and she
also conducted research on spore dissemination. When Potter tried to present her
research to the scientific community, she received indifference to her work, mainly
because she was a woman and not taken seriously. After Potter had to withdraw a
paper that she presented to the Linnean Society, she shifted the focus of her
drawings to stories and began her career as author and illustrator. Potters interest
in the natural world, however, never abated, and after her death, her substantial
estate was bequeathed to the National Trust. Potters later financial independence
and her love for a simple farming life instead of fashionable society made her seem
odd in the context of Victorian/Edwardian ideals of womanhood, but these societal
expectations did not adversely affect Potter who was now wealthy and well
established. Although Potter was interested in political affairs, particularly trade
agreements and copyright laws, Lear (2007) notes that Potter was against womens
suffrage (pp. 232-233). Ultimately, Potter displays an interesting mix of breaking
the bounds of class and gender in her life, but also enjoying the privileges of class
through her parents wealth and her fame and separate income from her books and
merchandise.
THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLEDUCK
When first reading the story of the ill-fated Jemima, students quickly realize that
the narrative centers on thwarted maternal desire. Jemima, a duck on a farm, has
her eggs routinely taken away so that they can be hatched by a (more responsible)
hen. Jemima, however, yearns to hatch her own eggs, and so the duck leaves the
farm to find a place to nest in some woods. The exceedingly nave Jemima meets a
fox who offers the use of his house (filled with feathers) for Jemima to make her
nest. After Jemima lays her eggs, the fox sends her back to the farm for one last
trip: Jemima is to bring back the ingredients for stuffing a duck. The foxs plans,
however, are foiled by Kep, the farm collie, who with the help of two foxhound
puppies protects Jemima from the fox. Unfortunately for Jemima, during this
rescue, the hounds eat her eggs. The next time Jemima lays eggs, she is allowed to
hatch them, but because she is a bad sitter (Potter, 1908/1984, p. 59), only four
hatch. While Jemima achieves motherhood, the narrative consistently questions her
fitness to be a mother.
Students, at this point, need to become familiar with the Victorian
understanding of domestic ideology, separate spheres, and the idealization of
women as wives and mothers. Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall (2007) note
that the separation of the workplace from the household during the early part of the
Victorian era emphasized the mans role in the public sphere and the womens in
the domestic (p. 309). Davidoff and Hall observe that female writers such as Sara
Stickney Ellis and Harriet Martineau tried to gain agency and personal fulfillment
for women through the importance of their moral role in the domestic sphere:
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women nurtured husbands and children, providing societal stability and raising the
next generation of the empires citizens. With respect to mothers in particular,
Susie Steinbach states: Unlike upper-class or working-class children, middle-class
children often enjoyed long hours with and attention from their mothers, who saw
the rearing of their children as their vocation (p. 141). Claudia Nelson (2007)
argues that Victorian narratives about mothers frequently indicate concern
about womens ability to live up to the standards associated with ideal maternity
(p. 71). With this context, when students begin to analyze the text more deeply,
they see ambivalence in the text about Jemimas maternal longings. Initially, the
absence or lack to which this narrative points seems to be Jemimas inability to be
a mother, yet the farmers wife and Jemimas sister-in-laws assessments of
Jemima as an inept mother come true. Likewise, the narrative cannot be about the
lack of good mothers because the hens perform admirably on the farm; Potters
first illustration depicts a hen surrounded by several ducklings. Jemimas place in
the domestic sphere is a very strange one.
A different form of desire enters the narrative when Jemima encounters the fox:
along with motherhood comes the problem of female sexuality. From the outset,
Potter (1908/1984) depicts Jemima being fascinated by the fox, finding him
mighty civil and handsome (p. 25). Potters description of the foxhis clothes,
his manners, and his deceptive appearanceif applied to a human counterpart,
would be the handsome male with predatory and dishonorable sexual intentions
toward a woman. Jemima, then, could represent the foolish young woman mislead
by appearances, the purity of motherhood being put in danger by an illicit
dalliance. In this reading, it is her lack of sense which needs correction. Yet
Jemima does not demonstrate any growth in character or new-found wisdom at the
end of the tale, and it is not the fox that destroys her eggs, but the solid citizens of
farm and village. Potters fantasy instead expels Jemimas desire for a different
female identity as unproductive; her foray into the forest endangers her life.
Jemima might remain dull and nave at the narratives end, but if she keeps within
the proper bounds, if she remains in her place, she can at least remain alive.
Trying to locate agency in Jemima Puddle-Duck in the midst of the ambivalence
of her female identity demonstrates that despite her limited intelligence and
abilities, Jemima does have certain qualities that other characters desire. The
farmers wife, the fox, and the hounds all desire Jemimas eggs. Jemimas body
itself holds this same value: the fox wishes to eat her, and the farms garden has all
the ingredients necessary to prepare roast duck. Jemima has the agency of a
desirable commodity; this agency grants her a protected status on the farm, but will
be her ultimate undoing.
Characters from Potters other books have this same type of desirability:
McGregor would love to make Peter and the Flopsy bunnies into pie, and other
animals try to eat squirrel Nutkin and the frog Jeremy Fisher. Again it is the
narratives discourse on motherhood that complicates Jemimas character and
makes the duck different from rabbit, squirrel, and frog: As a domesticated duck
Jemima has more value for the farm when alive and producing eggs which hatch
into ducklings. The mother under threat should strike at the heart of the family, but
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because of Jemimas strange positioning as an inadequate mother, the narrative

instead shifts the focus to the farm where Jemima is of some consequence. The
ordered civilized society of the farm, consequently, has tremendous agency in the
story. In the structured life of the farm, the farmers wife and Kep have the most
power: The farmers wife can decide Jemimas fate, and Kep can master the woods
and defeat the threat of the fox. Jemima Puddle-Duck indicates a subtle shift from
the Victorian ideal of motherhood to a different value of mothers and the family.
Reading multiple texts proves useful at this point to engage with the texts
depiction of motherhood. Students can fruitfully compare Jemima to mothers that
appear in Potters other books: Peters mother, Hunca Munca (The Tale of Two
Bad Mice, 1904), Tabitha Twitchit (The Tale of Tom Kitten, 1907; Samuel
Whiskers, 1908; Ginger and Pickles, 1909), and Pigling Blands mother (The Tale
of Pigling Bland, 1913). Peters mother is protective, and Hunca Munca, a mouse,
nurtures her children well. As a mother, the cat Tabitha tends to uphold societal
expectations of herself and her children and needs help from a terrier to save her
son Tom. Pigling Blands mother, a sow with eight children, seems somewhat
heartless when she sends her children off to find their fortunes because of their bad
behavior and hearty appetites, but Pigling Bland finds freedom and love on his
journey to adulthood. None of these mothers, however, are as inept as Jemima, nor
as nave and undiscerning. Reading several of Potters works demonstrates
Jemimas singularity.
Looking at other portrayals of mothers in childrens fantasy literature also
proves productive since mothers, whether exemplary or cautionary, frequently
appear in these narratives. In The Water-Babies, Kingsley presents the Christian
doctrine of the Trinity in the form of three powerful maternal figures: one warm
and nurturing, another punitive, while the third, Mother Carey, sits and stares at the
ocean and her powerful gaze creates creatures. MacDonald also portrays the
Godhead as a positive form of a mother. The grandmother in both The Princess
and the Goblins and The Princess and Curdie offers guidance and help to the child
protagonists. In contrast, Carroll provides negative images of the mother in Alices
Adventures in Wonderland both in the Duchess whose baby turns into a pig and the
Queen of Hearts who threatens all her subjects. While these texts display a range of
positions on the agency and value of mothers, they demonstrate a significant
difference from Potters depictions of mothers, particularly the portrayal of
Jemima.
Kingsley, MacDonald, and Carroll closely integrate the family with the well-
being of society. The mother figures they create represent maternal nurturing (or
the lack of it with the Queen of Hearts) of society, the nation, and the world at
large. The duties of a mother were one component of the Victorian idea of societal
responsibility, and domestic ideology clearly detailed a mothers moral worth.
Potters mothers move away from this societal stage to individuals who do not
have this responsibility. Significantly, the health of the family/nation does not
depend on these mothers. In Jemimas case, for instance, a surrogate mother can
easily replace the biological mother, while in the case of Pigling Bland, his
happiness is not affected by his mothers expulsion of him from the family home.
114
Importantly, this move away from duties and responsibilities does not necessarily
mean freedom for the mother. To survive as an individual, Jemima needs to stay
within the bounds of the farm; she needs to stay in place.
MacDonald (1986) observes that Potter saw Jemima Puddle-Duck as a revision
of the fairy tale Little Red-Riding Hood [] (p. 111). When reading from a
resistant perspective, what exactly is revised comes into question. Jemima, like
Little Red Riding Hood, is trusting and nave, and needs the protection of a strong
male. Unlike Little Red Riding Hood the child, however, Jemima represents a
foolish adult woman lured by an attractive male; only her bodywhether it is to be
eaten or to produce eggsis of value. While Potter does portray strong female
characters (especially in Ginger and Pickles), her revision of the fairytale
stereotypes and marginalizes this particular type of female subject. Finding a
resistant perspective on behalf of Jemima as she is presented in the text sometimes
becomes a daunting task for students, but this difficulty can become a platform for
discussion. Students realize that the narrative presents Jemima as an endearing
character while consistently poking fun at her dimwitted behavior: her stupidity
makes her appealing. Analyzing this appeal and finding ways to resist its lure make
for fruitful discussion.
THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS
Potters next tale again depicts a mother, but Tabitha Twitchit is very different than
Jemima. Potter (1908/1984) describes Tabitha as an anxious parent (p. 34), and
even though Tabitha spends much time in the narrative searching for her kittens
and needs the help of a terrier to rescue Tom, she is not an ineffective parent.
However, while the majority of the narrative is based on a parent/child
relationship, unlike The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck, desire takes many forms in
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers. Tabithas desire for an orderly house is tested by her
kittens and the rats which infest the walls. The rats Anna Maria and Samuel
Whiskers, on the other hand, desire to live off of others property; they steal food
and other items from Tabitha and her neighbors. The kittens desire to escape their
mothers expectations of order and good behavior from them. This desire to escape
leads Tom to climb up the chimney, but instead of reaching the roof, Tom takes a
wrong turn and stumbles into the home of the rats. The rats promptly tie Tom up
and plan to make a meat pudding out of him, and they steal dough, butter, and a
rolling pin to make their kitten pastry. While Toms desire to escape Tabitha is not
terribly wrong, his actions lead to severe consequences: Tom listens to Anna Maria
and Samuels Whiskers plotting to eat him and develops a lifelong fear of rats. The
rats murderous intent, on the other hand, while foiled, only leads to their removal
from Tabithas house and relocation to a nearby farm where they flourish with
many descendents. Although Moppet and Mittens (Toms sisters) hire themselves
out to kill the rats and run a very successful business, the narrative does not
indicate that their actions hinder the rats from increasing in number.
The narratives resolution may make agency difficult to locate. While Tabitha,
Moppet, Mittens, and the terrier can kill the rats, the rats continue to thrive; the text
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seems to have sympathy for both positions. Reading multiple texts helps students
better understand the type of agency being portrayed. I find looking at Potters
(1904) The Tale of Two Bad Mice where another home invasion occurs and
Suzanne Rahns (1984) article Tailpiece: The Tale of Two Bad Mice useful in
helping students locate agency and examine class structure.3 In this story, two
miceHunca Munca and Tom Thumbbreak into a luxurious dollhouse, and
when they realize that the food is not real, the mice begin to destroy the dollhouse
until Hunca Munca realizes that they can use some of the items in their home. The
mice steal furniture, and although the nurse sets a mousetrap for the mice, Hunca
Munca and Tom Thumb continue to have access to the house albeit only when the
dolls and their human owner are asleep. Rahn (1984) makes an excellent reading of
the text, tying in Potters sympathy for contemporary working class political
movements and her own romantic interest in Warne to sympathy for the working
class mice.
However, despite the texts obvious sympathy toward the mice, they are not
given full run of the dollhouse or the rest of the house: they have access to middle
class privileges, but continue to remain firmly situated in their own class. Like
Jemima, Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb need to stay within their proper sphere;
when they do so, they have some middle class privileges extended to them.
Reexamining Samuel Whiskers in this context brings different elements of the text
to the forefront. While both the mice and the rats steal, the rats are much more
dangerous to the middle-class inhabitants of the house. The rats need to move out
of the middle-class home to the less preferred space of a barn to flourish. Likewise,
the homes of the mice and the rats differ. Although both the mice and rats live
within the walls of their respective houses, pictures of the mices home depict it as
warm and inviting, whereas both the text and pictures show the rats home as dirty
and cluttered. Anna Maria and Samuel Whiskers are the lowest of the working
class and come much closer to vagrants who need to be expelled from middle class
society. Despite much of the humor of the narrative arising from the rats
conversations on the best way to cook Tom, the rats cannot remain within proper
society.4
Juxtaposing Samuel Whiskers with The Water-Babies brings in a differing
viewpoint about class mobility. As mentioned earlier, the protagonist of The
Water-Babies is a chimney sweep named Tom, and the book is Kingsleys
response to Charles Darwins (1859) The Origin of Species. An Anglican priest,
Kingsley admired Darwin but firmly grounds physical evolution within a divine
framework. As a result, when the human Tom (like the kitten Tom) has a
misadventure in a chimney and enters the wrong room of a spacious, wealthy
home, Tom recognizes his own physical and moral impurity and begins his
evolutionary journey toward moral rejuvenation. After Tom evolves into a moral
human being, he also experiences a change in circumstance in the physical world.
Instead of remaining a chimney sweep, Tom becomes an engineer; he moves from
one of the lowliest members of the working class to a secure position within the
middle class. Moreover, Kingsleys idea of evolutionary moral restoration becomes
a paradigm for subject formation in the text and allows for upward class mobility.
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Tom Kittens chimney adventure, on the other hand, reinforces class rigidity.
Tom Kittens furry little body collects as much soot as a chimney sweeps would;
the narrator brings this to the readers attention by stating, He was like a little
sweep himself (Potter, 1908/1984, p. 41). But when Tom Kitten tumbles out from
the chimney into Samuel Whiskers abode, Tom Kitten distances himself from the
image of sweep by telling the rat that [] the chimney wants sweeping (Potter,
1908/1984, p. 43) indicating that it is someone elses job, and he merely happens
to be an unfortunate victim. After Tom Kitten is rescued, a hot bath, however
unpleasant, transforms him from sweep to kitten and restores him back to his
middle class state. The rats meanwhile have fled the house, and stability returns to
the cats household. Instead of Kingsleys wide, vast world which is constantly
moving forward, Potter offers a clearly demarcated world in which characters are
happiest when they remain in their appropriate spheres. As much as she was
interested in the natural world, Potter did not imagine an evolutionary model for
class structure.
Students can immediately see that reading from a resistant perspective needs to
challenge this demarcation of society. While no one condones the rats position of
wishing to eat Tom, examining the characteristics of why the rats are seen as
other proves helpful. In a reading of Samuel Whiskers, Heather Evans (2008)
discusses different examples of female agency by situating the text in Victorian
discourses about food. Evans (2008) links Toms impending doom into being
turned into a pudding to both British societys fascination with cannibalism in the
colonies and to their own gastronomical disputes about food (p. 605). Usually, my
students have already read introductory material concerning postcolonialism, so
they understand the colonial trope of seeing the Other as savage, uncivilized, and
needing to be controlled as a means of justifying the colonial enterprise and other
forms of exploitation. Since the rats represent both the exotic and the British, they
demonstrate how marginalization can occur at home and abroad. The rats
preference to pilfer complicates this discourse of the other; some of their choices
isolate them from mainstream society. Students often discuss inclusion and
rehabilitation and who has the authority to create parameters for each. The text
speaks to different power structures and the ease with which marginalization can
occur.
THE TALE OF GINGER AND PICKLES
In her next book, Potter moves away from the intimacy of domestic travails to the
difficulties a community faces when the village store closes. Ginger and Pickles
offer their customers unlimited credit, and their customers take advantage of this
situation and never pay their bills. Although Ginger and Pickles try to collect by
resending the bills, they never receive any of their money, so they eat their stock
and are unable to renew Pickles dog license or pay taxes. When the dog and cat
close their store, the narrator immediately points out the discomfort that it causes
to their customers. Tabitha Twitchit owns the only other store in the village; she
never offers credit, and as soon as Ginger and Pickles go out of business, Tabitha
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raises her prices. The narrator goes on to explain the other options the customers
have, and each option has its shortcomings. Finally, Henny Penny decides to
reopen the store, and while she does not extend credit to her customers, she offers
bargain prices.
Desire plays a significant role in the narrative; shopkeepers desire customers,
and customers desire quality goods at the cheapest price. At first glance, the
narratives resolution seems to satisfy both shopkeeper and customer. Yet a closer
look shows that while Ginger and Pickles are censured for their lack of business
sense, the customers greed (which essentially forces the cat and the dog out of
business) is never seen as problematic in the text. Even more troubling is the fact
that Ginger and Pickles successfully control their predatory inclinations toward
their customers, but when the two leave the business world, they take on more
aggressive professions. One picture depicts Ginger setting traps by a rabbit warren
while another depicts Pickles, now a gamekeeper, pointing his gun toward some
rabbits. The uncontested removal of characters from civil business and behavior to
more violent forms of survival creates a complicated form of marginalization in the
text.
Students quickly locate agency lying with consumers and their desire for a
variety of products and bargain prices. Potters other works do not address this
particular issue, but a variety of texts from the Victorian and Edwardian eras can
offer different perspectives on consumerism. In Maria Edgeworths (1801)
cautionary short story, The Purple Jar, a young girl learns the deceptiveness of a
stores window display when she buys an attractive purple jar, forgoing a much-
needed pair of shoes. When she realizes the color of the jar is merely a clever trick,
she learns a bitter lesson. MacDonald (1883) in The Princess and Curdie
denounces greed and sharp business practices. Edith Nesbit in The Story of the
Amulet (1906) censures capitalism and business practices carried on in London.
These texts reflect the unease consumerism created: With the advent of department
stores in Britain and their elaborate, inviting window displays, Victorians began to
express anxiety over a new consumer culture particularly with respect to female
shoppers. Kelley Graham (2008) notes the real life dangers of a Victorian
marketplace in the form of thieves and pickpockets (p. 8). Steinbach (2012)
observes that the rhetoric on consumerism frequently shifted; women were often
seen as irrational shoppers (p. 111), but shopping was also seen as an enjoyable
national pastime (pp. 110-111). These differing perspectives help students situate
the type of consumerism that Potter delineates in the text. Potter does not share the
concern that some of her contemporaries held that shopping could have an adverse
moral effect on human character: for the inhabitants of the village, shopping is a
pleasurable activity which crosses both gender and class. On the other hand, the
narrative does pass moral judgment on Ginger and Pickles for failing to keep the
shop open. The texts emphasis on balancing the needs of the shopkeeper and the
customer perhaps reflects Potters own successful form of business.
Students find that Ginger and Pickles offers different vantage points for reading
from a resistant perspective. While female shopkeepers were fewer in number than
their male counterparts, women did run their own businesses during this time
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period, so Tabitha Twitchit and Henny Penny are not out of the norm. Potters
depiction of them as both mothers and savvy businesswomen, however, does resist
domestic ideology in which women stay out of the public sphere. Likewise,
because the two female shopkeepers keep their businesses solvent, they
demonstrate more integrity than the male shopkeepers. Whereas Potter moves
away from the idea of the duties and moral responsibilities of a mother toward
society with the character of Jemima, Henny Penny nurtures her customers like a
good mother would.
This female agency, however, comes at the expense of marginalizing the male
characters and accepting unchecked consumerism as an ideal societal norm. When
discussing the male characters, students find it interesting to explore what the
successful male subject would look like when resisting a traditional business
model. Clearly, being non-aggressive and non-competitive does not work in the
narrative, particularly when Ginger and Pickles cannot regulate the business
practices of others or the morals of their customers. At times, when students have
already read Virginia Woolfs Professions for Women (1931) and Thoughts on
Peace during an Air Raid (1940) earlier in the course, I will revisit Woolfs ideas
about freeing the female and male subject. With respect to consumerism, students
try to imagine and flesh out the resistant customer. Whether it takes the form of
classroom discussion or an assignment, students often note that finding these
resistant positions are still relevant today, even when resistance may be difficult to
achieve.
THE TALE OF MRS. TITTLEMOUSE
Mrs. Tittlemouse moves away from the center of village life to a bank under a
hedge in which Thomasina Tittlemouse has a spacious home. The mouses desire
for complete control over her home becomes quickly evident as she expels various
uninvited guests from different rooms of her house. When the mouse comes across
some bees that have lodged in one of her storerooms, however, she knows that she
cannot remove the creatures from her house without some help. She initially thinks
of a toad (Mr. Jackson), but then dismisses this idea because of his dirty feet.
Lured by the smell of the bees honey, the toad, however, has already arrived in the
mouses house. Mr. Jackson searches the house for honey (discovering even more
uninvited guests), eventually removes the bees, and leaves. Mrs. Tittlemouse
immediately fixes her door so that the toad cannot gain entry into her house and
then cleans her house for a fortnight. The narrative ends with the mouse hosting a
party at her home for five other mice. Mr. Jackson tries to gatecrash the party, but
the altered door proves too strong for him. The mice hand him honeydew through
the window, and the narrator states: [] he was not at all offended (Potter, 1910/
1938, p. 59). The idea of homes being invaded is a familiar one in Potters works,
and one can sympathize with the mouses desire to keep her property to herself.
Likewise, Mrs. Tittlemouse has enough intelligence to prevent Mr. Jackson from
reentering her house. However, the narratives constant repetition of the word
dirty is a troubling element in the text. In this nonstop reference to cleanliness,
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the text goes beyond issues of property: the guests uncleanliness justifies their
unwelcome status. Several creatures fall into this category of having dirty feet
except for the other mice whom Mrs. Tittlemouse invites to her house. A desire to
only associate with the right type of people clearly emerges in the text.
Unlike the rampant consumerism seen in Ginger and Pickles which weighted all
consumers equally, genteel society in Mrs. Tittlemouse maintains proper relations
between neighbors. In several tales, Potter critiques middle class social norms such
as the formal manners displayed by a cat and a dog having dinner together (The
Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan, 1905). Although Potter (1910/1938) describes
Mrs. Tittlemouse as [] a most terribly tidy particular mouse (p. 14), the
narrator never pokes fun at Mrs. Tittlemouses obsession to clean her house, even
when it lasts for several days. And even though Mr. Jackson lives in a drain and
possesses dirty feet, the narrative does not place him on the same level as Anna
Maria and Samuel Whiskers: the toad and mouse are very polite to each other.
In this context of maintaining proper and courteous class relations, Grahames
(1908) Wind in the Willows helps in understanding Potters community living by
the hedge. Grahame does portray class insurrection when the ferrets and stoats take
over Toad Hall, and this type of insubordination has a violent end as the usurpers
are routed and forced to serve the master class: Toad, Badger, Rat, and Mole. More
subtle, however, is Grahames portrayal of idyllic scenes when the upper classes
benevolently take care of the lower classes, and the lower classes serve with
contented bliss. Mrs. Tittlemouse does not invoke this paradigm in the manner in
which Grahame does with his Dickensian scenes, but Mrs. Tittlemouse,
nevertheless, does have this model as its basis. To preserve this model, the text
seems to prescribe a mixture of intelligence, cleanliness, and polite manners. This
societal model in turn meets the needs of all the inhabitants of the hedge from the
clean mice to the dirty toad.
In examining the world of Mrs. Tittlemouse, students realize that Mr. Jackson
represents a resistance to this model which is hard for the mouse/middle class to
contain. Physically the mouse is no match for the toad. She cannot expel him from
her home like she does a spider or beetle; instead, Mrs. Tittlemouse has to wait
until Mr. Jackson chooses to leave. Significantly, Mr. Jackson cannot be bought
over like Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb. He will not play by middle class rules to
receive limited middle class privileges. Even more tellingly, unlike Anna Maria
and Samuel Whiskers who are pariahs within the middle class home, Mr. Jackson
is treated with courtesy and offered a meal by the mouse. Once inside Mrs.
Tittlemouses home, the toad exerts his will and goes wherever he pleases with the
mouse following meekly behind. Mr. Jackson is not completely shunned because
he cannot be stopped, only restrained. Mr. Jackson represents a power that the
middle class cannot wholly hold at bay, and therefore, he is included into polite
society. Although this inclusion is masked under courtesy and propriety, there is an
element of unease. Students find this position of resistance easy to develop. The
toad, after all, has abilities to offer to society; he is impervious to the stinging bees
and can remove them from Mrs. Tittlemouses house.
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To help students analyze this position of resistance more deeply, I encourage

them to think of how the toad gained this agency. Some of his power occurs
through natural talents such as his size and strength. Yet much of his power also
arises from his disregard of societal rules and norms, his ability to question
authority. While this questioning of authority is contained at the narratives end,
and the toad seems to uphold the rule of Mrs. Tittlemouse by drinking to her
health, this resolution only occurs because the toad chooses to accept this authority
for the moment and for his benefit. The toad is his own master and points to an
alternative form of power.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Samuel Whiskers, Ginger and Pickles, and Mrs.
Tittlemouse demonstrate Potters interest in the proper structuring of society and an
individuals place within this social order. The singular figure of Jemima portrays
the (life saving) value of knowing ones place in society. Samuel Whiskers, Ginger
and Pickles, and Mrs. Tittlemouse depict limited forms of female and/or class
agency, but also see the rigidity of class as unproblematic. Additionally, Ginger
and Pickles celebrates consumerism and promotes a balance between the
customers and shopkeepers monetary needs. Reading multiple texts and from a
resistant perspective helps students understand some of the troubling moral
judgments that these narratives convey. Since Potters books are picture books
intended for a young audience, their warm and attractive pictures can mask some
of these values. Students understand the danger of unquestioningly internalizing
these views, and Potters works are very useful for the purposes of critical literacy.
NOTES
1
The movie Miss Potter was released December 2006. Among fictional works inspired by Beatrix
Potters life are Susan Albert Wittigs mystery series The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter (2004-
2011) and Deborah Hopkinsons picture book Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a
Borrowed Guinea Pig (2016). Juvenile biographies include Susan Denyers At Home with Beatrix
Potter: The Creator of Peter Rabbit (2000), Jeannette Winters Beatrix: Various Episodes from the
Life of Beatrix Potter (2003), and David McPhails Beatrix and Her Paint Box (2015).
2
Scott Pollard and Kara Keeling (2002) convincingly read Peters rebellion as reliving his fathers
journey (Peters father comes to a dismal end at McGregors garden and is made into rabbit pie) and
exploring the tensions between civilizing behavior within a community and rebelling against it.
3
Ruth MacDonald (1986) also provides excellent material on this particular story in her study of
Potter.
4
Samuel Whiskers fears that the string tying up Tom will prove to be indigestible (Potter, 1908/
1984, p. 42).
REFERENCES
Behrman, E. H. (2006). Teaching about language, power, and text: A review of classroom practices that
support critical literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(6), 490-498.
Bishop, E. (2014). Critical literacy: Bringing theory to praxis. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 30(1),
51-63.
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SWAMIDOSS
Davidoff, L., & Hall, C. (2007). Separate spheres. In K. Boyd & R. McWilliam (Eds.), The Victorian
studies reader (pp. 307-317). London, UK: Routledge.
Evans, H. (2008). Kittens and kitchens: Food, gender and The Tale of Samuel Whiskers. Victorian
Literature and Culture, 36, 603-623.
Graham, K. (2008). Gone to the shops: Shopping in Victorian England. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Jackson, R. (1981). Fantasy: The literature of subversion. London, UK: Methuen.
Lear, L. (2007). Beatrix Potter: A life in nature. New York, NY: St. Martins Press.
MacDonald, R. K. (1986). Beatrix Potter. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
Nelson, C. (2007). Family ties in Victorian England. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Nikolajeva, M. (2012). The development of childrens fantasy. In E. James & F. Mendlesohn (Eds.),
The Cambridge companion to fantasy literature (pp. 50-61). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Scott, P., & Keeling, K. (2002). In search of his fathers garden. In M. Mackey (Ed.), Beatrix Potters
Peter Rabbit: A childrens classic at 100 (pp. 117-130). Lanham, MD: The Childrens Literature
Association and The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Potter, B. (1908/1984). The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. New York, NY: Dover Publications.
Potter, B. (1908/1984). The Tale of Samuel Whiskers. Giant Treasury of Beatrix Potter. New York, NY:
Derrydale Books, Random House.
Potter, B. (1909/2002). The Tale of Ginger and Pickles. New York, NY: Frederick Warne, Penguin
Group.
Potter, B. (1910/1938). The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse. New York, NY: Frederick Warne & Co, Inc.
Rahn, S. (1984). Tailpiece: The tale of two bad mice. Childrens Literature, 12, 78-91.
Steinbach, S. (2012). Understanding the Victorians: Politics, culture and society in nineteenth-century
Britain. London: Routledge.
Hannah Swamidoss
Independent Scholar
122

DANIELLE E. FOREST
8. DEPICTIONS OF SOCIAL CLASS IN

NEWBERY-WINNING FANTASIES
A Critical Literacy Approach
Childrens literature is a reflection of what society values and what knowledge and
beliefs should be passed along to future generations. Books are often considered
means of socializing and educating children (Apol, 1998), and this is particularly
true for works of fantasy. Gates, Steffel, and Molson (2003) contend fantasy
literature represents our personal need and the universal quest for deeper realities
and universal truth (p. 2), while Tunnell and Jacobs (2008) argue fantasy
clarifies the human condition and captures the essence of our deepest emotions,
dreams, hopes, and fears (p. 121). Indeed, the values and beliefs evident in
fantasy books may be considered the ones most deeply cherished in a society.
The values, beliefs, ideologies, and cultural knowledge conveyed in childrens
literature, which I will collectively refer to as discourses here, can be
deconstructed by reading through a critical literacy lens. Reading from a critical
literacy stance means questioning what is presented as normal in a text (Jones,
2006; Luke, 2012), considering perspectives in a text from multiple viewpoints,
and paying attention to social and political issues raised in the text (Lewison, Flint,
& Van Sluys, 2002). Critically literate readers assume that all texts convey
ideology, position some people or groups as important and others as unimportant,
and generate power for particular people or groups (Jones, 2006, 2008). Critically
literate readers understand that no text is ever neutral and the discourses in texts
can become normative unless they are actively critiqued.
In this chapter, I employ a critical literacy lens to deconstruct how social class is
portrayed in ten fantasy books winning the Newbery Medal or Honor between
2004 and 2013. The Newbery is among the most prestigious (Kidd, 2007) and
influential (Horning, 2010) of childrens book awards, and the years 2004 to 2013
are especially salient ones for unpacking depictions of social class. If childrens
literature is regarded as a reflection of societys attitudes and a product of the
social, political, and cultural climate (Taxel, 1997), then this ten-year time period
offers a rich landscape for exploring class in literature: In the United States,
economic prosperity marked the years between 2004 and 2007, a recession
devastated the economy from late 2007 through mid-2009, and a recovering
economy characterized the period starting in mid-2009 (Seefeldt et al., 2012).
Several reasons guide my interest in deconstructing how social class is depicted
in books for youth. Young people deserve literature validating their social and
cultural identities. Class is a significant aspect of an individuals identity (hooks,

FOREST
2000), yet the construct of class has not been widely examined in childrens
literature (Forest, 2014a, 2014b; Forest, Garrison, & Kimmel, 2015; Sano, 2009).
Without critical analyses of class in childrens literature, educators may
unwittingly place books that disparage, rather than affirm, class identities in the
hands of young people. Negative discourses about social class in childrens
literature could potentially be damaging to young peoples sense of self-worth
unless they know how to read books from a critical literacy stance. Further, I am
interested in advancing discussion about class in a broader sense. Many Americans
believe they live in a classless society (hooks, 2000; Jones, 2006), a dangerous
belief in a nation where class inequalities are widening (Comber, 2015). This
chapter calls attention to the discourses about class present in the United States as
they manifest in award-winning childrens literature. In the following sections, I
explain what I mean by social class, describe common discourses about class,
address depictions of class groups in Newbery titles, and deconstruct these
depictions through a critical literacy lens.
DEFINING SOCIAL CLASS AND DISCOURSES ABOUT CLASS
Social scientists do not agree on how class and class groups should be defined or
categorized. However, some scholars agree that educational attainment, income,
and occupation are indicators of a persons class (Abramowitz & Texeira, 2009;
Anyon, 1981; Gilbert, 2015; Hill, 2012). In defining social class, I draw upon
Gilberts (2015) notion of a class as a group of people sharing similarities along
these indicators. For the purposes here I conceptualize class into four groups: the
poor, the working class, the middle class, and the affluent. The poor include those
who frequently experience financial hardship. They may be unemployed or work
in low-wage jobs (Gilbert, 2015), have limited educational attainment (Seefeldt et
al., 2012), and live in neighborhoods with under-resourced public schools (Lott,
2012). The working class consists of white and blue collar workers without
specialized training as well as pink collar workers (Anyon, 1981; Gilbert, 2015;
Lott, 2012). Clerical and retail workers and manual laborers belong to this class
(Abramowitz & Texeira, 2009). Those in the middle class have a high school or
college education, and they include teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters,
lower-level managers, and specialized blue collar workers like electricians
(Gilbert, 2015; Hill, 2012). The affluent are people with highly specialized and
well-paying jobs (e.g., doctors, lawyers, executives) as well as people who live off
investments or family money (Gilbert, 2015; Hill, 2012). My intention for
describing these class groups is not to construct monolithic images of them; rather,
it is to give a general sense of what I mean when I address these class groups later.
While social scientists disagree on how to define class, many agree an
individuals social class shapes his/her life experiences as well as social, cultural,
and political interactions. Class influences where a person shops, eats, goes to
school, and works (Langston, 1988) and how a person perceives expectations for
him/herself and others (Brown, 1974). Given the salience of class to individual
lives, it is unsurprising that a number of discourses about class are prevalent in the
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DEPICTIONS OF SOCIAL CLASS
United States. For example, class is often regarded as taboo, an impolite topic
(hooks, 2000) more suitable to private discussion in the home than public
discourse (Jones, 2006). In fact, some Americans believe they live in a classless
society (hooks, 2000; Jones, 2006) or largely middle class society (Van Galen,
2007), beliefs likely perpetuated by residential segregation (Gilbert, 2015), de facto
class-based segregation in the public schools, and the overwhelming depiction of
the middle class in mass media (hooks, 2000).
Moreover, many Americans ascribe to the American dream myth. According to
traditional notions of this myth, opportunities for achieving success are accessible
to all, the expectation of success is reasonable, and success is attributable to
individual virtue and failure to individual shortcomings (Hochschild, 2002).
Virtues like dutiful industry as well as self-reliance, hard work, and frugality
are celebrated within this discourse (Beach, 2007, p. 151). Though the myth has
been critiqued for assuring the poor of inevitable financial success (Brown, 1974)
and blaming failure on individual shortcomings rather than systemic inequalities
(Hochschild, 2002), it has persisted for decades. Other discourses about class
include the beliefs that class membership is a personal choice (Hill, 2012), poverty
is a function of bad luck or laziness (Langston, 1988), and the equation of class
status with worth and ability (Van Galen, 2007, p. 158). Such discourses herald
the wealthy for their attainment of success and vilify the poor for their failure to
do so.
DEPICTIONS OF SOCIAL CLASS IN NEWBERY FANTASIES
Summaries of the ten Newbery titles discussed here are shown in Table 1. These
depictions of class are drawn from a dissertation study that included all 42
Newbery Medal and Honor titles from 2004 to 2013 (see Forest, 2014b). In this
dissertation study, I utilized a flexible design to qualitative content analysis that
included both deductive and inductive analyses of how social class was portrayed
Table 1. Fantasy Genre Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 2004-2013
Title Award Summary

Year
The One and 2013 Facing a lifetime in captivity at a troubled mall zoo,
Only Ivan Ivan, a gorilla, uses his artistic abilities to free himself
and his friends.
Splendors and 2013 Parsefall and Lizzie Rose, the orphaned assistants to
Glooms Professor Grisinis puppet show, learn their new friend
Clara, a wealthy doctors daughter, has been turned in to
a puppet by their master. Meanwhile, Cassandra
Sagredo, a witch and an old friend of Professor
Grisinis, lures the orphans to her estate to rid herself of
a cursed gemstone.
When You 2010 As her mother is poised to win $10,000 on a game show,
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FOREST
Reach Me Miranda makes connections between the strange events

that have occurred over the last several months:
mysterious messages predicting the future appear in her
personal belongings, her best friend Sal is punched by a
strange kid, her spare key goes missing, a shoe is stolen
from her apartment, and a crazy man yells at her from a
street corner.
Where the 2010 Saddened by her familys poor fortune and her mothers
Mountain Meets constant laments, Minli leaves her village to seek out the
the Moon Old Man in the Moon, a powerful person capable of
changing the familys fate. Along the way, Minli
befriends a dragon who cannot fly and a kindly king
among others.
The Graveyard 2009 After his family is viciously murdered, Nobody Bod
Book Owens makes his way to a graveyard and is raised and
protected by the ghosts residing there. Yet if Bod ever
leaves, he runs the risk of discovery by his familys
murderer.
The Underneath 2009 A family of two young kittens and an old hound living
underneath an evil trappers house face impending
danger. At the same time, a serpent who has lived in a
jar for one thousand years awaits her freedom.
Savvy 2009 When Mibs gains her savvy, or special power, on her
13th birthday, she hopes to use it to help her father heal
from a car accident. Mibs and her friends hitch a bus
headed for the hospital (or so they hope) and are aided
by Lester, a deliveryman, and Lill, a waitress.
Whittington 2006 The tale of Dick Whittington, a legendary Englishman

who owed his fortune to his cat, is told by Whittington,
the cats descendant, to Ben, a struggling reader, and
Abby, his sister.
Princess 2006 Miri and her family live on Mount Eskel, a struggling
Academy mining village. After hearing that the prince will one
day marry a Mount Eskel girl, Miri and fellow villagers
attend the Princess Academy, where they will receive
training fit for a queen. With little interest in becoming a
royal, Miri uses her new education to seek justice and
equity for her community.
The Tale of 2004 Despereaux, a mouse, is condemned to the dungeon

Despereaux when his family learns of his love for Princess Pea, a
human. Meanwhile, Roscuro, a rat, and Miggery Sow, a
servant girl, plot against Princess Pea, and Despereaux
must find a way to save her.
126
in the sample; the deductive analysis was informed by Kendalls (2011)

investigation of how class is portrayed in mass media, although my inductive
analysis unpacked additional portrayals of class beyond what Kendall (2011)
identified. Additional information about methods is available in Forest (2014b).
THE POOR AND THE WORKING CLASS
Although I have described the poor and the working class as two distinct class
groups, I group them together here because they are depicted in similar ways in the
ten books. Depictions of these two groups are both positive and negative. At times,
poor and working class characters are shown as hardworking, caring, and worthy
of respect. Minli, the main character of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin,
2009) is one example. After endless days toiling in the barren land surrounding
Fruitless Mountain and hearing her mothers laments about the familys poverty,
Minli leaves on a journey to visit the Old Man in the Moon, who has the power to
change the familys fortune. Minlis journey demonstrates her deep love for her
family, and her compassion for others is shown later when she finally meets the
Old Man. Minli is granted one question of the Old Man, and instead of asking him
to help her family, she asks a question on behalf of her new friend Dragon, who
wonders why he cannot fly. Miri, the working class protagonist of Princess
Academy (Hale, 2005), is particularly known for her industriousness and ingenuity.
When she is sent to the Princess Academy against her wishes, Miri makes the most
of the opportunity to obtain an education; she learns to read and discovers the true
value of linder, the stone mined and sold by the people of Mount Eskel, her village.
Miri applies her new knowledge by negotiating fair prices for linder, which
enhances the quality of life on hardscrabble Mount Eskel and prompts other
members of the kingdom (known as lowlanders) to view the Mount Eskel villagers
with new respect. Lizzie Rose, the orphaned puppet masters assistant in Splendors
and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012), is also shown as worthy of respect despite her
poverty. When Clara, a wealthy doctors daughter, first meets Lizzie Rose and
fellow puppeteer Parsefall, she is impressed by them and exclaims, Theyre so
cleverthey must know so many things I dont. They earn their own living!
(Schlitz, 2012, p. 11). Lizzie Rose is further depicted as caring and hardworking
through her mother-like role toward Parsefall.
Several poor and working class characters in the books attain the American
dream, moving from poverty to a higher social class. Although Lizzie Rose and
Parsefall are desperately poor throughout Splendors and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012),
by the end of the story they have inherited the fortune of Cassandra Sagredo, a
witch whose opulent estate boasts high ceilings, Venetian windows, and
gilded furniture (Schlitz, 2012, p. 129). Additionally, they are adopted into the
wealthy Wintermute family after saving Clara from evil Professor Grisini. Minli of
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin, 2009) is another example of success.
Ultimately, Minlis journey to change her familys fortune is a success although
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FOREST
she forgoes her question to the Old Man in the Moon to help Dragon. Grateful to
Minli, Dragon gives Minli his dragons pearl, which she passes on to the king, who
in turn provides Minlis village with much-needed seeds and farming equipment
that bring more prosperity than any reward of jade and gold (Lin, 2009, p. 272).
Dick Whittington is another character who achieves great success. A poor village
boy, Dick Whittington prospered and became Lord Mayor of London
(Armstrong, 2005, p. 178). Success is also on the horizon for Miranda and her
mother in When You Reach Me (Stead, 2009). At the end of the book, Mirandas
working class mother wins $10,000 on a game show, and her boyfriend hands her a
stack of law school applications to suggest she can now afford her long-held dream
of becoming a lawyer. Presumably, Miranda and her mother are on their way to a
higher class status. Lastly, Miris education in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005)
helps her achieve a better life for the people of Mount Eskel, although Miris
success is much more modest in comparison to the rags-to-riches tales of these
other characters. Notably, achievement of the American dream was evident in half
the books.
While some characters achieve financial success, other characters aspire to
prosperity or prestige. The latter is true for Gar Face in The Underneath, who
aspires to be the most revered trapper in the piney woods (Appelt, 2008, p. 243).
In The Tale of Despereaux, Miggery Sow, a slave to her uncle, is thrilled when she
is given the chance to work in the castle as a paid servant, and later, she wishes for
further social advancement as she dreams of becoming a royal like Princess Pea:
I am to be a princess, too, someday (DiCamillo, 2003, p. 142). Before making
his fortune, Dick Whittington dreams of having money to spend and never feeling
hungry or cold again (Armstrong, 2005). Aspirations for moving into a higher
social class are also evident in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005) as Miris friends
dream of becoming the next queen. Even level-headed Miri imagines how her
familys circumstances would improve if she became queen. These portrayals not
only show lower class characters aspiring to a higher class, but they also depict
affluence as an ideal.
Hardship and financial precariousness often permeate the lives of poor and
working class characters; in fact, this was a robust way of depicting these class
groups. In Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Minli thinks, What a poor
fortune we have. Every day, Ba and Ma work and work and we still have nothing
(Lin, 2009, p. 12). The miners in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005) know if they do
not mine and sell enough linder, they will not be able to buy enough food to
sustain their families through winter. In Splendors and Glooms, Lizzie Rose
explains to Parsefall what will happen if their landlady, Mrs. Pinchbeck, evicts
them: If Mrs. Pinchbeck were to throw us out, youd have to go back to the
workhouse and Id have to live on the street. Theres girls younger than me on the
street and its a bad, bad life (Schlitz, 2012, p. 116). Fear of job loss is constant
for working class characters in Savvy (Law, 2008). Lester, a delivery driver,
worries his boss will fire him for allowing Mibs and her friends to hitch a ride on
his bus. Later, when Lester and Mibs encounter Lill, a truck stop waitress, she
expresses worry that her boss will fire her for perpetual lateness: If I get to work
128
and find I still have myself a job, if my boss doesnt fire me on the spot for being
so latelate again, she groaned, Ill see that yall get a fine supper (Law, 2008,
p. 146). Precariousness is also a theme in The One and Only Ivan (Applegate,
2012). The mall zoo where Ivan the gorilla lives is on the brink of ruin; the zoos
owner, Mack, depends on Ivans finger paintings to make ticket sales.
Additionally, the zoos janitor, George, recently fired by Mack, explains to his
daughter why she cannot have a dog: Jules, Im not even sure I have a job yet. I
may not even be able to feed you, let alone some mutt (Applegate, 2012, p.
247). Indeed, being a member of the poor or working class is often characterized
by fear and instability in these books.
Sometimes, poor and working class characters are depicted as insignificant and
lowly. A couple of examples of this are evident in Savvy (Law, 2008). Lester says
of himself, Im nothing b-but a deliveryman, suggesting he does not respect his
own occupation (Law, 2008, p. 55). Later in the story, Mibs discovers a homeless
man who is either dead or unconscious. Though Mibs thinks about the man and
wonders if he is someones loved one, her friends pass him by, ignoring him.
Likewise, Professor Grisini in Splendors and Glooms knows disguising himself as
a homeless man can make him invisible: Here was a beggar like ten thousand
others: a man so cheerless and commonplace that no one would give him a second
glance (Schlitz, 2012, p. 96). Interestingly, an old rhyme alluding to the
insignificance of the poor and homeless appeared in both Splendors and Glooms
(Schlitz, 2012) and The Graveyard Book (Gaiman, 2009): Rattle his bones/over the
stones/hes only a pauper/who nobody owns.
Lower class characters are also shown as objects of scorn. Lill, the waitress in
Savvy (Law, 2008), is the object of her bosss scorn when he fires her and throws
the bills of her final pay on the diner floor, forcing her to pick them up in a most
undignified way. In Whittington (Armstrong, 2005), Dick begs for food and
receives a kick instead, while in Splendors and Glooms, Cassandras servants
grumble about having to wait on dirty little beggar children (Schlitz, 2012, p.
209). In Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin, 2009), a peach vendor sneers at
a beggar and a magistrate is outraged when he learns his son is fated to marry the
daughter of a grocer. Scorn is also evident in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005) when
the academy tutor, Olana, puts down the Mount Eskel girls and reminds them they
are the lowliest members of the kingdom.
Other characters in these class groups are depicted as criminals. Thievery is a
way of life for Professor Grisini in Splendors and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012), who
steals and pawns womens jewelry, including earrings belonging to Lizzie Rose.
Parsefall is likewise a thief: Never, thought Parsefall, surveying the Wintermute
drawing room, had he seen a house better stocked with things to steal (Schlitz,
2012, p. 19). In When You Reach Me (Stead, 2009), Mirandas mother steals items
from the office of supply cabinet. Mack, the zoo owner in The One and Only Ivan
(Applegate, 2012), is not a criminal but is unscrupulous. When Stella the elephant
gets an infection, Mack refuses to treat it due to the cost and Stella dies from her
illness. As money gets tighter at the zoo, Mack cuts back on food and turns the
heat off at night, actions harmful to the animals in his care.
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Finally, some poor and working class characters are shown as crude, ignorant,
buffoonish, and trashy, particularly in their interactions with characters in higher
class groups. In Princess Academy, Olana constantly berates the girls for their
ignorance and refers to them as dusty goat girls (Hale, 2005, p. 43). Parsefall in
Splendors and Glooms is described this way: Except for his industry, he had few
good qualities. He was selfish and rude, and his personal habits were disgusting
(Schlitz, 2012, p. 16). Mrs. Pinchbeck, Parsefalls landlady, is likewise dirty and
wears clothes inappropriate for her age. Miggery in The Tale of Despereaux
(DiCamillo, 2003) is characterized as a buffoon. She has a small head and a round,
fat body, and her ears looked nothing so much as pieces of cauliflower stuck on
either side of her head (DiCamillo, 2003, p. 166). Carlene, Lesters ex-wife in
Savvy (Law, 2008) is portrayed as trashy:
[Carlene] looked like a witch dressed up for Halloween like a movie
starShe was reading the Sunday paper and wearing nothing much more
than a shiny satin robe and bright pink lipstick that bled into the wrinkles
radiating from her lips (Law, 2008, p. 258)
The inside of Carlenes trailer is smoky with the pungent odor of mothballs,
the furniture is garish and awful, and tacky trinkets fill every empty space
(Law, 2008, pp. 261-262).
While there are some positive portrayals of poor and working class characters,
as I will explain later, these negative depictions contribute to a discourse that may
justify the low positions of these groups on the class hierarchy.
THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE AFFLUENT
Depictions of the middle class are limited in the books. Sometimes middle class
characters are shown as kind and helpful to other people, such as secondary
characters in Whittington, namely the merchant Fitzwarren, whose motto to his
customers is give value (Armstrong, 2005, p. 124) and the farmer Bernie, who
helped everybody (Armstrong, 2005, p. 13). Middle class people are also
depicted as proud. For instance, in Savvy (Law, 2008) when Miss Rosemarys
teenage son has a baby, she raises the baby as her own to protect the familys pride
and sense of propriety. In Splendors and Glooms, Lizzie Rose remembers when
her parents were alive and instilled a sense of pride in her: Her parents had taught
her to carry herself well and to speak clearly (Schlitz, 2012, p. 17). Though Lizzie
Rose is poor throughout the book, she was part of a middle class family prior to
her parents death.
Affluent characters appear more frequently in these Newbery-winning fantasies.
Often, they are portrayed as caring, benevolent, and admirable. When Clara invites
Lizzie Rose to tea in Splendors and Glooms, Lizzie Rose recognizes how unusual
this is for a person of Claras class, as she explains to the constable: Oh yes, sir,
it was uncommon, Lizzie Rose said warmly. Theres not many a young lady who
would be so kind (Schlitz, 2012, p. 55). Princess Pea in The Tale of Despereaux
(DiCamillo, 2003) is kind as well. When Miggery leads her to the dungeon with a
130
knife to her back, Pea empathizes with Miggery, who desperately wants to be a
princess. Later, Pea shows great benevolence when she invites Roscuro, a rat
responsible for the chain of events leading to the death of Peas mother, to eat soup
with her even though she dislikes him. Dick Whittington is likewise portrayed as a
benevolent person after he gains his fortune: He left his money for a college,
libraries, a hospital, and an almshouse where the poor could rest and get food
(Armstrong, 2005, p. 35).
Affluent characters are shown as conspicuous consumers who value money and
material goods. When Miri attends Prince Steffans banquet, she is awed by the
lavish amounts of food (Hale, 2005). As the wealthy Wintermute family prepares
for Claras birthday in Splendors and Glooms, they spare no expense: Claras
birthday frock was made by the finest dressmaker in London, and [Clara] knew her
presents would be many and expensive (Schlitz, 2012, p. 6). Cassandra, the witch
who lures Lizzie Rose and Parsefall to her estate, is depicted as a big spender. As
she explains to Professor Grisini, There is not a single capricenot onethat I
have not indulged (Schlitz, 2012, p. 129). In The Graveyard Book (Gaiman,
2008), Josiah Worthington buys land for a town cemetery, saves the best plot for
himself, and purchases a conspicuous gravestone to mark his memory. The wealth
of the royal family is on full display in The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo, 2003).
The king, queen, and Princess Pea wear gold crowns, and Pea dons a robe
decorated with jewels and sequins (DiCamillo, 2003, p. 132). Julia in When You
Reach Me (Stead, 2009) is also a conspicuous consumer; her family takes trips to
Europe and buys her expensive dresses and jewelry.
Additionally, affluent characters are powerful. Katar in Princess Academy
recognizes the queen will do important things, the kinds of things that affect the
entire kingdom (Hale, 2005, p. 57). When Clara goes missing in Splendors and
Glooms, Dr. Wintermute, a wealthy and important man, contacts a high-ranking
official and commands the police to find her (Schlitz, 2012, p. 75). Royalty is
particularly powerful; as explained in The Tale of Despereaux, when you are a
king, you may make as many ridiculous laws as you like (DiCamillo, 2003, p.
119).
However, the affluent and even the middle class sometimes use their power for
ill purposes. The traders in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005) profit from the miners
ignorance, paying them far less for linder than its actual value. In a ploy to save
herself from the curse of a gemstone, Cassandra uses her power to lure Lizzie Rose
and Parsefall to her estate; Parsefall recognizes this as a take-in (Schlitz, 2012, p.
187). Magistrate Tiger in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is especially greedy
and opportunistic: Magistrate Tigers most coveted wish was to be of royal
bloodevery manipulation was part of a strategy to achieve acceptance into the
imperial family (Lin, 2009, p. 19). Consequently, Magistrate Tiger is an
oppressive ruler who demands unfair taxes from his subjects to build his own
wealth and influence.
As I have shown here, middle class and affluent characters are generally
depicted as benevolent but also greedy and unsavory. Now, I employ a critical
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literacy lens to deconstruct the discourses about social class appearing in these ten
award-winning fantasies.
DECONSTRUCTING CLASS DISCOURSES IN NEWBERY TITLES
From a critical literacy perspective, all texts include ideology, present some people
as important and others as unimportant, and generate power for some groups
(Jones, 2006, 2008). The childrens books discussed here are no exception; many
themes appearing in these titles reinforce dominant discourses about social class.
To begin, the rags-to-riches stories evident in books like Whittington
(Armstrong, 2005), Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin, 2009), and
Splendors and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012) lend support to the American dream myth,
the idea that people can overcome poverty to achieve financial success. The
prevalence of rags-to-riches stories in this sample highlights the notion that
expecting success is reasonable (Hochschild, 2002). Moreover, financial success is
equated with virtue (Beach, 2007; Hochschild, 2002) as poor and working class
characters who are kind and industriousnamely, Minli, Miri, and Lizzie Rose
all achieve some degree of success. Despite the endurance of the American dream
myth, sudden gains in fortune are rare and should not be expected (Hochschild,
2002; Wyatt-Nichol, 2011). Wyatt-Nichol (2011) argues such stories are dangerous
because they keep people believing in the prospect of success rather than
challenging economic inequities. A critically literate reader may recognize that
rags-to-riches stories are also problematic because of the way they position class
groups; the poor and working classes are positioned as places one should escape
while membership in the affluent class is positioned as a worthy goal. Such
positioning suggests the poor and working class are unimportant, a notion that
could potentially damage a readers sense of self-worth if he or she identifies with
these groups. Rags-to-riches stories are countered somewhat through the depictions
of hardship and precariousness in some books, yet the depictions of characters
struggling for stability and financial solvency still frame poor and working class
lives as undesirable.
The positioning of affluence as desirable is evident in other themes I have
discussed, such as when poor and working class characters aspire to wealth and
prestige like Miggery in The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo, 2003) and the Mount
Eskel girls in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005). The discourse of wanting to be rich
(or be like the rich) manifests often in American culture, not just in these award-
winning books. For instance, the endorsement of goods by wealthy celebrities
encourages members of all classes to emulate the rich, namely by owning the same
products that celebrities use. Indeed, purchasing the same goods as affluent people
is one way that people in lower classes emulate them (hooks, 2000). Freire also
makes the argument that people go to great lengths to emulate the wealthy:
the oppressed want at any cost to resemble the oppressors, to imitate them,
to follow them. This phenomenon is especially prevalent in the middle-class
oppressed, who yearn to be equal to the eminent men and women of the
upper class. (Freire, 1970/2000, p. 62)
132
The discourses of desiring wealth or emulating the wealthy make affluent people
even more powerful. People in other classes are more likely to favor policies
benefitting the rich if they, too, believe they can become rich or are like the rich.
Some themes in the books serve the function of legitimizing the economic
structure in the United States. For example, many of the affluent characters in the
books are shown as conspicuous consumers, like Cassandra and the Wintermute
family in Splendors and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012) and Julia in When You Reach Me
(Stead, 2010). Such depictions promote a consumerist discourse making the
purchase of goods seem natural and normal. As Anyon (1981) notes, a capitalist
economy depends on the production and purchase of goods, and those who benefit
from this economic system count on people to believe frequent consumption is
necessary. I do not mean to suggest that reading childrens books featuring
conspicuous consumers will lead children to become such consumers themselves
(or that childrens book authors are ardent capitalists). However, the prevalence of
consumerism in American culture could prompt children to think that consumerism
is necessary, normal, and even desirable, particularly when it is reinforced each
time they turn on TV, log on the Internet, and open a book. The discourse of
conspicuous consumption supports a capitalist economic system and deflects
attention away from the darker side of consumerism, such the consequences of
consuming beyond ones financial means.
Other themes about social class in these Newbery-winning fantasies can be
viewed as supporting the existing class structure. For example, affluent characters
like Clara Wintermute, Dick Whittington, and Princess Pea are admirable; they are
kind and benevolent. To some extent, they are positioned as saviors of the less
fortunate, which makes them appear more powerful and consequently diminishes
the power of the poor and working class to address their own problems. When the
affluent are positioned in such a positive way, their high status within the class
structure is reinforced because they appear deserving of their wealth. Indeed, those
in lower classes are likely to accept the class structure if they believe the wealthy
are good people; challenging and questioning the equity of the class structure is
less likely when people believe the wealthy are deserving of what they have.
Although there are some corrupt wealthy characters in the sample, such as
Magistrate Tiger and Cassandra Sagredo, their underhandedness may be countered
somewhat by the power they possess if power is viewed as an admirable quality.
Further, Magistrate Tiger is so one-dimensionally evil that he can easily be
dismissed as a bad apple in the bunch.
The class structure is further reinforced through depictions of poor and working
class characters. They are shown as objects of scorn like the Mount Eskel girls in
Princess Academy (Hale, 2005); dim-witted and buffoonish like Miggery in The
Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo, 2003); filthy and criminal like Parsefall in
Splendors and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012); and lowly like Lester and trashy like
Carlene in Savvy (Law, 2008). These depictions position the poor and working
class in negative ways and justify their low class status. Their personal
shortcomings make them appear undeserving of wealth or a higher class position, a
common discourse in American culture (Hochschild, 2002; Langston, 1988).
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FOREST
Although some poor and working class characters are depicted positively, like
Minli, Miri, and Lizzie Rose, it should be noted that none of these characters stay
poor; they all achieve a higher class status or better fortune by the end of their
stories.
It is common for Americans to believe they live in a classless or middle class
society (hooks, 2000; Jones, 2006; Van Galen, 2007). Interestingly, the books
discussed here disrupt this discourse. These books, all published in the United
States, include characters from each of the social classes identified above, and
depictions of the middle class are less frequent than depictions of other class
groups. Characters in the books also show some class-based antagonisms, such as
the contentious relationships between the working class Mount Eskel girls and the
middle class and affluent people they encounter at the Princess Academy, such as
their tutor Olana (Hale, 2005). Although the books in this sample include some
unfortunate discourses about class, they may be useful for illustrating that most
societies, whether real or fantasy, are pluralistic in terms of class.
Examining these books in their historical context of 2004-2013, a ten-year span
including times of prosperity, recession, and recovery, yields interesting insights.
As noted previously, half of the titles include stories of characters going from poor
to prosperous in some degree; two of these rags-to-riches stories received Newbery
nods before the recession (Whittington, Armstrong, 2005; Princess Academy, Hale,
2005) and three after the recession (Splendors and Glooms, Schlitz, 2012; When
You Reach Me, Stead, 2009; Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Lin, 2009). No
book receiving a Newbery Medal or Honor during the recession years of 2007-
2009 included a rags-to-riches tale (When You Reach Me and Where the Mountain
Meets the Moon, though published in 2009, were awarded with the Newbery in
2010, when the U.S. economy was recovering). Perhaps rags-to-riches stories are
more popular or seem more worthy of literary recognition during times of
prosperity, times when people may have reason to believe they are true. Moreover,
several of the books present distinct dichotomies between rich and poor characters:
Princess Pea and Miggery Sow in The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo, 2003), the
lowlanders and Mount Eskel girls in Princess Academy (Hale, 2005), Clara and
Lizzie Rose in Splendors and Glooms (Schlitz, 2012), and the king and Minli in
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin, 2009). It is interesting to speculate
whether the juxtaposition of rich and poor in these books, coupled with the absence
of middle class characters, are meant as a commentary about the widening
inequality plaguing contemporary U.S. society (Comber, 2015). Certainly such
close interactions between rich and poor are less common in real life than they are
in these books; perhaps their authors mean to suggest that class harmony is indeed
the realm of fantasy.
IMPLICATIONS
The discourses evident in these ten Newbery-winning books may be especially

powerful to young readers because of their occurrence in works of fantasy, a genre
representing societys deeply-held ideals and desires. Although the interpretation
134
of a book depends on the interaction of the reader and the text (Rosenblatt, 1978),
readers may be exposed to harmful discourses about class through these books,
namely the ideas that affluent lives are more desirable than poor and working class
lives, and people deserve their class status based on their individual virtues or
shortcomings. Negative messages about particular groups can have a damaging
impact if children are exposed to them time and again (Boutte, 2002). As I have
illustrated, many of the discourses appearing in these fantasy books relate to
common discourses about class in American culture, so children are likely to be
exposed to them often.
The potentially harmful themes about social class appearing in this set of books
(as well as other childrens literature) suggest the need for teaching critical literacy
in K-12 settings. Reading from a critical literacy stance can help children
understand the underlying messages in childrens books and identify whose
interests are served (or not) by these discourses. Teaching students to question
what they read is one strategy for promoting critical literacy in the classroom.
Jones (2006, 2008) offers a useful and child-friendly set of questions for educators
looking to encourage students to read from a critical literacy stance. For example,
Jones (2008) suggests teaching students to ask questions like What kinds of
people/lives/experiences are at the center of this book? and How does this book
position me as a reader? to call attention to issues of power, privilege, and
marginalization (p. 58). Additionally, Jones (2006) suggests students can
reconstruct, or reimagine, a story to give a marginalized group or person more
power or agency. Creating such reconstructions can help students see how books
privilege particular groups of people and empower them to imagine something
different. Labadie, Wetzel, and Rogers (2012) also provide practical advice for
enacting critical literacy with even the youngest readers; they advise 1) analyzing
images in books prior to reading and asking students to consider whose
perspectives are represented and whose are missing and 2) asking open-ended
questions about books and allowing students ample think time to formulate
responses. Teachers can also find excellent ideas for promoting critical literacy in
the work of Behrman (2006), McLaughlin and DeVoogd (2004), and Powell,
Cantrell, and Adams (2001). Given the power of childrens literature to educate
and socialize young people and the prevalence of class-centered discourse in books
and American culture, teaching children to read from a critical literacy stance is an
imperative undertaking for teachers who see literacy as a means of challenging and
deconstructing dominant discourses about class.
REFERENCES
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upper-middle class. Political Science Quarterly, 124(3), 391-422.
Anyon, J. (1981). Social class and school knowledge. Curriculum Inquiry, 11(1), 3-42.
Apol, L. (1998). But what does this have to do with kids?: Literary theory and childrens literature in
the teacher education classroom. Journal of Childrens Literature, 24(2), 32-46.
Beach, J. M. (2007). The ideology of the American Dream: Two competing philosophies in education,
1776-2006. Educational Studies, 41(2), 148-164.
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Behrman, E. H. (2006). Teaching about language, power, and text: A review of classroom practices that
support critical literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 49(6), 490-498.
Boutte, G. S. (2002). The critical literacy process: Guidelines for examining books. Childhood
Education, 78(3), 147-152.
Brown, R. M. (1974). The last straw. In C. Bunch & N. Myron (Eds.), Class and feminism: A collection
of essays from The Furies (pp. 14-23). Baltimore, MD: Diana Press.
Comber, B. (2015). Critical literacy and social justice. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(5),
32-367.
Forest, D. E. (2014a). From rags to rich as Rockefeller: Portrayals of class mobility in Newbery titles.
Curriculum Inquiry, 44(5), 591-619.
Forest, D. E. (2014b). The poor kid finds the pirate treasure: Depictions of social class in Newbery
Medal and Honor books, 2004-2013 (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations
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Forest, D. E., Garrison, K. L., & Kimmel, S. C. (2015). The university for the poor: Portrayals of
class in translated childrens literature. Teachers College Record, 117(2), 1-40.
Freire, P. (1970/2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York, NY: Continuum.
Gates, P. S., Steffel, S. B., & Molson, F. J. (2003). Fantasy literature for children and young adults.
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Gilbert, D. (2015). The American class structure in an age of growing inequality (9th ed.). Los Angeles,
CA: Sage.
Hill, S. A. (2012). Families: A social class perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Hochschild, J. L. (2002). Whats wrong with the American Dream? In J. M. Charon (Ed.), Social
problems: Readings with four questions (pp. 33-44). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
hooks, b. (2000). Where we stand: Class matters. New York, NY: Routledge.
Horning, K. T. (2010). From cover to cover: Evaluating and reviewing childrens books (Revised ed.).
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Jones, S. (2006). Girls, social class and literacy: What teachers can do to make a difference.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Jones, S. (2008). Grass houses: Representations and reinventions of social class through childrens
literature. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 4(2), 40-58. Retrieved from
http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/representations.pdf
Kendall, D. (2011). Framing class: Media representations of wealth and poverty in America (2nd ed.)
[Nook e-reader version]. Retrieved from www.bn.com
Kidd, K. B. (2007). Prizing childrens literature: The case of Newbery gold. Childrens Literature,
35(1), 166-190. doi: 10.1353/chl.2007.0014
Labadie, M., Wetzel, M., & Rogers, R. (2012). Opening spaces for critical literacy: Introducing books
to young readers. The Reading Teacher, 66(2), 117-127.
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(Eds.), Changing our power: An introduction to womens studies (pp. 397-402). Dubuque, IA:
Kendall-Hunt.
Lewison, M., Flint, A. S., & Van Sluys, K. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The journey of
newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79(5), 382392.
Lott, B. (2012). The social psychology of class and classism. American Psychologist, 67(8), 650-658.
doi: 10.1037/a0029369
Luke, A. (2012). Critical literacy: Foundational notes. Theory into Practice, 51(1), 4-11.
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2004). Critical literacy: Enhancing students comprehension of text.
New York, NY: Scholastic.
Powell, R., Cantrell, S. C., & Adams, S. (2001). Saving Black Mountain: The promise of critical
literacy in a multicultural democracy. The Reading Teacher, 54(8), 772-781.
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Sano, J. (2009). Farmhands and factory workers, honesty and humility: The portrayal of social class and
morals in English language learner childrens books. Teachers College Record, 111(11), 2560-2588.
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_at_risk.pdf
Taxel, J. (1997). Multicultural literature and the politics of reaction. Teachers College Record, 98(3),
417-448.
Tunnell, M. O., & Jacobs, J. S. (2008). Childrens literature, briefly (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson.
Van Galen, J. (2007). Late to class: Social class and schooling in the new economy. Educational
Horizons, 85(3), 156-157.
Wyatt-Nichol, H. (2011). The enduring myth of the American dream: Mobility, marginalization, and
hope. International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, 14(2), 258-279.
Childrens Literature Cited
Appelt, K. (2008). The underneath. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Applegate, K. (2012). The one and only Ivan. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Armstrong, A. (2005). Whittington. New York, NY: Yearling.
DiCamillo, K. (2003). The tale of Despereaux: Being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a
spool of thread. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
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Hale, S. (2005). Princess academy. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
Law, I. (2008). Savvy. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers.
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Danielle E. Forest
Teacher Education Department
University of North Georgia
137
CLAIRE A. DAVANZO
9. INDIFFERENCE, NEGLECT, AND

OUTRIGHT DISLIKE
Examining Sources of and Responses to Institutionalized Oppression
in J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
What are fairy-stories? What is their origin? What is the use of them? The
inimitable J. R. R. Tolkien (1965) explores these questions in his lecture-turned-
essay, On Fairy-Stories (p. 4). In considering this first question, Tolkien writes,
Actually fairy-stories deal largely, or (the better ones) mainly, with simple or
fundamental things, untouched by Fantasy, but these simplicities are made all the
more luminous by their setting (p. 59). That is, for Tolkien, fairy-stories access
the essential elements of the human experience, then heighten and highlight these
elements through fantasy. He expounds upon this relationship between reality and
fantasy, asserting that
Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even
insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the
perception of, scientific verity. On the contrary, the keener and the clearer is
the reason, the better fantasy will it make. (p. 54)
Tolkien identifies a connection between reality and fantasy, and believes that fairy-
stories can and do reflect aspects of the world of their readers; thus, in terms of the
third and final question, the use, or purpose, of fairy-stories, Tolkien finds his
conclusions both numerous and valuable. For Tolkien, fantasy has much to show
us of our minds and our world, and of their respective wonders and terrors.
Further, Tolkien (1965) indicates that reading fantasy may influence our actions
in, as well as our perspectives on, our world:
For it is after all possible for a rational man, after reflectionto arrive at the
condemnation, implicit at least in the mere silence of escapist literature, of
progressive things like factories, or the machine-guns and bombs that appear
to be their most natural and inevitable, dare we say inexorable, products.
(p. 63)
That is, in underscoring its differences from our world, Tolkien claims that fantasy
can enable its readers to alter their perceptions of and responses to certain societal
elements. I concur fully with Tolkiens assertion, and further posit that fantasy can
inspire the same awareness and critique in its readers through depictions of
similarities between the fantasy world and our own. To support and prove this
claim over the course of this chapter, I examine, analyze, and evaluate sources and
structures of institutionalized oppression in J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the

DAVANZO
Order of the Phoenix, and consider responses of the repressed as well as the
empowered to this oppression within and beyond the text.
Institutionalized oppression is the deliberate, authoritative, and systematic
mistreatment of a group of people united by a specific commonality, such as
gender, race, or class; the force and subsequent influences of these persecutions
create and reinforce strict hierarchies in which the oppressors acquire and maintain
power at the expense of the oppressed.1 In examining the construction and
maintenance of structures of institutionalized oppression from an economic
perspective, socialist Karl Marx laid the foundation for a form of literary theory
that, today, we call Marxism. When scrutinizing literature through a Marxist lens,
readers strive to understand the power structures of oppression at work in a text, as
well as any and all forms of rebellion or revolution that arise in response to those
structures. Over the course of this chapter, I will use aspects of the Marxist lens to
show that institutionalized oppression permeates the whole of Rowlings wizarding
world, and that the tensions and conflicts it generates drive the text; further, I make
this claim despite the fact that our society views the Harry Potter series chiefly as
diverting, often harmless childrens literature. Like Tolkien (1965), I believe that
adults as well as children can and should read, examine, and learn from fantasy,
and that Order in particular has much to teach us about the world in which we live.
Before beginning the examination of Order, I offer a brief section on Marxist
literary theory in the context of its possible uses in the classroom. Marxist literary
theory scaffolds this examination of institutionalized oppression in Order, and can
provide teachers and their students with essential language for discussing and
evaluating the text and its content at the independent and class levels. Following
this overview, I consider, as Elaine Ostry (2003) calls them, the two major
conflicts in the series: tensions between Muggle-born and pure-blood wizards, and
between human wizards and nonhuman magical creatures (p. 92). These central,
complex conflicts engender institutionalized oppression, directly as well as
indirectly, within and beyond the dominant wizarding society and its respective
culture. I also analyze responses to these structures of persecution, both
acquiescent and rebellious. In the third, final section, I propose suggestions for
inclusion and application of Order in schools.
DEFINING AND USING THE MARXIST LENS
As noted above, I ground this examination of Order in Marxist literary theory;

however, I also hope to define and use the Marxist lens in a manner that is
accessible to teachers as well as to their students. To that end, I have consulted and
synthesized literary theory texts that focus on the interpretation and application of
the Marxist lens in the classroom and its literature. Purdue Universitys Online
Writing Lab (OWL) (2010), a free, pertinent, and invaluable resource for
secondary schools, states that the collective school of Marxist criticism concerns
itself with class differences, economic and otherwise, as well as the implications
and complications of [these structures] (Whom Does it Benefit? section, para.
1). The Purdue OWL further stresses that Marxist literary theory invites the
140
INDIFFERENCE, NEGLECT, AND DISLIKE
question, whom does it [the work, the effort, the policy, the road, etc.] benefit?
And Marxist critics are also interested in how the lower or working classes are
oppressedin everyday life and in literature (Whom Does it Benefit? section,
para. 2). Essentially, Marxist theory encourages readers to study the structures that
empower certain groups while oppressing others. Commonalities often used to
create and enforce oppression include gender, race, class, economic status, social
standing, and combinations of these culturally reinforced categories.
Deborah Appleman (2015) brings Marxist criticism, or, as she calls it, the
social class lens, to the classroom, writing from the perspective of an educator:
slowly, yet palpably, more secondary teachers have recognized the potential
richness and utility of introducing cultural criticism to their students and
encouraging them to view literature through political prisms (p. 53). Per
Appleman, as the classroom becomes more diverse in terms of students as well as
literature, critical perspectives like the Marxist lens can empower teachers and
their learners to ask rigorous, thoughtful, and specific questions of the texts and of
each other. Similarly, Bonnycastle stresses the power critical perspectives have in
challenging possible structures or agents of oppression, arguing that:
Theory is subversive because it puts authority in questionIt means that no
authority can impose a truth on you in a dogmatic wayand if some
authority does try, you can challenge that truth in a powerful way, by asking
what ideology it is based upon. (as cited in Appleman, 2015, p. 57)
Here, Bonnycastle uses ideology in its Marxist sense, understanding it as a
collection of beliefs, often unquestioned, that support a ruling group of people. Via
the Marxist lens, students will learn to interrogate and examine literature for
institutionalized oppression with focus and precision; ideally, students will
ultimately be able to transfer and apply these skills and their conclusions to the
world in which they live.
While teachers and students can access critical perspectives in as many contexts
as there are texts, educators Anna O. Soter, Mark Faust, and Theresa M. Rogers
(2008) consider the inclusion of literary theory as it applies to young adult
literature. These authors note middle and high school students natural connections
to young adult literature, crediting personal identification with the characters in
these texts and praising the empathy this experience can inspire in students.
However, Soter, Faust, and Rogers also view critical perspectives as means of
helping young readers discover new and different ways of finding pleasure
through reading (p. 25). Literary theory and the epiphanies it can stimulate can be
both powerful and gratifying for students, which is yet another reason to bring
critical perspectives and young adult literature into the classroom.
In this analysis of Order, I unite the Marxist lens, a nuanced young adult
literature text, and a fairy-story in the context of the contemporary classroom.
Use of the Marxist lens allows students to begin uncovering and evaluating the
complexities of fantasy. Marxist literary theory and the lines of inquiry it generates
also validate and even advocate for the inclusion of young adult literature as well
as fantasy in the classroom. Ultimately, the insights students will discover and the
141
DAVANZO
conclusions they will draw from the critical examination of a young adult fantasy
text like Order will encourage and lead them to become stronger thinkers and
scholars.
VIEWING ORDER THROUGH THE MARXIST LENS
In the introduction to this chapter, I reference Ostry (2003) and the two essential
sources of conflict she highlights in the Harry Potter series: tensions between
Muggle-born and pure-blood wizards, and between human wizards and nonhuman
magical creatures (p. 92). This first source of tension acknowledges the societal
divide between Muggle-born wizards, or those born into non-magical families, and
pure-blood wizards, or those born into families who can trace magic to their roots.
However, this binary is not perfect, as it excludes wizards who were born to
magical parents but may have Muggle ancestors; these wizards are neither Muggle-
born nor pure-blood, and are, as a whole, referred to as half-bloods, despite the
doubtless mathematical imperfections of that label. Like their titular hero, readers
learn as early as the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone that
some wizards believe pure-bloods are nobler by birth and family history than
Muggle-born or half-blood wizards. Thus, the element that enforces this division is
the presence or lack of presence of magic in the bloodline of an individual wizard.
Harry Potter encounters the effects of these societal divisions by blood directly
and indirectly over the course of the series. One of the co-founders of Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Salazar Slytherin, was a pure-blood, and
believed that Hogwarts should be restricted to all magic families despite the fact
that, as Ostry (2003) notes, the school was founded in order to create a safe haven
for wizards from the persecuting Muggles in the Middle ages (p. 92). That is,
Slytherin wished to keep Hogwarts free of Muggle-born witches and wizards
despite the fact that these people were still magical. While the other three
Hogwarts co-founders ultimately overruled Slytherin, pure-blood families such as
the Malfoys, ever members of Slytherin house, support and perpetuate Slytherins
stance ages later, leading Draco Malfoy and his ilk to taunt and mistreat Muggle-
born peers like gifted witch Hermione Granger. When considering the blood-
superiority the Malfoys perceive in themselves, it is no surprise that they and other
wizards of a similar mindset support Lord Voldemort, whose ultimate goal is to
create a world in which all beings serve pure-blood wizards.
Many scholars, including but not limited to Elizabeth E. Heilman and Anne E.
Gregory (2003), Ostry (2003), Julia Park (2003), Rebecca Skulnick and Jesse
Goodman (2003), and Tess Stockslager (2012), view the biases and subsequent
actions and oppressions of Voldemort and his followers in the contexts of race and
racial prejudice in our world. We can certainly draw parallels between the
treatment of magical bloodlines in Rowlings wizarding world and the treatment of
race in our own, and it can be thought-provoking and enlightening to do so. For
instance, in her essay What it Means to Be a Half-Blood: Integrity versus
Fragmentation in Biracial Identity, Stockslager strives to draw an analogy
between half-blood identity and biracial identity. Several of the experiences of the
142
three half-blood characters in the series bear striking resemblances to common

experiences of biracial and bicultural people, magical and Muggle alike (p. 123).
Stockslagers insightful conclusions lend themselves to students at the personal,
individual level, and to the various cultures and their respective customs in our
world.
However, as Steven Barfield asserts, an exact counterpart to Rowlings version
of magic does not exist outside the world of the novels (as cited in Stockslager,
2012, p. 123). Thus, there can be no exact, infallible translation of the magical
bloodlines structure of oppression to our own. The aforementioned second source
of conflict in the series, or the tensions between human wizards and nonhuman
magical creatures, further complicates this absence of a precise correlation, as
scholars argue that both conflicts, despite their clear differences, correlate to race
in reality. Moreover, as Stockslager (2012) herself notes, the question of race
without the added element of magic is a concern in and of itself in Rowlings novel
(p. 122). Barfield and Stockslager claim that the best way to view the treatment of
magical bloodlines is as analogy (p. 123); however, for the purposes of examining
and evaluating institutionalized oppression within these sources of conflict, I argue
that readers can learn from Order without embarking on an impossible attempt to
transfer each and every facet of the text to their own lives and world. In fact,
readers may find that a more flexible approach to the structures of oppression in
Order proves more valuable and fruitful than a narrowed quest to translate the
narrative, its problems, and its themes into the varied contexts of our own world.
Much like the conflict between pure-blood wizards and Muggle-born wizards,
the second source of tension in the Harry Potter series, or the conflict between
human wizards and nonhuman magical creatures, is intricate and complex.
Wizards, their cultures, and their conflicts dominate the Harry Potter novels, and
often do so at the expense of the nonhuman magical creatures living in Rowlings
wizarding world. Heilman and Gregory (2003) examine the relationshipsoften
degradations, oppressions, or enslavementsbetween wizards and magical
creatures, viewing groups such as house-elves, werewolves, and giants as different,
lower classes; similarly, Ostry (2003) views these groups in the context of
oppressed races. Again, while these analogies can be useful, readers should take
care in drawing such parallels. The umbrella of nonhuman magical creatures is
broad and vast, and, via the binary that defines it, levels house-elves, werewolves,
giants, goblins, and centaurs with thestrals, bowtruckles, and nifflers. The
multifaceted beings in this former list have language, definite cultures, and
nuanced histories (however oppressed those respective cultures and histories have
been and are), while those in the latter group function more as animals do in our
world. Should Heilman and Gregory or Ostry hope to view nonhuman magical
creatures as corresponding classes or races in our world, they would need to make
a vital distinction between these two subcategories, or else liken people of different
classes or races to animals. Once more, allow me to stress that readers need not
attempt to find clear, neat analogies between Rowlings world and their own.
Examining the institutionalized oppression in Harry Potter, and in Order in
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particular, broadens and lends perspective to conversations on our societies as well

as its respective cultures and structures.
Having established and clarified the two central sources of conflict that,
intentionally or unintentionally, engender and sustain institutionalized oppression
in the Harry Potter series, let us turn now to the specific presences and influences
of these tensions in Order. At the conclusion of the fourth novel, Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort returns, reacquiring true human form with Harry as
the only apparent witness who would testify to this (Rowling, 2000). Headmaster
Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall, and Professor Severus Snape
uncover a second source in the form of Bartemius Barty Crouch, Jr., a Death
Eater who had been masquerading as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Alastor Mad-Eye Moody and monitoring Harry at Voldemorts behest; however,
before Crouch can testify, a Dementor sucks out his soul, leaving him vegetative
and unable to speak (Rowling). Despite the abundance of remaining evidence,
Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned
(Rowling).
With Voldemorts return comes the renewed threat of severe, intentional
institutionalized oppression. As Park (2003) aptly notes, the pure-blood wizards
whose families held power with Voldemort grudgingly await their return to favor
(p. 184). Considering the fear, persecution, torture, and murder that surround
Voldemort, his followers, and his regime, any indication of his return should, at the
very least, merit the governments serious consideration of the evidence and
examination of the surrounding circumstances, as well as possible additional
attention to the safety of the wizarding public. However, Fudge does not budge in
his refusal to acknowledge Voldemorts return; on the contrary, he discredits and
ignores the sheer possibility. Readers learn in Order that there has not been a
single affirmation or warning, either from the Ministry of Magic or from the
principal magical newspaper, the Daily Prophet, of Voldemorts return (Rowling,
2003). Rather, as Hermione tells Harry, the Prophet is denouncing him and his
claims of Voldemorts return by writing about you as though youre this deluded,
attention-seeking person who thinks hes a great tragic hero or something They
want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, Ill bet
anything (Rowling, p. 74). Readers also learn that Dumbledores names mud
with the Ministry these daysFudge has made it clear that anyone whos in league
with Dumbledore can clear out their desks (Rowling, p. 71).
Fudge dedicates his time, resources, and influence to discrediting Harry and
Dumbledore, and thus to silencing discussion of the possibility, let alone the
certainty, of Voldemorts return. However, Fudge does not act from a position of
loyalty to Voldemort, or from a belief in the maliciousness of the institutionalized
oppression Voldemort promotes. Rather, Fudge fears that Dumbledore plans to
acquire the office of Minister of Magic, leaving the current, incompetent Minister,
Fudge, out of work (Rowling, 2003). Dumbledore believes in Voldemorts return,
and begins planning to defend the wizarding world against it; thus, for fear of the
loss of his office, Fudge feels he must discredit Dumbledore to protect his own
reputation and status. Nevertheless, in slandering Dumbledore, Fudge indirectly
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supports the ideology of, and even paves the way for, further institutionalized
oppression. As Chantel M. Lavoie (2009) argues:
Rowling makes plain the argument that nonresistance, too, perpetuates
violence. When countless good wizards refuse to believe that Voldemort
has returned, they become in some sense Death Eaters themselves; they
swallow a lie that hearkens back to and foretells death. You are what you eat.
(p. 80)
With ignorance of the situation at hand comes allowance of its perpetuation and
continuation. In refusing to acknowledge and prepare for Voldemorts return,
Fudge affords Voldemort time and protection from the law. Further, in defaming
Dumbledore and Harry, two of the leading figures fighting Voldemorts intent to
oppress, Fudge indirectly supports institutionalized oppression via his
nonresistance.
Per Shama Rangwala (2009), Fudges goal is to assert the primacy of the
Ministrys version of events and state control over public institutions (p. 133). In
order to accomplish this overarching control of and order in the wizarding world
around him, Fudge must meddle and tamper with multiple branches of government
(the Ministry as well as the high court, the Wizengamot), the mainstream press (the
Prophet) and, most notably, the educational system (Hogwarts). Fudges
obsessive, overreaching involvement in these institutions and his actions once he
achieves those levels of involvement prove, as Rangwala argues, that the Ministry
is as much of a danger as Voldemort in Order (p. 133).
Though the appearance of the Wizengamot is brief in Order, it is significant in
that it highlights Fudges willingness to neglect both the truth and the law in favor
of his own wishes, and to silence or oppress those who oppose him. At the
beginning of the novel, after Harry is forced to produce a Patronus charm to protect
himself and his Muggle cousin, Dudley, from Dementors, Fudge attempts to
confiscate Harrys wand and expel him from Hogwarts on charges of underage
magic in the presence of a Muggle (Rowling, 2003, p. 27). Soon after this notice,
however, Harry learns he is entitled to and will receive a trial to determine his
innocence or guilt. On the morning of the trial, the Ministry changes the time and
location of Harrys hearing without appropriate notice; this is another example of
Fudges slick attempts to punish Harry (Rowling, p. 149). It is at Harrys trial that
he and his readers learn that, per Dumbledore, The Ministry does not have the
power to expel Hogwarts studentsNor does it have the right to confiscate wands
until charges have been successfully proven (Rowling, p. 149). Fudges eager
willingness to silence and persecute Harry despite the law shows his lack of regard
for the limits of his power, but also endangers Harry; without his wand, he would
be unable to protect himself or defend others from the oppressive Voldemort.
During the Wizengamot hearing, readers also learn that Dumbledore was, until
very recently, an esteemed member of the court himself. Fudge grows incensed as,
time and again, Dumbledore is able to access and quote the law to protect Harry;
finally, savagely, Fudge reminds Dumbledore that laws can be changed. In
response, Dumbledore remarks,
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Of course they canAnd you certainly seem to be making many changes,

Cornelius. Why, in the few short weeks since I was asked to leave the
Wizengamot, it has already become the practice to hold a full criminal trial to
deal with a simple matter of underage magic! (Rowling, 2003, p. 149)
Readers are able to infer that it was Fudge who requested Dumbledore leave the
Wizengamot, despite the fact that Dumbledore shows superior knowledge of and
reverence for wizard law. As Susan Hall (2003) writes, the Ministry of
Magic[possesses] wide discretionary powers, which are not subject to review by
any legal process. Ministry officials enjoy a high level of immunity from being
called to account for their actions (p. 148). Thus, as Minister, Fudge is able to
dismiss Dumbledore from the Wizengamot without apparent consequences;
similarly, from his premature attempts to expel Harry to his blatant mishandling of
and biases during the hearing, Fudge comes close to flouting the law several times,
and always in favor of his personal agenda. Ultimately, Fudges ignorance,
egocentricity, and power prove a troubling combination. His persecution of Harry
and Dumbledore, two of the foremost figures in terms of combating
institutionalized oppression, places the whole of the wizarding world at risk.
In addition to the Wizengamot, Fudge also uses the press to discredit and
defame those he views as a threat to his role and rule as Minister of Magic. As
noted above and in Tracy L. Bealer (2009), Fudge uses the Prophet to brand
Harry a delusional liar and Dumbledore a senile relic, and readers of the
newspaper, even those who know Harry and Dumbledore personally, believe it (p.
177). One of the reasons Percy Weasley, who has known Harry for many years,
disassociates himself from his family is their belief in Harry and Dumbledore; he
accepts a position as Junior Assistant to Fudge, and writes a letter to his brother
Ron warning him not to continue his association with Harry, his best friend
(Rowling, 2003). Similarly, Seamus Finnigan, a fellow Gryffindor and one of
Harrys friends, trusts the Prophet, and confesses that his mother did not want him
to return to Hogwarts as a result of her fear and doubt of Harry and Dumbledore
(Rowling, p. 217). Indeed, whole groups of students, once they have caught sight
of Harry hurried to form a tighter group, as though frightened he might attack
stragglers (Rowling, p. 223). While a few students and their families do believe
Harry and Dumbledore, overall, the wizard community believes Fudge and the lies
in the Prophet. This overarching doubt surrounding Voldemorts return leaves the
wizarding world susceptible to attack and oppression, and Fudge is to blame.
Though his meddling in the Wizengamot and the Prophet are undeniably
harmful, Fudge causes the most damage and enables direct, undeniable
institutionalized oppression at Hogwarts through Dolores Umbridge. Although
Dumbledore, as Headmaster, agreed to hire her in the absence of other options for
a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Umbridge makes her loyalty to the
Ministry of Magic clear in her speech during the welcome banquet; she emphasizes
the value the Ministry places on education, then announces her hope that she and
the school, so she claims, will begin preserving what ought to be preserved,
perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that
ought to be prohibited (Rowling, 2003, pp. 213-214). Umbridge also voices her
146
disdain for progress for progresss sake in this speech, presenting herself as an
altogether intolerant and controlling woman (Rowling, p. 213). Overall, it is as
Hermione warns: the speech means the Ministrys interfering at Hogwarts in
dangerous and damaging ways (Rowling, p. 214).
Umbridge establishes her reign of oppression from the beginning of her first
class. She refuses to allow the class to practice magic, meaning that her students
will have no experience with casting critical defensive spells and, thus, will be
more vulnerable to attack (Rowling, 2003, p. 244). The students question and
protest this, but Umbridge refuses to alter her stance. Ultimately, Harry, concerned
with student safety, voices the concerns of his readers and classmates: he stresses
Voldemorts return and the importance of training all wizards and witches in
defensive spellwork; Umbridge denounces Harrys statement, bluntly declaring it a
lie and assigning him additional punishments each time he argues further
(Rowling, p. 245). Throughout this lesson, Umbridge supports the narrative Fudge
perpetuates in the Ministry and the Prophet. As a result, she contributes to the
protection, no matter how inadvertently, of Voldemort and his regime.
However, at his first detention, Harry and his readers learn that Umbridge is far
more dangerous than Fudge. In detention, Umbridge instructs Harry to write the
words I must not tell lies for the whole of the session (Rowling, 2003, p. 266).
Though the punishment seems harmless at first, Harry soon recognizes it is much
worse than he had realized:
He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what
appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on
the back of Harrys right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a
scalpelyet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again,
leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite
smooth. (Rowling, p. 267)
In an attempt to silence Harry, Umbridge resorts to corporal punishment, a clear
demonstration of oppression. Further, the truth Harry is attempting to spread resists
institutionalized oppression, and Umbridge suppresses it; indirectly, then, she too
is perpetuating institutionalized oppression. Power, censorship, and corporal
punishment make Umbridge a perilous oppressor and enemy. It is also important to
note that at this point in the narrative, students and staff have offered little more
than whispered or subtly spoken resistance to Umbridge and her policies, and that
these responses have been quietened or quashed as such.
Fudge soon bequeaths more power upon Umbridge, appointing her High
Inquisitor of Hogwarts. According to the Prophet, and, by extension, the Ministry,
the High Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make
sure they are coming up to scratch, as well as to write and enforce decrees, or
new school rules, as she sees fit (Rowling, 2003, p. 307). Umbridge begins
exercising her newfound privileges at once, visiting classes to critique professors.
The two staff members with whom she finds fault, Sibyll Trelawney and Rubeus
Hagrid, are significant in terms of Umbridges rationale, her personal biases and
willingness to oppress, and the responses her actions receive.
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Umbridge dismisses and tries to evict Trelawney after deeming her astronomy
lessons unsuitable according to Ministry standards. Harry notes the enjoyment
stretching [Umbridges] toadlike face as she watched Professor Trelawney sink,
sobbing uncontrollably, onto one of her trunks (Rowling, 2003, p. 595). This
moment serves as an indicator of the malicious cruelty that drives Umbridge. With
her new powers at Hogwarts, it seems Umbridge will succeed until Dumbledore
arrives on the scene, reminding her that she neither has power to evict a professor,
nor to appoint a replacement if he is able to find one (Rowling, p. 596-98).
Dumbledore uses the law, as weak as it is, to combat Umbridge, and does so
successfully. Furthermore, Dumbledore has chosen Firenze, a centaur, to replace
Trelawney, which Umbridge finds appalling. Firenzes appointment illustrates
Dumbledores opposition to the ideologies supporting the institutionalized
oppression of nonhuman magical creatures, and simultaneously exposes
Umbridges support of and belief in those same ideologies.
Readers further uncover Umbridges personal prejudices through her longing to
dismiss Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher whom the Prophet exposes
as half-giant earlier in the novel (Rowling, 2003). Umbridge conducts her
inspection of Hagrids class with obvious bias; as Hermione rages, Its her thing
about half-breeds all over againshes trying to make out Hagrids some kind of
dim-witted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother (Rowling, p. 450). In
failing and intending to fire a professor based on his parentage and place in the
magical beings hierarchical structure, Umbridge enforces the institutionalized
oppression of nonhuman magical creatures by wizards that functions throughout
the world of the series.
However, with Umbridges rise to High Inquisitor comes much-needed
resistance against her presence, actions, and decrees. In the face of Umbridges
useless lessons and with the threat of Voldemort and his Death Eaters looming in
the shadows, Hermione suggests that Harry teach a secret Defense Against the
Dark Arts class (Rowling, 2003, p. 326). Such a class would battle both
Umbridges oppressive regime and the threat of Voldemorts institutionalized
oppression, enabling wizards and witches to protect themselves against injustice,
tyranny, and pain, regardless of their magical bloodlines. It is as Hermione replies
when asked about her reasons for wanting to learn real Defense Against the Dark
Arts: I want to be properly trained in Defense because because Because
Lord Voldemorts back (Rowling, p. 340).
This Defense Against the Dark Arts group also fosters resistance in a second,
vital way: it nurtures community and builds relationships among different Houses.
As Harry and his friends are members of Gryffindor House, so it is no surprise that
most of the students who attend the first meeting for the secret class are
Gryffindors as well. However, several Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students also
attend (Rowling, 2003, p. 346). This meeting of Houses harkens back to a moment
earlier in the novel, when the Sorting Hat warns Hogwarts of the dangers of
division: I sort you into Houses because that is what Im forStill I worry that
its wrong Still I wonder whether sorting may not bring the end I fear
(Rowling, p. 206). Resistance and rebellion are far more powerful and effective
148
when present across different groups, rather than in one alone. It is also useful to
note that Slytherin House, which prides itself on its exclusively pure-blood
students, neither seeks involvement in nor receives invitation to this class; this
reinforces the division between self-proclaimed superior pure-bloods and those
pure-bloods, half-bloods, or Muggle-borns who do not support this power
structure. The students in this new Defense Against the Dark Arts group dub
themselves Dumbledores Army, or the D.A., which shows further support for
that pillar of resistance as opposed to the Ministry.
As Order continues, and as Umbridge squeezes her fingers closer and closer
around Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione rebel against the High Inquisitor, the
Prophet, and the Ministry in one smooth maneuver. Hermione enlists tabloid
journalist Rita Skeeter to interview Harry for the true story. All the facts. Exactly
as Harry reports them. Hell give you all the details, hell tell you the names of the
undiscovered Death Eaters he saw there, hell tell you what Voldemort looks like
now (Rowling, 2003, p. 567). The Quibbler, a fringe magazine that the Ministry
does not influence, prints the interview, and soon, the truth is circulating Hogwarts
and the whole of the wizarding world like wildfire. Though Umbridge bans the
Quibbler, threatens students with expulsion as consequences for reading the
interview, and assigns Harry a full week of detention for telling lies, the
interview leaves a lasting impression. As Leslee Friedman (2009) states: the
published interview provides a turning point moment in the action of the novel,
allowing for several people who had doubted Harrys honesty to see his side of
events and to give his version some thought (p. 201). One notable change of heart
is that of Seamus Finnigan, who approaches Harry after the publication of his
interview to say, I believe you. And Ive sent a copy of that magazine to me
mam (Rowling, p. 583). Thus, rebellion begins to challenge and overthrow the
threat of oppression through ignorance.
As Bealer (2009) notes, Umbridge strives to quash rebellion, writing and
enforcing countless decrees in the name of preventing Harry and Dumbledore
from communicating and substantiating their account of Voldemorts return to
other students (p. 179). That is, Umbridge ever endeavors to keep the truth from
the wizarding world, and subjects them to the grave threat of institutionalized
oppression as a result. As she embarks upon this task of suppression, Umbridge
seeks and garners assistance from the students of Slytherin House, whose familial
loyalties doubtless lie with Voldemort and who, as discussed at the beginning of
this section, are all pure-blood wizards. Umbridge gives these pure-blood students
power over their peers, many of whom are half-blood or Muggle-born, and thus
reinforces that power structure. With the help of these pure-blood students,
Umbridge undertakes the task of finding and proving the existence of the D.A., its
members (who are pure-blood, half-blood, and Muggle-born students), and its
meetings. She succeeds, and, in the following flurry of events, Dumbledore accepts
undue blame for the D.A. and flees Hogwarts to avoid Azkaban Prison; thus, with
the position vacant, Fudge names Umbridge Headmistress (Rowling, 2003, p.
624).
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Without Dumbledore, who had been the last authority above her in the school,
present, Umbridge uses her power and influence with hitherto unprecedented vigor
and malice. She dubs her core group of Slytherins the Inquisitorial Squad,
dispatching the elitist pure-blood students to do her bidding as she chooses and
giving them additional influence over their peers (Rowling, 2003). Rowling clearly
illustrates Umbridges support of pure-blood wizards supposed superiority over
half-blood and Muggle-born wizards when Malfoy, given the power to dock points
from Hogwarts Houses, hisses, Oh yeah, I forgot, youre a Mudblood, Granger, so
ten [points] for that (p. 626). As a Muggle-born witch and, thus, beneath Malfoy
in the present power structure, Hermione can only ignore and, thus, acquiesce to
Malfoys comment. In her tenure as headmistress, Umbridges policies and student
leadership assignments reinforce the belief that proud pure-blood wizards are
superior to those who do not belong to this group.
Returning to Umbridges actions at this point in the text, Bealer (2009) argues,
the powers Umbridge methodically accumulates during her tenure suggest a
totalitarian regimes commitment to single control of speech, action, and even
thought (p. 177). Umbridge and her minions create and enforce institutionalized
oppression at Hogwarts: professors and students who refuse to conform to
Umbridges strict, controlling rules are punished. The clearest, most violent
example of Umbridges cruelty and dominance comes as she moves to fire, evict,
and arrest Hagrid via excessive magical force (Rowling, p. 720). Using numerous
Stunning spells, Umbridge and her team of Ministry Aurors assault Hagrid without
warning, thus highlighting the hierarchical division between wizards and
nonhuman magical creatures. When McGonagall attempts to defend Hagrid, no
fewer than four Stunners [shoot] from the figures around the cabin toward
Professor McGonagall and Stun her into deep unconsciousness (Rowling, p. 721).
This attack on McGonagall, a witch in her own right who intervenes on behalf of a
nonhuman magical creature, illustrates Umbridges and, further, the power
structures intolerance for change or rebellion. In her willingness to crush anyone
who defies her, and in her prejudiced singlemindedness in terms of the superiority
of wizards, Umbridge poses as much of a threat to freedom from oppression as
Voldemort himself does.
However, even in the face of Umbridges overwhelming power, students and
staff still continue to rebel against her. Tricksters Fred and George Weasley
celebrate Umbridges first day as Headmistress by firing off enchanted fireworks
across Hogwarts, disrupting order with flashes of color and light (Rowling, 2003,
p. 632). Furthermore, as Bealer (2009) notes, by pretending to require
[Umbridges] assistance in disposing of the fireworks, the professors extend to its
most absurd implications Umbridges power to oversee the other teachers (p.
182). Though resistance ranges from subtle to blatant, and its punishments from
irritating to severe, rebellion is ever present in Umbridges Hogwarts.
In a succession of dazzling moments gleaming with poetic justice, Umbridge
loses her hold on her regime. After attempting to use veritaserum and the Cruciatus
Curse, a truth serum and an illegal torture curse, respectively, to force Harry to tell
her where Dumbledore has gone, Umbridge turns to Hermione for answers
150
(Rowling, 2003, p. 748). Hermione and Harry lead Umbridge into the Forbidden
Forest in supposed pursuit of a secret weapon Dumbledore has had the students
create; however, in truth, Hermione intends to bring Umbridge to the herd of
centaurs living in the Forest, and she succeeds. Upon meeting the centaurs,
Umbridge voices her views on filthy half-breeds, beasts, [and] uncontrolled
animals (Rowling, p. 755). These insults enrage the centaurs, proud beings who
abhor wizards and believe that centaur intelligence far outstrips that of humans
(Rowling, p. 754). The centaurs seize Umbridge, and the final glimpse of her is of
Umbridge being borne away through the treesstill screaming nonstop
(Rowling, p. 756). In the end, it is Umbridges thirst for power and her sickening,
prejudiced views that bring about her ironic downfall at the hands of the very
beings (a Muggle-born witch and a herd of nonhuman magical creatures) she
strives to oppress.
That said, the support for institutionalized oppression of nonhuman magical
creatures has repercussions for wizards and witches other than Umbridge. The
Order of the Phoenix, the titular rebellious group founded and led by Dumbledore
and dedicated to defeating Voldemort, attempts to prepare for his return and its
inevitable, violent consequences by garnering support from the goblins and the
giants (Rowling, 2003). However, the goblins are unwilling to lend their support
without first considering the proposal in depth, and the additional options of
remaining neutral or of supporting Voldemort, if he is returning. As Lupin notes, if
the goblins are offered freedoms weve [the wizarding community] been denying
them for centuries theyre going to be tempted (Rowling, p. 85). Similarly, the
giants entertain the thought of loyalty to the Order as opposed to Voldemort
despite the fact that, according to Dumbledore and Hagrid, it was the wizards who
forced em to go an made em live a good long way from us an they had no
choice but ter stick together for their own protection (Rowling, p. 427).
Ultimately, however, the giants attack Hagrid, whom Dumbledore had sent as
ambassador, and effectively reject any alliance with Dumbledore and the Order
(Rowling, p. 433). Despite the fact that the Order represents the side combating
institutionalized oppression among wizards, its members still remain members of
the wizarding community, and are thus oppressors of the nonhuman magical
creatures with whom they wish to ally themselves.
The most harmful consequences of the institutionalized oppression of
nonhuman magical creatures by wizards come from Sirius Blacks enslaved house
elf, Kreacher. Although Sirius dedicates his life and, in Order, his death to fighting
Voldemort and the oppression for which he stands, Sirius undeniably supports the
enslavement and abuse of house elves via his treatment of Kreacher. From
Kreachers introduction, during which Rowling (2003) refers to him as it in the
narration, Sirius speaks with loathing and disdain toward Kreacher, emphasizing
his madness and uselessness (pp. 107-109). Kreacher seems to remain in Order
Headquarters throughout the novel, but near the end of the text, Harry learns that
Kreacher has been feeding information to the Malfoys, and that this information
led to Sirius death during the battle at the Ministry of Magic (p. 830). While Harry
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is incensed over Kreachers betrayal, Dumbledore recognizes that Sirius must

share the blame for part of his own demise:
Kreacher is what he has been made by wizardsYes, he is to be pitied.
He was forced to do Siriuss bidding, because Sirius was the last of the
family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And
whatever Kreachers faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to
make Kreachers lot easier. (p. 832)
Here, Dumbledore reveals the complexities of Sirius role in combating and
supporting different sorts of institutionalized oppression in the wizarding world.
Sirius battled Voldemort, but he also allowed and participated in the oppression of
a house elf, and, ultimately, this led to his demise.
Throughout Order, Harry struggles and strives to protect his mind from the
connection he has with Voldemort (Rowling, 2003). This connection allows
Voldemort to use Legilimency, or to see inside Harrys mind and interpret his
findings there (Rowling). To combat Voldemort, Harry studies Occlumency, the
magical defense of the mind against external penetration (Rowling, p. 519). In the
context of institutionalized oppression within the novel, Legilimency symbolizes
Voldemort and his oppressive ideologies, sculpting innocent minds according to
the structures of unjust power and dominance. Occlumency, then, represents the
efforts of resistors, combating these structures and rebelling against them whenever
possible.
BRINGING ANALYSES OF ORDER TO THE CLASSROOM
In terms of bringing the novel to the classroom, educators can incorporate and
teach Order from numerous complex perspectives. As Skulnick and Goodman
(2003) argue:
As teachers, we often pass up wonderful opportunities to use particular
artifacts of popular culture as catalysts for thoughtful social inquiry and self-
reflection The books of Harry Potter represent the rare occurrence when a
well-written and thought-provoking series of books has been welcomed into
the school curriculum. As a result, it has provided many teachers with
excellent opportunities to engage children in thoughtful study . (p. 261)
As noted earlier in this chapter, students will and should engage in self-reflection
when reading Order. In examining their personal views on institutionalized
oppression within the wizarding world, learners may transfer their questions and
conclusions to the world in which we live. Further, as noted in the first section,
students can also read, analyze, and evaluate both Tolkiens On Fairy-Stories
and the literary theory texts on the Marxist lens as cited in this chapter, then
consider Order in the context of those perspectives.
Regarding additional inquiries and examinations of the text, Order provides a
foundation for students to examine the sources and maintenance of
institutionalized oppression, as well as the responses to and rebellions against such
152
structures. How does institutionalized oppression begin? How does it remain? How
are certain characters or people responsible, directly or indirectly, for its
persistence? How do authority and power contribute to or combat it? How do the
press and, in our world, the media contribute to or combat it? How can we respond
to and react against institutionalized oppression? How does the novel inspect or
answer these questions? Readers, as students, will doubtless react passionately to
the injustice of Umbridge as government official, professor, and oppressor; in turn,
these responses will allow teachers to guide productive and thoughtful discussions
on the actions, themes, and problems within Order.
Finally, students should consider the overarching message of Order in the
context of our world. Per Ostry (2003), despite the fact that Rowling makes an
admirable attempt to broaden childrens perspectives on social justice (p. 96), the
Harry Potter series is simultaneously radical and traditional (p. 90). The
analyses of the text in section two reinforce the belief that the overall meaning is
open to interpretation, regardless of Rowlings intentions. Some characters, such as
Sirius, are well-intentioned but still guilty of promoting oppression, and this will
give students pause. As Heilman and Gregory (2003) argue, the presence of a
moderate amount of social critique does not make the Harry Potter texts
progressive (p. 242). Students can and should consider their final interpretations
of the texts, and the advice it offers in contexts beyond the wizarding world.
In the middle of On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien (1965) discusses and defines the
peculiar word and subsequent sensation of mooreeffoc:
Mooreeffoc is a fantastic word, but it could be seen written up in
every town in this land. It is Coffee-room, viewed from the inside
through a glass door, as it was seen by Dickens on a dark London
day; and it was used by Chesterton to denote the queerness of things
that have become trite, when they are seen suddenly from a new
angle. (p. 58)
Certainly, students and teachers alike will experience mooreeffoc when reading
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Though we cannot draw a single,
perfect metaphor between the novel and our world and consequent experiences,
reading and analyzing Order through the Marxist lens of injustice enables us to see
and assess our society suddenly from a new angle. These fresh angles and broad,
emerging horizons, then, will afford us clearer, more complex, and more
thoughtful ways of viewing both our world and the fantasy worlds in which we
wander.
NOTE
1
This definition is the authors own, but has been developed from content in Deborah Appleman
(2015); Allen Brizee, J. Case Tompkins, Libby Chernouski, and Elizabeth Boyle (2010); Anna O.
Soter, Mark Faust, and Theresa M. Rogers (2008); and Shama Rangwala (2009).
153
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REFERENCES
Appleman, D. (2015). Critical encounters in secondary English: Teaching literary theory to

adolescents. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Bealer, T. L. (2009). (Dis)order and the phoenix: Love and political resistance in Harry Potter. In G. L.
Anatol (Ed.), Reading Harry Potter again: New critical essays (pp. 175-190). Santa Barbara, CA:
ABC-CLIO.
Brizee, A., Case Tompkins, J., Chernouski, L., & Boyle E. (2010, April 21). Marxist criticism.
Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/05/
Friedman, L. (2009). Militant literacy: Hermione Granger, Rita Skeeter, Dolores Umbridge, and the
(mis)use of text. In G. L. Anatol (Ed.), Reading Harry Potter again: New critical essays (pp. 191-
205). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Hall, S. (2003). Harry Potter and the rule of law: The central weakness of legal concepts in the wizard
world. In G. L. Anatol (Ed.), Reading Harry Potter: Critical essays (pp. 147-162). Westport, CT:
Praeger Publishers.
Heilman, E. E. & Gregory, A. E. (2003). Images of the privileged insider and outcast outsider. In E. E.
Heilman (Ed.), Harry Potters world (pp. 241-259). New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer.
Lavoie, C. M. (2009). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Lies in Harry Potter. In G. L. Anatol (Ed.),
Reading Harry Potter again: New critical essays (pp. 77-87). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Ostry, E. (2003). Accepting mudbloods: The ambivalent social vision of J. K. Rowlings fairy tales. In
G. L. Anatol (Ed.), Reading Harry Potter: Critical essays (pp. 89-101). Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
Park, J. (2003). Class and socioeconomic identity in Harry Potters England. In G. L. Anatol (Ed.),
Reading Harry Potter: Critical essays (pp. 179-189). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Rangwala, S. (2009). A Marxist inquiry into J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter series. In G. L. Anatol (Ed.),
Reading Harry Potter again: New critical essays (pp. 127-142). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
Skulnick, R. & Goodman, J. (2003). The civic leadership of Harry Potter: Agency, ritual, and
schooling. In E. E. Heilman (Ed.), Harry Potters world (pp. 261-277). New York, NY:
RoutledgeFalmer.
Soter, A. O., Faust M., & Rogers, T. (2008). Interpretive play: Using critical perspectives to teach
young adult literature. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.
Stockslager, T. (2012). What it means to be a half-blood: Integrity versus fragmentation in biracial
identity. In C. J. Hallett & P. J. Huey (Eds.), J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter (pp. 122-134). New York,
NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1965). Tree and leaf. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Claire A. Davanzo
Monclair State University
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PART THREE
EDUCATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

LOUISE PISANO SIMONE
10. MAGIC AS PRIVILEGE IN ROBERT JORDAN AND

BRANDON SANDERSONS WHEEL OF TIME EPIC
FANTASY SERIES
Teachers who practice social justice pedagogy face the challenge of engaging,
confronting, and discomforting students around issues of privilege. Indeed,
defining and recognizing privilege in daily life or mainstream culture is an
essential first step to furthering the goals of social justice education, especially
among the privileged themselves. Teachers encounter students confusion, anxiety,
guilt, or even ambivalence about how privilege affects oneself and others. Further,
such reactions often arise hard on the heels of discussions of the roots of inequity
and injustice in our society. Students who live inside privilege need help
understanding how others perceive the privileged and its effects on the lives of
those without it.
To that end, teachers engage in a perennial hunt for nonthreatening, yet
revelatory ways to break down the resistance experienced by our students with
respect to privilege. As language arts teachers around the globe know, reading
from an aesthetic stance (Rosenblatt, 1988) can shift a students interaction with
literature from a focus strictly on language arts, toward one that foregrounds social
justice concerns. By focusing on the situations, scenes, personalities, emotions,
[sic] called forth, participating in the tensions, conflicts and resolutions as they
unfold (Rosenblatt, 1988, p. 6), readers experience literature differently. As a tool
for recognizing, analyzing, and dismantling assumptions about inequality, justice,
and privilege, literature opens windows into the lives of those whose experience is
different from the privileged elite. Through the experiences of literary characters
and by witnessing the world through a different pair of eyes, readers gain
invaluable insight into the life experience of the other. Literature offers visceral,
emotion-laden, aesthetic experiences that help the reader more intimately
understand a fellow human being. Fantasy literature, especially, offers unparalleled
opportunities to do just that.
Through the pages of fantasies, students witness injustice, inequality, and
privilege framed in fantastical societies that operate as grand metaphorical
narratives about the world in which we live and the historical conditions in which
they were written. By witnessing injustice, inequality, and privilege in impossible
worlds, students can gain insight into those same conditions in the consensus
reality. During (1992) explains that Michel Foucault believed that literature reveals
motifsprivileged objects that crystalize and organize the dominant
themes of a writers imagination, or as Foucault puts it, figure an

PISANO SIMONE
experience. Foucaults approach to literary works lies in seeing them not

as the reading or interpretation of an individuals work or an oeuvre, but as a
social event. The motifs that he fastens upon belong less to private creative or
readerly imaginations than to history. (p. 73)
In other words, fantasy authors, like all writers, create worlds in which the historic
conditions of our consensus reality are consciously or unconsciously reconstructed
in their works. They draw attention to uncomfortable motifs of our own
experience. Fantasy literature goes a step further, though. By creating worlds in
which the unexpected, the surprising, or the unanticipated change places with the
normal, fantasy literature turns readers expectations on their heads. By doing so,
they make uncomfortable realities visible. They focus attention on aspects of
consensus reality that are so fundamental to our understanding of the universe and
our place in it that they are all but invisible to our conscious minds. In this way,
Robert Jordan and Brandon Sandersons Wheel of Time series, published between
1990 and 2013, illuminates the arbitrariness of power, privilege, and agency in our
consensus reality by illustrating how they function in a fantasy world. By
exploring the perspectives of both those with power and those without it, the
Wheel of Time exposes the fear and mistrust of both groups toward one another. In
doing so, it opens a window to the way power affects the relationship between the
privileged and the unprivileged in American society. While on the surface this
fantasy series treats the conflict between good and evil and questions of freedom
and fate in a universe of cyclical time, the series also offers social justice
practitioners the opportunity to expose the nature of privilege and power with
students in a non-threatening, entertaining way.
FANTASY AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY
As Rosemary Jackson (1981) points out, The fantastic traces the unsaid and the
unseen of culture: that which has been silenced, made invisible, covered over and
made absent [It] tells of the impossible attempt to realize desire, to make
visible the invisible and to discover absence (p. 4). Fantasy exposes a societys
dark areas (Jackson, 1981, p. 4), and in doing so, it offers teachers a means to
interrogate the rules under which we all live, whether we recognize them as such or
not. Furthermore, by examining the scenarios portrayed in fantasy literature that
spur heroes to act, we begin to understand how individual action and personal
responsibility make change happen in the world, a key component of social justice
pedagogy.
In Reading Democracy: Exploring Ideas that Matter with Middle Grade and
Young Adult Literature, Steven Wolk (2013) illustrates how teachers can and
should explore topics as complex and nuanced as moral and ethical
consciousnesswar, peace, and nonviolenceculture, racism, and prejudice (p.
47) with their students. Using inquiry-based teaching, asking students to question
investigate and explore (p. 48) the texts they read in school or for leisureto
read aestheticallyteachers concerned with social justice pedagogy help students
to engage with issues outside their classrooms.
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MAGIC AS PRIVILEGE
Naming and examining the problems of injustice, or the effects of privilege on

individuals that incite emotional responses in students as they read of the lives of
fantasy characters, helps them name and look critically at unjust and unfair
conditions in their own world. By treating injustice, prejudice, inequality, power,
and privilege overtly, fantasy writers require their readers to be open to
understanding those issues in the world of consensus reality. As they give a voice
to those who have no voice in a fantasy world, they also give a voice to the
voiceless in the real world. They make the unseen visible. Fantasy accomplishes
this through its metaphorical structure.
FANTASY AS METAPHOR
Metaphor transforms meaning in a text by deepening the associations related to the

terms on both sides of a metaphor. For the reader, the text acts to unite meanings in
a way similar to the way simile or symbolism tie images together in poetry or
allegory. While simile and allegory intentionally draw attention to themselves and
their purpose, metaphor asks the reader to seek new, more complex connections
between the two sides of the metaphorical equation. By connecting the meanings
of two independent ideas or images meaning travels back and forth between the
two parts of the metaphor. Just as Rosenblatt (1988) suggests that readers bring a
range of sensations, images, feelings and ideas that are the past residue of
psychological events involving those words and their referents (p. 5) to a reading
of a text, reading a fantasy asks readers to connect the literal meaning of the text to
their own experience. Readers connect the images and emotions they experience
while reading and carry them across the bridge from text to their world and back
again. In this way, fantasy acts metaphorically by bringing readers personal
knowledge of their consensus world to bear on the fantasy world. Readers link
concepts they know intuitively or intellectually, such as their societys class or
economic structure, and more abstract ideas with which they might have little
immediate experience, such as discrimination, inequality, or injustice, to events in
the story. Frye (1957) suggests that metaphor asserts identity between the two
components of the comparison, passing ideological meaning between the world of
the narrative and the readers world, and vice versa. The emotional content
encountered in images and meaning in the text carries over to the consensus world,
providing new meaning to the readers real world context. Similarly, a students
intellectual knowledge of their own worlds injustices informs the reading of the
text. The metaphorical structure provokes readers to sift through their individual
bank of ideas, emotions, and experiences, and apply what they find to the world
they encounter in the fantasy novel. Fantasy, by virtue of its metaphorical power,
evokes new meaning and understanding within the reader by connecting the
emotional and political associations of one world with the other.
Fantasy as a social justice tool has yet another advantage over nonfiction or
realistic texts: It conveys meaning in a non-threatening, non-didactic, imaginative,
and entertaining way and is extremely popular among young readers. According to
Publishers Weekly, fantasy represented 44.6 million units of print books alone sold
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PISANO SIMONE
in the U.S. 2015 juvenile market (Milliot & Segura, 2016). And because it appeals
to a wide variety of readers, it is read by millions of young people. Asking students
to think about social justice issues using a genre they already enjoy invites them to
find deeper meaning in those texts. By introducing the kinds of inquiry that social
justice pedagogy encourages, by calling attention to injustice, inequality,
discrimination, and the causes of fear and violence in an alternative world, teachers
subtly generate critical thinking and stimulate engagement with similar conditions
in a students own world.
THE WHEEL OF TIME
In the alternative universe of Jordan and Sandersons novels, the world faces a
growing threat from the Dark One, a primeval force of evil brought into being at
the moment of creation and immediately imprisoned by the benevolent but distant
Creator. As the series opens, the Dark Ones prison is weakening. The people of
the Wheel of Time await the birth of a hero: the prophesized Dragon Reborn.
According to the prophecies, he alone can prevent the Dark One from engulfing
the world with his taint and enslaving all sentient beings.
On the surface, this epic fantasy series explores questions of good and evil, fate
and freedom, and life and death. Read metaphorically and explored within the
framework of a social justice classroom, the story offers insight into the workings
of power and privilege in contemporary society. In The Eye of the World (Jordan,
1990a), readers meet more than a dozen characters whose paths the series follows
over approximately two-and-a-half years of their lives. The first volume also
establishes the social-political structure of the fictional universe. Key to
understanding social status and power in the World of the Wheel is an
understanding of the ability to channel the One Power, as magic is called in the
novels.
The One Power emanates from the True Source, an invisible font of energy
made up of the five elements of creation: earth, wind, fire, water, and spirit. By
manipulating threads of these forces, individuals channel, performing acts as
simple as lighting a flame and as extraordinary as diverting lava flows from the
center of the earth. They manipulate the weather, move instantly through space and
across universes, or create elaborate illusions. They also have the ability to control
minds, stop hearts, or inflict torture.
The One Power consists of two streams: saidin and saidar. In this fantasy
universe men only have access to and wield saidin; women have access to and are
able to wield only saidar. In the World of the Wheel, only a select few are born
with the capacity to channel, or can learn to do so.
In a period preceding the events of this first novel, men and women channeled
collaboratively in order to accomplish many of the most extraordinary tasks
recorded in the World of the Wheels histories. That age of cooperation between
male and female channelers ended in one climactic moment three thousand years
before the first novel opens. At that moment, the bonds of the Dark Ones prison
had grown weak because channelers attempted to tap the Dark Ones power for
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their own use. In retribution for resealing the prison, the Dark One released a
backlash of evil that tainted saidin. From that moment, to touch saidin feels like
reaching through the oily, stinking surface of a slimy pond (Jordan, 1990b, p.
219, 220). It causes nausea, pain, and despair to the channeler. Over time and with
repeated exposure, men who channel descend irreversibly into madness. It is
because of this madness that male channelers caused the Breaking, a time of
destruction, violence, and death when seas and mountains shifted, and entire
nations were destroyed. Memory of the Breaking forced the proscription against
the use of saidin. In response to this ban and out of fear of what they might do as
they go mad, men who channel willingly leave behind home, loved ones, and
community. Most commit suicide or are killed before they can be gentled
severed from the One Power. Once gentled, most lose the desire to live. Because of
this taint on saidin, only saidar is safe to channel, and only women who undergo
rigorous training are legally sanctioned to wield the One Power.
This society-wide prohibition against male channeling and the regulation of
access to the One Power dramatically portrays a form of elite prerogative that
mirrors the functioning of white privilege in modern American society. Jordan and
Sanderson portray a society in which those who do not channel fear and capitulate
their own autonomy to those who can. It is through this portrayal of channeling as
a characteristic of an elite segment which bestows a privileged position in the
society, yet also causes suspicion and revulsion among those who cannot channel,
that makes Jordan and Sandersons novels so powerful a tool for understanding
privilege and power in the context of American society. Those who channel enjoy
superior status and wealth. Among all nonchannelers, however, women who
channel the One Power are considered filthy (Jordan, 1990a, p. 414) and are
called witches (Jordan, 1990b, p. 11) or Darkfriends (Jordan & Sanderson,
2010, p. 187). Those who cannot channel fear, avoid, and distrust all channelers.
Nevertheless, it is the use of the One Power that affords female channelers their
status in the society. They are considered the most beautiful and wisest, and they
are obeyed without question. In exploring this contradiction of fear and revulsion
alongside obedience and deference, the novels offer a window into understanding
both the privilege afforded white Americans, as well as the mistrust, fear, and
resentment experienced by people of color. Just as white Americans experience the
world without referencing their whiteness or the privileges they enjoy on a daily
basis because of it, female channelers of the world of the Wheel of Time move
through their society without concern for how their ability to channel affords them
privilege or power, and distrust and fear. Men who channel and nonchannelers in
the World of the Wheel live every moment conscious of how society demonizes
and devalues them, just as people of color navigate the world of consensus reality
in full consciousness of their devalued or demonized status.
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TEACHING SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH FANTASY LITERATURE

A CONCEPT-BASED APPROACH
In order to understand how the world portrayed in a fantasy like Jordan and
Sandersons novels operate as metaphors for consensus reality, students must
become familiar with several core concepts central to the discussion of social
justice. Among them are identity, power, and privilege. In addition, social justice
pedagogy requires that students think about issues of inclusiveness and fairness
(Bruce, 2015).
Identity
Identity (i.e., who one is with respect to markers of race, ethnicity, cultural affinity,
gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status) is the first concept key to
understanding ones place in a society. According to Tolerance.org, a website
created by the Southern Poverty Law Center and dedicated to supporting teachers
who explore social justice issues in their classrooms, identity is the collective
aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing or person is definitively
recognized or known; the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an
individual is recognizable as a member of a group (The Anti-Bias Framework,
2016).
In addition, students need a basic understanding of the fact that society and
culture offer both positive and negative signals about key aspects of identity. By
defining who one is, an individual also begins to identify who one is not. How the
community perceives someone influences that persons own perception of him or
herself, for better or worse. Social justice pedagogy helps students to perceive
society-wide associations, prejudices, and preferences that cling to specific identity
markers. Recognizing that attitudes about an identity marker are influenced by
cultural attitudes informs important corollaries to understanding identity: an
individual has no control, conscious or unconscious, over such markers; one has no
control over how markers are perceived by others. Identity is an aspect of a
persons life over which one has no control.
In the Wheel of Time, the ability to channel is fundamental to ones identity and
lies deeper in ones essence than even the color of ones hair, skin, or genetic
makeup. One female channeler who trains girls to become Aes Sedai, a sisterhood
of female channelers, explains to a young woman whom she has discovered with
the talent that the number of men and women who can channel appears to be
dwindling. She says that by hunting down men who could channel for three
thousand years [society has been] culling the ability to channel out of us all
(Jordan, 1990b, p. 358). This reference to culling points to the hereditary nature of
channeling. But, as Jordan and Sanderson illustrate, channeling is even more
fundamental to ones identity than ones hereditary genetic make-up. This idea is
revealed most clearly through the character of Arangar.
Arangar is a member of an elite group of Forsaken, men and women who
have pledged their souls to the Dark One in exchange for immortality and access to
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the True Source, the Dark Ones own font of energy. Arangar, a woman, is the
reincarnation of a man named Balthamel. Despite her change in biological sex with
her reincarnation, Arangar continues to be able to channel only saidin, the male
half of the One Power. Arangars essence, and so her ability to channel one or the
other side of the One Power is tied to her original male essence (Jordan, 2000, p.
757).
Tolerance.org explains that identity is the collective aspect of the set of
characteristics by which a thing or person is definitively recognized or known
(Anti-bias framework, 2016). In the case of the ability to channel, because
Arangar can only channel saidin, the male aspect of the One Power despite having
the body of a woman, channeling represents a means by which a person is
definitivelyknown. At her essence, despite her change in biological sex (her
genetic composition) and her personal acknowledgement that she is a woman
(gender identity) she still can only channel saidin, the male aspect of the One
Power. In fact, Arangars use of saidin masks her true identity causing confusion
at key moments in the storys development. In this sense, then, the ability to
channel reveals identity in its deepest sense in that it represents a characteristic by
which a thing or person is definitively recognized or known (Anti-Bias
Framework, 2016), and is something over which one has no control. In the Wheel
of Time, ones ability to channel is an aspect of a persons identity that is out of
ones control in the same way that ones skin color, or how one is known by
society is equally out of ones control.
Power
The concept of power occupies a central place in any discussion of social justice.
Power, according to Foucault, always manifests itself in action. It reflects a
relationship between individuals or groups in which one individual has the capacity
to act according to ones own will or to have influence upon the actions of others.
For that reason, Foucault understood power as the freedom to act.
In the literature about social justice, power revolves around access to resources
and the ability to influence others. According to OpenSource Leadership
Strategies, an online source for educational and business leaders interested in
addressing issues of social justice in their organizations, power involves
[access] to resources and to decision makers to get what you want done, the
ability to influence others, the ability to define reality for yourself and
potentially for others. Power can be visible, hidden, or invisible. Power can
show up as power over others, power with others, and/or power within. (The
dynamics of power, n.d.)
Power, then, is the ability to act freely or to act upon others actions.
With this definition of power in mind, the ability to channel sheds light on
relationships and events in Jordan and Sandersons fantasy realm. In The Wheel of
Time, kings and queens kneel before channelers (Jordan, 2009, p. 186). Channelers
expect and receive obedience from the lowest to the highest members of society
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(Jordan 1990b, p. 78; Jordan, 2005, p. 103); they expect and receive more respect
than even members of the noble class (Jordan, 2004, p. 332); and they expect and
receive deference and obedience from soldiers and stable hands alike (Jordan,
1991, p. 497). The ability to channel makes their powerthe ability to act freely
obvious.
By dramatizing how the ability to channel allows some characters to walk
through the world with the expectation of respect, deference, freedom, and agency,
Jordan and Sandersons novels guide students to see how power linked to identity
functions. Their demonstration that power and identity relate to action offers a
profound metaphorical exploration of the conditions in consensus reality, such as
whiteness, that endow an individual with the ability to act freely or provide an
individual with access to others social or political power.
Privilege
Privilege is inextricably tied to power and stems from access to power. As
Foucault (1994) writes, privilege involves
the exercise of power [as it] operates on a field of possibilities in which
the behavior of active subjects [both individuals or groups] is able to inscribe
itself. It is a set of actions on possible actions; it incites, it induces, it seduces,
it makes easier or more difficult; it releases or contrives, makes more
probable or less; in the extreme, it constrains or forbids absolutely, but it is
always [a] set of actions upon other actions.
The exercise of power is a conduct of conducts and a management of
possibilities. (p. 341)
Privilege, then, is the enjoyment and exercise of power. Privilege manifests itself
as the ability to act without constraint, to enjoy the possibility of action. Those
without privilege find their actions proscribed by the actions of others. Privilege
works invisibly at the roots of society. It is derived from identity and power in that
privilege is awarded without reference to skill or effort, and allows some actors in
a society to act freely, unaffected by the restricting actions of others. In the Wheel
of Time series, Jordan and Sanderson dramatically bring this concept to life.
Jordan demonstrates the effects of channeling as privilege by focusing much
attention in the first volume on how the use of the One Power confers status on
women who can channel. Women channelers have access to training, education,
and financial resources that are unavailable to the majority of people. Women and
girls who have the ability to channel are sought after throughout the Westlands, the
region of the World of the Wheel where the story takes place. Women channelers
receive special treatment by their communities. Most importantly, they move
through life with an assumption of respect, deferential treatment, and an awareness
of their power. They are, as the feared and anticipated Dragon Reborn, Rand
alThor says, [puppeteers] who pulled strings and made thrones and nations dance
in designs only (Jordan, 1990a, p. 85) they know.
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Nonchannelers, on the other hand, show deference and fear of channelers. For
example, a young tavern singer begs forgiveness for offending a female channeler
for performing a bawdy song when she realizes an Aes Sedai is present. She says,
I did not mean to offend with my common songs. She was covering the exposed
part of her bosom I can sing others, if you would so like (Jordan, 1991, p.
497). Deference for Aes Sedai opinions and power affords them the right to dictate
the actions and choices of others.
Jordan and Sanderson reveal yet another aspect of privilege essential to
understanding its operation in society. Because channeling is a part of ones
identity, as discussed above, channelers in the world of the Wheel of Time
consider their superior status as natural and proper. When a former leader of the
sisterhood of Aes Sedai exclaims that she had caused kings to kneel before her!
[Had] manipulated the Aes Sedai and planned for the deliverance of mankind
itself (Jordan, 2009, pp. 186-87), she is confident that it is her personal worth that
has allowed her to succeed: her knowledge of politics, her strength with the One
Power, her beauty, and her personality traits, and not merely her ability to channel.
Privilege allows an individual to believe that ones success or status derive from
ones own personal characteristics and are not the result of advantages bestowed
on an individual by such things as Affirmative Action programs or diversity
initiatives intended to reverse the effects of previous discrimination (Holloday,
2000). Ones success, when one is a member of a privileged group, is ones own.
Aes Sedai privilege manifests in other ways, as well. In addition to their higher
social status, they exercise freedom of movement and behavior and tolerate no
challenges to their decisions. When challenged, they put their own goals ahead of
the safety or wellbeing of those around them. Those with privilege defend it at all
costs. For example, Aes Sedai, alone, judge and carry out the gentling of male
channelers.
In the Wheel of Time series, gentling men who can channel, cutting them off
from the ability to touch saidin, dramatizes the most violent response to challenges
from outside the privileged group. Aes Sedai act with impunity towards male
channelers, despite the fact that gentling leads to the death of the male channeler.
At times, female channelers efforts to capture a male channeler cause all-out war
with those who follow him in the belief that he might be the Dragon Reborn, the
prophesized savior who will combat the Dark One in the Last Battle.
In the Wheel of Time novels, girls and women who can channel are sought after
far and wide, and are taken to the White Tower in the city of Tar Valon where they
undergo a rigorous training period, educated in esoteric knowledge, and given
access to wealth, authority, and status. Men who can channel, on the other hand,
are emasculated. The entire society fears men who can channel, perceiving them to
be dangerous: they are shunned, ostracized, and driven away. Boys or men who
discover they can channel often choose suicide rather than risk endangering those
they love. In one nation, male channelers are offered a choice, they can either step
from the bow of their ship holding a stone which is also tied to their legs, or they
can be dropped off on a barren isle with no food or water (Jordan & Sanderson,
2009, p. 126). Those who are captured by Tar Valon and gentled soon lose the
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PISANO SIMONE
desire to live. Both social sanctions against men who can channel and gentling
remove any threat to those with sanctioned access to power.
This manifestation of different approaches to aspects of ones identity
demonstrates explicitly how those with privilege regulate and control access to it.
Despite the fact that the Aes Sedai justify their actions toward male channelers
based on the effects of the taint on channelers of saidin, society and female
channelers act as gatekeepers to the privileges that accompany the use of the One
Power. They prevent those who are unworthy, according to their own standards,
access to it and regulate its dissemination and the accompanying access to greater
wealth and opportunity it affords.
In this way, Jordan and Sandersons novels begin to reveal the nature of
privilege as it relates to identity and power, and its uneven distribution in
contemporary society. Anyone who challenges elite status is trampled and
emasculated. When readers of fantasy confront the lengths that those with privilege
will go to protect their status, and to stifle access to power by other groups, they
gain insight into situations in their own world in which privilege protects itself and
denies access to power. Teachers can offer insight into the contemporary and
historical realities of students lives by directly linking the unjust emasculation of
male channelers in the Wheel of Time to the conditions of the African Americans
in the Jim Crow South, or the conditions that spawned movements such as Black
Lives Matter, or indigenous rights groups around the globe where access to
justice, status, or resources are systematically denied.
SEEING PRIVILEGE FROM AN OUTSIDERS PERSPECTIVE
Perhaps the most valuable insight Jordan and Sandersons novels afford readers is
the window they provide into the world seen through the eyes of those who have
no power. Early in the series, Jordan provides the reader with an outsiders view of
channelers. While Aes Sedai are revered for the magical power they wield, their
access to wealth, and their control of kings and queens, they are also feared and
mistrusted. All know of the oaths Aes Sedai channelers must take, but those oaths
do not engender trust. While the oaths make it physically impossible for Aes Sedai
to lie, female channelers are known for bending the truth to fit the lie they want to
tell. As one character says, An Aes Sedai never lies, but the truth she speaks may
not be the truth you think you hear (Jordan, 1990a, p. 644).
Stories and legends tell of channelers feats with the One Power. However, all
such stories are accompanied by warnings that Aes Sedai do what they do for their
own purposes. Nonchannelers especially fear them because of their perceived
willingness to sacrifice the lives and wellbeing of entire communities in pursuit of
their own goals. For example, when the Amyrlin Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai,
rushes to meet with the newly discovered Dragon Reborn, she travels by riverboat.
In order to speed her journey, her channelers call up strong winds, causing the river
to flood its banks. She acknowledges the impact her journey has on the people who
live on the river, as well as on the weather itself, only with respect to how it
involves perceptions of Aes Sedai. She says,
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I have seen the flooding we caused in villages along the river, and the Light
only knows what we have done to the weather. We will not have endeared
ourselves by the damage weve done and the crops we may have ruined. All
to reach here as quickly as possible. (Jordan, 1990b, pp. 55-56)
Despite the damage her journey has caused, she blithely carries on with Aes Sadai
business. The Aes Sedai exercise their prerogative, which the ability to channel
affords them, no matter the effects their actions have on the lives of others.
Examples throughout the series provide ample evidence of how nonchannelers
both revere and fear Aes Sedai. When one channeler, Moiraine Sedai, arrives in
Emonds Field, a small town and the home of Rand alThor, the Dragon Reborn,
she initially fails to reveal her status as Aes Sedai. The townsfolk immediately
assume she is a woman of noble birth because of her apparent wealth, elegance,
and her obvious knowledge of the world beyond their humble community.
Moiraine initially attempts to win the Emonds Fielders trust with gifts and coin.
She shows an interest in the towns history. When Trollocs, a bloodthirsty, hybrid
race of human and beast, attack Emonds Field, she uses the One Power to battle
the Trollocs. The villagers initially suspect Moiraine of bringing the Trollocs
attack down on them and immediately attempt to expel her from the town. Those
who cannot channel want nothing to do with those who do out of suspicion and
fear that the Power will be used against them. Once the town is reminded of her
benevolence and aid in defeating the Trollocs, those who fear her are shamed into
silence (Jordan, 1990a, pp. 130-135), and her status is restored.
In addition, those who fear them experience anxiety and ambivalence about
female channelers power. When Tam alThor, Rands father, lays dying following
the Trolloc attack, those who know of the Aes Sedais ability to heal cautiously
suggest that Rand take his father to Moiraine Sedai, while also reminding him that
[help] from an Aes Sedai was sometimes worse than no help at alllike poison in
a pie, and their gifts always had a hook in them, like fishbait (Jordan, 1990a, p.
99). Nonetheless, Rand must turn to an Aes Sedai for help or watch his father die.
While readers witness Rands need, they feel his suspicion and fear, as well. Later,
Jordan offers the reader insight into the toll healing has on Moiraine Sedai (Jordan,
1990a, p. 101). Her own strength is diminished for a time, making her weak and
vulnerable.
As a teacher seeking to help students understand the effects privilege has on
both those who are privileged and those who are not, these passages demonstrate
the disparate reactions that privilege and power generate. While the reader is able
to see and understand the benefit that the channelers have brought to the
community (the Amyrlin Seats primary goal is to protect the world from the
Dragon Reborns madness; Moiraine Sedai battled the Trollocs; Tam would die
without Moiraines intervention), the reader also has access to the fear and the
mistrust nonchannelers experience toward channelers. It is this ambivalence about
both the benefits and trauma the exercise of power and privilege have for
nonchannelers that provides readers insight into why, in the consensus reality,
those without power or privilege react with deference and respect, but also mistrust
and fear toward those with them.
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PISANO SIMONE
This two-sided perspective creates dissonance in readers who live within their
own power and privilege. They come face to face with the obligations associated
with power, but they also must confront how the powerful are viewed by the
powerless. It is this dissonance that teachers can harness in order to push readers
who have power and privilege to question their effects on themselves, on those
around them, and on their place in society. Most important of all, however, is the
revelation that often the source of ones power and privilege lies solely in an aspect
of identity which is out of ones control.
Noteworthy also is that Jordan and Sandersons novels offer readers an
alternative perspective of power and privilege. By including female channelers as
viewpoint characters, they offer insight into the cost power and privilege have on
those who possess it. The White Tower protects and guides the world (Jordan &
Sanderson, 2010, p. 440), they write, at the cost of family, marriage, friendship,
and love. This insiders view of the cost of power and privilege subtly generates
compassion toward those who might otherwise be reviled.
The workings of power and privilege in Jordan and Sandersons fantasy world
offers important insight into their effects in consensus reality. When rulers and
other leaders subordinate themselves to the most elite in the society, power and
privilege become visible. By linking identity, power, and privilege so clearly in
fantasy literature, their connections to American society become more visible.
Jordan and Sanderson introduce still more complexity into the conditions of the
fantasy realm which offers further insight into the workings of privilege in
consensus reality. As the series progresses and the experiences of the original
characters expand, Jordan and Sanderson introduce forces who hunt Aes Sedai and
anyone who channels. The Children of the Light, or Whitecloaks as they are called,
is a society of men who consider the use of the One Power blasphemy against the
Creator (Jordan, 2004, p. 55). In addition, an invading force from the previously
unknown Seanchan empire view all channelers with disgust. Whitecloaks oppose
the use of the One Power by any channelers, and they torture and kill them. The
Seanchan seek to enslave channelers by collaring them like dogs. Once collared,
channelers may not channel without permission, and they are forced to use their
power to serve the empire: They are seen as tools (Jordan, 1990b, p. 571).
Channelers are reviled by Whitecloaks, and in Seanchan society they occupy the
lowest status in society (Jordan, 1990b, p. 595-96). By introducing groups whose
perspective on the ability to channel so completely contradicts the view of
Westlanders, Jordan and Sanderson reveal the fundamentally arbitrary nature of
basing status and privilege on an aspect of identity. By subjecting channelers to
humiliation, denigration, punishment, and torture because of their identity, Jordan
and Sanderson expose the injustice of bestowing or denying privilege to
individuals based on aspects of ones life which are out of ones control. As
readers react to the debasement of one group by another, they are brought face to
face with the reality of prejudice and injustice based on aspects of a persons
identity in their own world. While Jordan and Sandersons characters struggle
against enslavement, discussions of Seanchan treatment of those who are leashed
echo arguments defenders of the enslavement of Africans espoused, and they use
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the same language that supremacists use to justify the oppression of one group by
another. For example, the Seanchan argue that collaring channelers ensures that
they are under control so they cannot use their power against their handlers or
contend for power (Jordan, 1990b, p. 572) against those of the Blood (i.e., the
Seanchan ruling class). Channelers are too valuable to be killed out of hand
(Jordan, 1990b, p. 572), so they are cared for and live lives of privilege (Jordan
& Sanderson, 2012, p. 581). In reality, however, they live in kennels, apart from
others, and contact with them is forbidden. The Seanchan consider those who
channel to be dirty animals (Jordan, 1992, pp. 638, 839). When readers witness
the reversal of attitudes about those seen as privileged by one group and witness
their oppression by another, injustice and social justice concepts come to life. The
ability of fantasy literature to resonate metaphorically in consensus reality makes it
an invaluable tool for teaching in a social justice classroom.
Jordan and Sanderson teach one final lesson with respect to different
perspectives concerning power and identity. When male channelers reject their
emasculation and create a training facility of their own, Jordan and Sanderson
demonstrate how repression cannot be borne indefinitely. When the Ashaman, as
the male channelers of the Westlands call themselves, assert their own value in the
battle against the Dark One, the injustice and immorality of arguments against
male channelers are exposed and undermined. When the Last Battle is won by
male and female channelers working together as well as with the aid of the
Seanchan and Whitecloaks alike, the true value of Jordan and Sandersons work in
a social justice classroom becomes clear. Only by allowing each individual to fully
express his or her identity and to access and contribute their power to shared goals
can a society tackle the greatest threats to its existence. While the novels
themselves may not have been intended as commentary on the injustice of
privileging one group over another in society, by looking at conditions in the
fantasy realm metaphorically, astute readers and teachers can explore key issues of
power and privilege in a social justice classroom.
CONCLUSION
The metaphorical nature of fantasy literature allows students to think beyond the
literal meaning of a text. Because the worlds found in fantasy literature distance
themselves from readers consensus reality, they also allow readers to distance
themselves from the injustices they witness in them. By approaching a text
aesthetically, readers experience the lives of characters in the story. As a reader
delves more deeply into the lives and the nature of the society in the impossible
world, the readers own knowledge of the consensus reality calls attention to the
similarities and differences between the world of the fantasy and the one in which
the reader lives. Fantasy highlights the differences between the real and the
impossible, while simultaneously informing each with meaning from the other. In
this way, fantasy illuminates more clearly inequities in the readers own world and
allows students to safely question the status quo.
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PISANO SIMONE
The Wheel of Time series, like most popular fantasy, through its highly
appealing and accessible content, subversively offers a critique of consensus reality
while dressing it in popular fantasy tropes. Jordan and Sandersons novels address
issues of injustice and privilege through an exploration of the use of magic. Their
novels open a space for readers to understand power and privilege in their own
world that are analogous to the alternative world of the novel and allows them to
examine it in a safe space. By aesthetically experiencing the injustices,
inequalities, unfair assumptions, and prejudices about both channelers and
nonchannelers and their power and privilege in relationship to their identities, the
Wheel of Time Series offers teachers interested in social justice pedagogy a chance
to call attention to injustice and oppression in consensus reality. By allowing
students to experience dissonance in their reactions to injustice and inequality in
the books they read, teachers begin to generate empathy and compassion. When
students witness the mistrust, disdain, or fear of those with power in a fantasy
world, and experience the frustration, mistreatment, or abuse of those without
power, teachers have the opportunity to dismantle student resistance to seeing
these conditions in their own world. For these reasons, fantasy literature can be a
valuable tool in a social justice classroom.
REFERENCES
The Anti-Boas framework: Unpacking identity (2016). Teaching tolerance. Retrieved from
www.tolerance.org/module/anti-bias-framework-unpacking-identity
Bruce, H. (2013). Subversive acts of revision: Writing and justice. English Journal, 102(6), 31-39.
During, S. (1992). Foucault and literature: Towards a genealogy of writing. New York, NY:
Routledge.
The dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression. Retrieved from
www.opensourceleadership.com/documents/DODefinitions.pdf
Foucault, M. (1994). In J. D. Faubion (Ed.), Michel Foucault: Power (R. Hurley Trans.). New York,
NY: The New Press.
Frye, N. (1957). Anatomy of criticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Gibson, K., & Parks, M. W. (2014). Toward social justice: Literature to promote multiple
perspectives. Multicultural Education, 21(2), 41-50.
Holladay, J. R. (2000). White anti-racist activism: A personal roadmap. Roselle, NJ: Crandall, Dostie &
Douglas Books.
Jackson, R. (1981). Fantasy, the literature of subversion. London, UK: Methuen.
Jordan, R. (1990a). The eye of the world. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R. (1990b). The great hunt. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R. (1991). The dragon reborn. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R. (1992). The shadow rising. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R. (2000). Winter's heart. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R. (2004). The new spring. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R. (2005). The knife of dreams. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R., & Sanderson, B. (2009). The gathering storm. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R., & Sanderson, B. (2010). Towers of midnight. New York, NY: Tor.
Jordan, R., & Sanderson, B. (2012). A memory of light. New York, NY: Tor.
Milliot, J., & Segura, J. (2016). The hot and cold book categories of 2015. Publisher's Weekly
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/69138-the-hot-
and-cold-book-categories-of-2015.html
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Patterson, T. (1997). The world of Robert Jordans wheel of time. New York, NY: Tor-Tom Doherty
and Associates, Inc.
Rosenblatt, L. (1988). Writing and reading: The transactional theory. Technical Report No. 416.
Cambridge, MA: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc..
Ryan, K., & Dagostino, L. (2015). Infusing the teaching of fiction with Louise Rosenblatt's theory of
aesthetic reading. New England Reading Association Journal, 50(2), 53-58, 90-92.
Wolk, S. (2013). Reading democracy: Exploring ideas that matter with middle grade and young adult
literature. English Journal, 103(2), 45-51.
Louise Pisano Simone

Independent Scholar
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DAWAN COOMBS, JON OSTENSON, AND
WHITNEY SOMMERVILLE
11. SEEING HARRY POTTER AS AN

AT-RISK STUDENT
Critical Literacy, Cultural Capital, and the Wizarding World
Hagrid, whats Quidditch?

Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin how little yeh knownot knowin about
Quidditch!
Dont make me feel worse, said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in
Madam Malkins.
and he said people from Muggle families shouldnt even be allowed in
Yer not from a Muggle family
So what is Quidditch?
Its our sport. Wizard sport. Its likelike soccer in the Muggle world
everyone follows Quidditchplayed up in the air on broomsticks and theres four
ballssorta hard ter explain the rules.
And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?
School houses. Theres four. Everyone says Hufflepuffs are a lot oduffers,
but
I bet Im in Hufflepuff, said Harry gloomily.
(Rowling, 1997, pp. 79-80)
Despite his celebrity status in the wizard community, Harrys lack of familiarity
with its culture, language, social structures, and institutions constantly causes him
to question his competence and magical potential. Although most muggle teens
will never deal with the challenges Harry confronts as he tries to sort out Quidditch
from Slytherin and Hufflepuff on his first visit to Diagon Alley, they can
empathize with Harrys attempts to acculturate into the social, academic, and
political norms of a very unfamiliar world. Many students in secondary schools
exist on the margins because of disconnects between their own cultures, languages,
and social practices and those valued in schools. And, like Hagrid in the excerpt
above, the teachers who serve these students may often feel ill-equipped to offer
the needed support.
These challenges and others faced by students and teachers in the world of
magic parallel those we face in our own. As a result, reading the Harry Potter
series through a professional lens can provide preservice teachers with
entertaining, yet serious, opportunities to critically examine issues of education and
schooling. In this chapter we describe how a critical literacy framework allowed a
group of preservice English teachers to actively reflect on and question educational

COOMBS ET AL.
traditions portrayed in the series and ultimately in their own world. We focus
specifically on the case of Whitney, a white, middle-class female, whose
interpretation of Harry as an at-risk student motivated her to explore research on
deficit thinking in education that she then used to inform her work in her own
classroom. Specifically, her year-long inquiry into the concepts of cultural capital,
deficit models of education, and funds of knowledge lead to transformations in her
understandings about students and ultimately provided a critical framework for her
to examine her own teaching.
THE INTERSECTION OF SCHOOL STORIES, FANTASY,

AND CRITICAL FRAMEWORKS
Because of the overwhelming focus on the formative educational experiences of its

characters in their journey to adulthood, the Harry Potter series fits within the
category of erziehungsroman or the school story (Atwood & Lee, 2007).
Learning plays a pivotal role in the fantasy-filled adventures of Harry and his
friends throughout the series, providing a clear example of the school story genre.
Replete with descriptions of students and teachers in the classroom, these
narratives certainly entertain, but they can also invite readers to contemplate
significant questions about education (Glanzer, 2008) and to examine
representations of educational systems (Sheppard, 2008). Nuanced and
sophisticated portrayals of the Hogwarts educational system offer commentary on
issues such as differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, mentoring, and
Vygotskian social constructivist theories of modeling, scaffolding, and relevance
(Booth & Booth, 2003; Mullen, 2000).
The erziehungsroman elements of the Harry Potter series result, in large
measure, from its foundation in modern fantasy. Susan Cooper (1996), the author
of the critically acclaimed Dark is Rising series, theorized that the fantasy writing
today offers stories that perform the same function that myths did for ancient
cultures. Channeling Joseph Campbell, she suggested that fantasy writers compose
variations on a single theme where a hero crosses a threshold into unfamiliar
territory, full of adventure and challenges and trials, and ultimately returns home
triumphant but also wiser (p. 62). In their mythic role, fantasy stories provide
readers a way of making sense of the world around them, training them for the
challenges they will face in real life. Similarly, the Harry Potter series provides
readers with opportunities to learn to navigate schooling and education from the
perspectives of both students and teachers.
The use of school stories in teacher education is not new. Coles (2004)
witnessed fictional portrayals of classrooms informing the understandings and
identities of the teachers enrolled in his graduate seminar, leading him to argue that
stories provide authentic contexts to apply abstract concepts of teaching and
learning and to explore their implications. Numerous studies also documented
reading erziehungsroman literature as a way to give preservice and practicing
teachers opportunities to explore issues of diversity and teenage experience
(Brindley & Laframboise, 2002; DeGroot, 2011; Mason, 2010), culture and
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SEEING HARRY AS AN AT-RISK STUDENT
pedagogy (Laframboise & Griffith, 1997), and even professional development

(Bach, Choate & Parker, 2011). As a result of its strong erziehungsroman
emphasis and the documented use of stories in teacher development, the Harry
Potter series is ripe for pedagogical discussion.
But, as Freire (1983) argued, reading includes not just decoding, it also involves
anticipating and extending into knowledge of the world (p. 5). In essence,
readers bring their understandings, predispositions, and knowledge of the world to
their reading of texts and the meaning of a text does not exist independently of
their experiences. Because they constantly experience new situations, ideas, and
perspectives, individuals never read the same text in quite the same way. As Freire
explained, reading always involves critical perception, interpretation, and re-
writing what is read (p. 11). Applied to the context of school stories, the
knowledge and experience the preservice teachers bring to their reading influences
their interpretations and understandings of the story.
For this reason, true critical readings also promote reflection, transformation,
and action (McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004), inviting readers to question the
status quo as they challenge power structures and practices that marginalize groups
or individuals. In order to support marginalized students or those from diverse
backgrounds, teacher education programs need to encourage this kind of study to
better help their students reflect on their identities and privilege (Nieto, 2000, p.
184). This specifically includes studying fictional and non-fictional narrative texts
in order to help teacher candidates challenge pre-existing ideologies that influence
their teaching practice (Alsup, 2003; Coles, 2004).
With its depictions of heroes on the threshold of adventure and their subsequent
adventures in strange lands, fantasy literature may take on new meanings for
preservice teachers who are about to embark on their own adventure into the world
of professional teaching. School stories, like the Harry Potter series, can provide
meaningful opportunities for this same group to turn a critical eye on the practices
of the institutions and classrooms they are about to enter. These ideas suggested to
us that inviting preservice teachers to revisit the adventures of Harry Potter at
Hogwarts would allow for important opportunities to consider their evolving
identities as teachers and the complexities of the professional world they were
about to become part of.
RE-READING HARRY POTTER WITH PRESERVICE TEACHERS
The Study
In the fall of 2013 we invited preservice English teachers at our university to
participate in a book club designed to examine representations of teaching,
education, and schooling in the first six books of the Harry Potter series. We knew
the experiences many of these preservice teachers had with Rowlings stories as
young readers would motivate them to revisit the books with us. However, we also
hoped that re-entering the familiar halls of Hogwarts as older readers, armed with
the knowledge they gained from methods classes and field experiences, would
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COOMBS ET AL.
provide opportunities to question assumptions about teaching and learning and

educational institutions. A critical literacy framework proved vital to our groups
re-reading of the Harry Potter series because reading critically would involve
examining practices, attitudes, and beliefs about education and ultimately lead to
actions that challenged the status quo and harnessed the desire these young
teachers felt to bring about meaningful change in their own work as teachers.
Participants
Six self-described Harry Potter enthusiasts chose to participate in this book club,
including four female and two male white, preservice teachers between the ages of
20 and 24, from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Although not nearly as
experienced as practicing teachers, as a result of five methods courses and over 80
hours of classroom observations, the preservice teachers had developed a teacher
lens through which they could read these stories, a lens that would help them
attend to details they had overlooked or deemed insignificant in previous readings.
The Process & the Products

The group met once a month and for each meeting the students agreed to re-read
the designated book and came prepared with annotations and notes in response to a
central question: What teaching and learning practices did you observe in this
book? We situated the study of the narratives as working in the same way they
worked in Coles (2004) seminar; the stories provided a context for the participants
to examine their own beliefs and practices about education.
As the researchers, we sought to remain on the periphery of the discussions,
willing to answer questions or help students as they made connections, but
primarily making observations and encouraging students to respond to one another
rather than seek answers from one of us. Students drew on their own experiences in
schools as well as on what they had learned in their methods classes as they
prepared to become teachers while they revisited Rowlings depictions of school
and teaching.
To gather data about the responses of participants, we recorded each discussion
and a research assistant later transcribed these recordings; we also individually
recorded observational notes during each discussion. We then coded the transcripts
and our observational notes using a thematic analysis approach, which involved
identifying themes and issues the students raised in their discussions (Braun &
Clarke, 2006).
The book club formally ended in May of 2014, but four of the six participants
chose to conduct additional research into issues raised in the discussions that they
found relevant to their own professional growth. They sought out research to
inform their understandings, analyzed the issues in the novel in light of this
research, and then presented their findings at local and national student research
conferences in the spring and the fall of 2014.
176
Also, in the fall of 2014 and winter of 2015, the six book club participants each
began either a year-long internship or a semester-long student teaching experience.
All of them finished their experiences in the spring of 2015 and we interviewed
each participant again, this time asking them to identify experiences from their
practice informed by their dialogues and research from the book club. These
interviews were then transcribed, thematically coded, and analyzed using the
approach previously described.
Whitneys Case
Our discussion in this chapter focuses on the experiences of Whitney, one of the
book club participants. In her own words, Whitney described herself as a Harry
Potter nerd but also as a privileged White, middle-class woman who needed to
better understand at-risk students. She explained:
My initial draw to at-risk students began through on-campus experiences
provided by my teacher education program, including a visit from alternative
high school students and their administrators. As I listened to these students
share their unique struggles and successes, I recognized how different their
life experiences had been from my own and wondered what teachers were
doing to help them succeed both academically and personally. When the
opportunity came to discuss pedagogy through reading Harry Potter, I
became even more eager to analyze different types of students as portrayed in
novels that I not only knew well, but treasured.
What began as interest in Harry Potter resulted in a year-long inquiry into cultural
capital and deficit models of education that ultimately influenced her classroom
practice. Drawing on our analysis of book club transcripts, Whitneys writing
samples, and interviews, we demonstrate how participating in this process
promoted a process of critical reflection, transformation, and action for Whitney
that influenced the pedagogical approaches she later assumed as a classroom
teacher (McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004, p. 14).
Findings and Discussion

We divide our discussion between the two main educational issues that Whitney
focused on in the research she did as a result of re-reading the Harry Potter series:
cultural capital and deficit thinking. In each of these sections, we consider first
how Whitney was encouraged to reflect on pre-existing ideas and beliefs as a result
of re-reading the series and then turn our attention to how that reflection
transformed Whitneys thinking, leading to action on her part once she entered a
classroom.
The discussion that follows centers around Whitneys reading of Harry Potter
(the character) as an at-risk student. The term at-risk takes on specific definitions
across disciplines; in the field of education it most often refers to one who is in
danger of failing to complete his or her education with an adequate level of skills
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COOMBS ET AL.
(Slavin & Madden, 1989, p. 4). Whitney was first exposed to the concept in her
education coursework, but as she continued to research the issue in conjunction
with her re-readings of Harry Potter, she also explored the term as described by the
National Center of Educational Statistics. This definition identified certain factors
that can contribute to a student being labeled as at-risk: lack of parental support,
below-average grades, negative peer pressure, ethnic minority, and low
socioeconomic status (US Department of Education, 1992).
Based on this definition, Whitney quickly identified these characteristics in
Harrys experience with the Dursley family and at Hogwarts, but she also realized
how Harrys strengths, talents, and understandings complicated this categorization.
As we observed Whitneys work, we realized her interest in reframing Harrys
narrative moved beyond simple classifications of students as she recognized how
an awareness of issues surrounding cultural capital and deficit thinking would help
her productively problematize these simple stereotypes.
Cultural Capital
Reflection
I really dont think they should let the other sort in, do you? Theyre just not
the same, theyve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of
them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I
think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. Whats your surname,
anyway? (Rowling, 1997, p. 78)
This quote, as well as others throughout the novels, exemplifies the belief of the
Malfoys and several others that magical privilege belongs solely to those whose
genealogies contain only pure-blood wizards and witches. Understandably, book
club participants resisted the notion that even one non-magic parent demoted
someone to a lower social status as well as the characterization of those without
any magical parent as invaders worthy of persecution. The participants pointed
out that some wizards and witches gained power in their community through
magical prowess (even Voldemort himself), and the presence of deliberate and
powerful structures that held back others like Harry often became the focus of the
groups discussions.
Although the book club transcripts never mention the term capital, as Whitney
began delving into her research about at-risk students, she became familiar with
this concept and its use in education settings. Coined by Bourdieu (2007), it
describes those cultural (knowledge, skills, and language), objectified (goods,
texts, and materials), institutional (degrees or credentials), and social (networks or
group memberships) resources that privilege certain individuals over others.
Against the backdrop of their analysis of Harry Potter and her own research,
Whitney began asking questions about the capital Harry and her own students
brought to school, the capital that they lacked, and the implications of these issues
for the students in her own future classroom. Her understanding of capital also
resulted from conversations about Draco Malfoy and his father. In the series both
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characters heavily draw on the cultural, objectified, institutional, and social capital
of their family to promote their agendas and self-interest. In the book club
discussions Whitney and her peers noted not only multiple abuses of this power,
but also the negative effect of it on Draco.
Whitney continued to reflect on these concepts, incorporating them into her
research as well as into her teaching. In an interview conducted after she
completed her student teaching experience, she reflected on moments that gave life
to the concepts and theories discussed in the book club. Here she proceeded to
described a doppelgnger encounter she had with the mother of one of the 8th
grade girls in her class that made real the misuse of capital. After multiple grades
reflected the students poor performance, Whitney received a scathing email from
the parent threatening to transfer the student out of the class and stating that her
daughter was going to be a surgeon and that the mother would not let Whitney
cause this girl to fail. The daughter, armed with the support of her mother,
continued to cause problems in the class and, as Whitney described, act with an
entitled attitude that caused some problems later in the school year. After sharing
this experience, Whitney explained the similarities between this student and her
mother and Draco Malfoy and his father. In both instances the parents expected
certain things from teachers and, because of their social capital, expected teachers
to behave in specific ways.
Transformation & Action. Armed with a both a theoretical and applied

understanding of capital and some of the ways it plays out in schools, Whitneys
experiences working in her first teaching position as a 7th and 8th grade language
arts teacher continued to push her notions of the implications of these forces on the
lives and learning of students. After successfully completing student teaching, she
accepted her first teaching job at a charter junior high school in a suburb of a large
city in the Intermountain West. And, with her Harry Potter research fresh on her
mind, Whitney purposely tried to remain cognizant of the power structures in her
classroom and how they influence student learning and success. However, as she
explains below, the students she encountered challenged her understandings of
capital:
The understanding of at-risk students I had developedsuch as those with
limited physical resources, uninvolved parentsbegan to be challenged;
students that qualified as at-risk based on these needs were not immediately
apparent or [not] apparent at all. This realization caused me to question
which students at my school were being marginalized, and how. It did not
take long for me to see that my students struggled with an alternate facet of
capital: social capital. Primarily through class discussion and their individual
writings, my students revealed early on that the vast majority had struggled to
find a place within the social setting of their former schools. Many more than
I ever expected had been victims of bullying and suffered devastating
emotional effects to the point of self-harm and contemplating suicide. Several
students began to show evidence of social anxiety or behaviors suggesting
weakness in everyday social competency.
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Unlike the Malfoys she read about or the mother-daughter duo she encountered in
her student teaching experience, the students Whitney taught seemed to be
positioned on the opposite side of the social capital power dynamic. Most of her
students had found their way to this school because they lacked capital in social
situationsso much that it negatively affected their schoolwork and behavior
and shut down.
Because of Whitneys awareness of the challenges students faced in relation to
these issues of social capital, she tried to help students take risks in the classroom
to engage, to participate, and to become learners. Whitney explained it this way:
Ultimately, my study of Harry Potter as an at-risk student sharpened my
teacher lens to the areas in which my students were indeed at-risk, allowing
me to better tailor my instruction and interactions to their social needs and
respond to their emotional needs appropriately. For example, I strive to allow
students opportunities to have their opinions and feelings validated within the
context of their learning, making their experiences in the classroom more
personal to them. I have also integrated several opportunities for students to
simply be kind to each other and to discover things about their classmates.
One such opportunity occurred at the beginning of the year within an activity
I planned as a part of a conscious effort to build a safe learning community
within my classroom. This activity required students to conduct peer
interviews through a series of questions we brainstormed all together, after
which they introduced one another to the class. The success of this activity
was openly confirmed when two of my female 7th grade students approached
me saying, Guess what? Were best friends now because of you. Surprised,
I asked why that was the case. They replied, Because of that activity we did
a few weeks ago. You had us partner up and talk about our lives and we
found out that were both adopted. We would never have known that about
each other. Now were best friends! Cool, huh? Though encouraging
students to interact and share personal insights is nothing new, I was struck
by how significant making time for such interactions can be, especially for
students that struggle emotionally and socially.
This experience represents just one instance when creating opportunities to build
social networks within the classroom helped Whitneys students not only grow as
literacy learners, but also as social individuals. For the students in Whitneys class,
many of whom were on the margins, the tie between these two issues helped them
make positive changes.
Would Whitney have made similar moves if she hadnt participated in the book
club? Her education and training, as well as her innate desire to see students
succeed and feel welcome, would likely have motivated her to create a safe
learning environment in her classroom. But her depth of understanding
and confidence to act as a critical educator or, as what Giroux (2013) called a
transformative intellectual (p. 197) committed to working for socially just
education, would not have been nearly as strong.
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Deficit Thinking and Funds of Knowledge

[Snape] got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing
behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, Possibly no
ones warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I
would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. (Rowling, 1999,
p. 132)
This scene is one of many throughout the books in which Severus Snape frames a
student in ways that emphasize how he or she is deficient compared to a standard
that Snape has established. In truth, Neville does struggle in Snapes subject of
study (potions), but he shows remarkable skill in herbology under Professor
Sprouts tutelage, and Professor Lupin, in the scene quoted above, is able to help
Neville successfully dispel the boggart. He is not a failure as a student, but in
Snapes eyes his deficiencies in potions class clearly suggest that Neville is
incapable of anything good. Snape was problematic for our book club participants
for many reasons, but his treatment of Neville (and other students, like Harry, that
he seemed to dislike) was a topic of frequent discussion.
Snape exhibits classic deficit thinking, and his treatment of Neville is an
example of the way this kind of thinking can lead to negative actions (our students
used the word abuse in discussing their interactions). With at-risk students
especially, teachers can be tempted to focus on where their students are lacking
or needing remediation rather than on the strengths they bring to a classroom.
Often, this challenge is made even harder by the fact that students strengths may
not be in traditionally valued areas (such as print literacy) in schools. Across the
books in the series, vignettes like the Snape-Longbottom conflict provided these
preservice teachers with opportunities to explore issues of deficit thinking and to
identify ways to combat that thinking.
In reviewing the arc of the series, these books provide a remarkable opportunity
to explore deficit thinking and how to combat it, especially through the character
of Harry Potter. It almost seems as if Harry is deliberately positioned within the
series so that his pre-Hogwarts life and non-wizard upbringing help empower him
to defeat Voldemort. In trying to secure the Sorcerers Stone before Voldemort
does, Hermione and Harry face (and solve) a logic puzzle that might have stumped
a typical wizard but that she, with her Muggle background, easily solves;
Hermione explains to Harry that A lot of the greatest wizards havent got an
ounce of logic, theyd be stuck in here forever (J. K. Rowling, Sorcerers Stone,
1997, p. 285). In addition, the fact that Harry is an orphan whose parents were
brutally murdered by Voldemort proves to be an advantage for him: The love of
his mother who gave her own life to protect her son provides protection throughout
the books for Harry. But perhaps most importantly, Harry being raised outside the
Wizarding world means that he does not have the deep, almost paralyzing fear of
figures like Voldemort, the Death Eaters, or Sirius Black; for those raised in the
wizard world, story after story about the evil deeds of such figures have instilled
such fear that they dont even use Voldemorts real name. Harry, raised without
such tales, is often able to be more objective about the threats that Voldemort poses
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COOMBS ET AL.
or to overlook the common wisdom about Sirius Black, which proves to be critical
to Harrys coming into his own. Although Rowling often portrays Harry as self-
conscious about his limited familiarity with the wizarding world, a broader reading
suggests that his Muggle background actually proves to be a strength.
Reflection. At the same time as our book club participants recognized the ways
some teachers like Snape relied on deficit views of students like Neville or Harry,
they were also quick to note those who did not let deficit thinking influence their
reactions to students at Hogwarts. One specific instance of this comes in Harrys
first encounter with a broom in his class on flying lessons, where he shows
remarkable talent in facing down the bully Malfoy and rescuing Neville
Longbottoms fragile Remembrall. However, the flying instructor, Madam Hooch,
had forbidden any flying while she was escorting Neville (who had broken his
wrist in his first flying attempt) to the nurse. Upon seeing Harrys actions from her
office window, Professor McGonagall intervenes. In Whitneys response to what
McGonagall does next, Whitney noticed that McGonagall refused to let Harrys
perceived deficits govern her actions and instead sought ways to leverage the
talents and skills he brought to a school setting:
She chooses not to bust Harry for breaking the rules; technically he was not
supposed to be riding a broomstick when she discovered him doing so.
Instead she views her discovery as a revelation with positive implications for
Harrys school experience. Then she chooses to look past school-imposed
structures that would prevent him from joining the Quidditch team at so
young an age. Additionally, she refuses to assume that Harrys inexperience
and Muggle upbringing will prevent him from progressing quickly in the
sport of Quidditch (which he indeed does).
In the group discussions, our participants noted that such an outcome might not
have come to pass had Professor McGonagall chosen to see Harry as a deficient
student, raised outside the wizard world and unaccustomed to wizarding ways. Our
students were impressed that she instead chose to embrace the promise Harry had
shown and turn a potentially harmful situation for Harry into one that lays an
important foundation for his identity and role in the Hogwarts community.
One way to combat deficit thinking is through seeing students as possessing
funds of knowledge, an idea that Whitney came to understand as she engaged in
research about at-risk students inspired by her reading of Harry. The term funds of
knowledge describes the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies
of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-
being (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992, p. 133). Combining work in
anthropology, ethnography, and education, many scholars have argued that
individuals gain valuable knowledge and abilities that are often underprivileged in
traditional school settings, but can be leveraged to maximize student learning, such
as when teacher Cathy Amanti recognized that her students, many of whom came
from cattle-ranching families, knew a lot about horses and capitalized on this
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knowledge in delivering literacy instruction in an inquiry unit focused around

horses (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992).
Examining Professor McGonagalls response, Whitney too came to recognize
the way that the funds of knowledge students bring into classrooms can be
leveraged by teachers who take the time to come to know their students interests
and out-of-school skills. She reflected on how McGonagall, in legitimizing and
foregrounding the talents Harry brought to Hogwarts, had set him up for important
successes in school:
Allowing Harry to join the Quidditch team ends up influencing his student
life in many positive ways. Being a team member opens the door for him to
make friends with those he might have never known he shared a common
interest, giving him a greater sense of community within school. Harrys
training on a broom also prepares him to eventually succeed in preventing
Lord Voldemort from obtaining the Sorcerers Stone, an adventure that
stands as a type of final assessment of all Harry learns his first year at
Hogwarts. But more than anything, Quidditch empowers Harry with the
understanding that he is capable, if not talented, within this new culture.
In the fictional world of Hogwarts, it would have perhaps been easier for
McGonagall to react based on the dominant prejudices in the wizard world or on
what Harry was lacking in his prior experience and to see him as deficient or in
need of remediation. Instead, she chose a very different path, which Whitney found
inspiring and worthy of emulation in her own practice.
Transformation & Action. Resisting deficit thinking by identifying students

funds of knowledge and bringing those into classrooms in meaningful ways asks
teachers to become, in a sense, ethnographers who study students background
knowledge and out-of-school lives (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005). The
observations and reflective thinking that ethnographers engage in can help teachers
become more sensitive to students as multi-dimensional individuals who bring
unique and valuable background knowledge and lived experiences into a classroom
learning situation.
This process of observation and reflection became a part of Whitneys practice
as she completed her student teaching experience. In a follow-up interview
conducted during her student teaching, Whitney noted that it took time and
patience to both identify students who might be at-risk and to identify ways in
which she could rely on their funds of knowledge to help them meet the learning
goals in her classroom. She described one student, a young man diagnosed with
autism, who refused to write regardless of the prompt that Whitney provided;
during time provided for writing, she noted, hed just sit there and build
something or doodle. In part to help reach this student, in a later assignment
Whitney allowed for students to work in a visual medium, asking them to create a
new version of their name (by drawing it, using color or splitting up the letters) in
conjunction with writing a poetic description of their name. With this young man,
Whitney noticed that he eagerly worked on visually representing his name, which
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built on the expertise he brought into the learning situation, and then willingly
completed the prompt to write creatively about his name. In the interview, she was
excited about this success and reflected on its connection to what she had learned
about funds of knowledge from studying the Harry Potter series: We were able to
incorporate some of his personal strengths, which reinforced that doing so is such
an important thing to remember.
Whitney followed through on her pledge to remember in her first year of
teaching when she encountered another student in a similar situation and quickly
sought to identify and leverage his background knowledge. As Whitney writes:
I remembered that autistic boy when confronted with another student at my
first teaching job that similarly refused to write or even speak. He seemed so
incapable of either task that fellow faculty members had become adamant
that he could not process what he read or heardhis brain would not do it.
Hesitant to accept such a conclusion, I decided to solicit this boys help in
creating a journal prompt for him. My inquiries, met with nods and shrugs,
eventually led to the topic of video games. When I saw a smile creep across
his previously empty and disengaged face, I knew I was on to something. I
probed, Which games do you like on the Wii? Do you play Super Mario?
Oh, I love Mario! And he responded quietly, I like Super Smash Brothers
Brawl. Teach me about Super Smash, I said, and he wrote a brief but
expressive paragraph that demonstrated sentence variance, impeccable
spelling, and accurate comma usage.
We can see here that Whitneys attention to students out-of-school interests and
background knowledge is becoming an integral part of her teaching practice,
especially when she works with students who are struggling or labeled as at-risk.
Building on her early interest in Harry as an at-risk student, she is beginning to act
in ways that reflect an understanding of students funds of knowledge and the role
they play in her classroom.
In our experience, most new teachers have their hands full with the demands of
planning and executing lesson plans while simultaneously managing student
behavior. These demands place an understandable burden on new teachers and
often prevent them from attending to individual students needs or from adapting
curriculum to meet those needs. Whitneys experience reading the Harry Potter
series through a critical lens, however, seems to have equipped her with an
awareness of the dangers of deficit thinking, a greater sensitivity to students
needs, and the desire to act in positive ways to meet those needs.
CONCLUSION
We hoped that re-entering the familiar halls of Hogwarts as older readers would
provide an opportunity for our book club participants to question assumptions
about teaching and learning and educational institutions. Questioning would lead to
new understandings which, in turn, would lead to actions taken that could
challenge the status quo and harness the idealism and enthusiasm of these young
184
teachers towards meaningful change. Whitney typifies what we found in analyzing

the data we gathered throughout this process: The participants in the book club
engaged in critical reflection about the events and characters in the series, drawing
meaningful connections to and conclusions about their own potential practice as
teachers. Her experiences and reflections demonstrate how fantasy literature and
school stories can nurture preservice teachers on the path to becoming
transformative intellectuals who develop critical thinking habits that unite the
language of critique with the language of possibility (Giroux, 2013, p. 196) as
they prepare to be active agents of change in educational institutions.
The experiences of our book club participants show that fantasy literature can
provide a context in which preservice teachers can reflect on educational theories
and pedagogical approaches and apply them. These participants, like so many
preservice teacher candidates, encountered educational issues in abstract forms in
university classrooms, but revisiting the world of Hogwarts provided a compelling
and familiareven if not entirely realisticcontext for them to question and
challenge their perspectives, expand their understanding and discover new resolves
within themselves to take action as classroom teachers. They experienced the self-
discovery that Susan Cooper (1996) argued is fundamental to reading fantasy
literature: Fantasy is the metaphor through which we discover ourselves (p. 45).
The genre of fantasy, in providing a distance from reality, offers a safe space to
question and challengea seemingly perfect match for cultivating critical
responses.
Importantly, the initial enthusiasm the participants showed in re-reading the
Harry Potter series with this kind of lens continues to influence their practice
today, especially as seen in the case of Whitney. In one of our follow-up
interviews, Whitney remarked that she had marked up all of her beloved books
(those she had first read from as a younger reader) with teacher notes. She
reflected that she would like to re-read the books again, but this time with her
increased experience as a teacher. She went on to explain that she expected to
notice different things and react differently to events and characters: Because all
your experiences, theyll just continually change with every class and every
student that you teach, so its never going to be the same read. It is this
recognition of her ever-evolving circumstances, the way those influence the way
she reads these books (and the world around her), and her commitment to revisit
those prior assumptions in the face of new experience that are perhaps the greatest
rewards of the book club. While Rowling may not have set out to critique
educational institutions and practices, a critical reading of her books has helped set
our preservice teachers onto a path of critical thinking and responsive action that
we hope will change their classrooms and schools for the better.
As they reflected in this way, they began to transform their thinking and
understanding about the world around them. What had, to our students as younger
readers, seemed unquestioningly exciting and adventurous now seemed more
complex and fraught with potential problems. These new perspectives led to
reflection, transformation, and action as they begin to ask hard questions of the
teachers and administrators of Hogwarts and the practices in classrooms in this
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fictional school, in a sense transforming their earlier interpretations of the series of

books and leading to action based on the new understandings.
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Dawan Coombs
Department of English
Brigham Young University
Jon Ostenson
English Education Program
Brigham Young University
Whitney Sommerville
Independent Scholar
187
STEPHANIE DREIER
12. MAGICAL OBJECTS IN FANTASY

A Multicultural Examination
While literary studies may seem disconnected from social problems, critical
pedagogy offers ways to bridge the gap between the literary and the social. By
demonstrating to students how fictional works can address issues of equality and
social justice, critical pedagogy can help teachers to open up space for a socially
engaged dialogue with their students. In this chapter I will argue that even an
apparently remote genre such as fantasy fiction can be used to encourage
students to imagine alternative worlds. I will use texts from three different
languagesEnglish, German, and Russianto show how an awareness of the
functions of magical objects in fantasy can illuminate the social mechanisms of
community formation driven by mass culture. My main argument is that the
depictions of objects in fantasy can teach us about how fantasies of education
extend from literature to the classroom.
Fantasy fiction offers an example of how literature influences cultural change
by both projecting and reflecting alternatives. Fantasy contributes many
attributes to popular culture, particularly our fascination with material objects.
Fantasy fiction centers on objects that have unusual powers. Such objects can
serve many different purposes: Advancing stories, shaping identities, and
determining relationships. In this essay I will show that one of their most
important functions is to generate communities. Moreover, fantasy is one of the
few genres that lead to the creation of subcultures built around objects.
Thousands of people, children as well as adults, spend millions of dollars to
purchase spin-off toys and merchandise from Disney movies, Harry Potter, or
Pokmon in a process that could be called the commodification of desires. In my
view, such fantasy spin-off products function in ways similar to their fictional
counterparts: They create communities all over the world. I will use the term,
fantasy object, to refer to both the object as a literary device in fantasy and the
spin-off products drawn from fantasy. Fantasy objects from literature stimulate
mass production and mass culture.
Extensively published and read all over the world, fantasy fiction remains on
the periphery of academic research. Even though many, including Rosemary
Jackson (1981), Brian Attebery (1992), Colin Manlove (1975, 1983), and Farah
Mendlesohn (2008) have written about the genre, surprisingly little has been said
about the roles of material objects in fantasy narratives. There is a massive body
of research on the role and functions of material objects in psychology, cultural
studies, philosophy, and critical theory, from Karl Marx (1867) to Donald W.
Winnicott (1971). However, in fantasy studies this topic is for the most part

DREIER
neglected. There is no compelling investigation into the reciprocally

transformative relationship between subjects and objects in texts. I will address
this relationship by interpreting three popular fantasy novels: Harry Potter and
the Sorcerers Stone (J. K. Rowling), Reckless (Cornelia Funke), and The
Stranger (Max Frei). I have chosen an English, a German, and a Russian novel to
demonstrate that it is not only one particular kind of national fantasy that features
objects in predominant roles, but that it is a characteristic of fantasy fiction from
various traditions. My intention is to interpret these texts through the functions of
material objects to demonstrate how fantasy fiction from various national
literatures offer models for education that can be useful in the classroom.
The word fantasy is ambiguous and can have many different meanings. In
this paper, I will use it to refer to the genre of fantasy fiction. With Brian
Attebery (1992), a leading American scholar of fantasy and science fiction, I
define fantasy as a sophisticated mode of storytelling characterized by stylistic
playfulness, self-reflexiveness, and a subversive treatment of established orders
of society and thought (p. 10). I extend Atteberys definition by exploring
fantasy fictions transformational power to create communities in both the
fictional and everyday worlds through material objects. In a Winnicottian
interpretation, material objects can become transitional for humans, and can
motivate human development (Winnicott, 1971, p. 2). These transitional objects
simultaneously belong to external and internal realities. They can take almost any
form and emerge in most areas of life: From art to religion to dreams.
Transitional objects become vehicles for someone to create a subjective reality
that is shared with others and can be objectively seen. The transitional object
combines elements from the individual and their environment. Though Winnicott
never wrote about literary texts explicitly, his terminology can be extended to
fiction. The textual objects are transitional for the characters while the physical
spin-off fantasy objects are transitional for their owners. Material fantasy objects
become symbols for the entire work, the fantasy universe, and the fantasies the
reader generates during the reading experience. The possession of such a fantasy
object or a visit to the fantasy-related space (e.g., a theme park) becomes a
transitional experience, connecting psychological desires to material reality.
By discussing the roles and function of fantasy objects in the classroom,
teachers can create an understanding of the reciprocally transformative
relationship between objects and subjects, and thereby encourage the
development of critical consciousness towards mass culture among their
students. A more critical view of fantasy objects and their dissemination can
expose both the positive and negative aspects of community formation. An
understanding of the roles of material objects in fantasy can be used as a
pedagogical tool. It can encourage an awareness of mass cultures effects on
modern society and provide a platform for discussion of social justice concerns.
One of the most significant characteristics of our world today is
consumerism: The ideology of consumerism is currently one of the most
dominant forces in society; we undoubtedly live in a consumer world, and we
enact the process of consumption in almost every aspect of our lives (Sandlin &
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MAGICAL OBJECTS IN FANTASY
McLaren, 2010, p. 2). The fantasy industry is of course no exception. In the last
fifty years, mass producers made use of the marketing potential of fantasy objects
and their transitional qualities. As a result, an entire multibillion-dollar market of
fantasies appeared, and we are constantly encouraged to purchase products that
relate to stories from fantasy fiction. In this way fantasy is strongly responsive to
contemporary mass culture: It feeds the belief that the possession of things can
generate experiences, alter peoples self-identification, and impact their social
standing. The framework of a literature course can become an important place for
students to discuss consumerist ideology, and fantasy fictions potential to
become its tool.
On the other hand, scholars such as Peter McLaren (2010) and Roberta
Sassatelli (2007) argue for a more complex contextualization of consumerism.
Similarly, I would suggest exploring the positive aspects of the massive
dissemination of fantasy-related products, which mainly circulate around the
ability of fantasy literature to create communities. Teachers should help students
explore the idea that fantasy objects have the power to connect people from
different cultures, nationalities, races, classes, and sexualities, encouraging them
to coexist peacefully in a space of shared creation, for example, in fan art, fantasy
conventions, and fan fiction.
There are many ways to incorporate fantasy objects in a literature and culture
course. An effective way to begin a discussion of fantasy objects in the
classroom is by posing the problem of consumerist ideology and opening up the
floor for discussion of its deficiencies and benefits. To paraphrase Paulo Freire
(2000), education only becomes successful if it is an act of communication (p.
58). In the effort to promote active learning, students should be asked to reflect
on their own, private fantasy objects. This would raise the possibility of talking
about the students relation to popular culture. Following Paulo Freire (1973,
2000), Joe Kincheloe (2008), Maria Nikolakaki (2012), Patricia Hinchey (1998),
and other scholars of critical pedagogy, I suggest using fantasy fiction to
encourage students critical awareness of material objects and their influence on
community formation.
HARRY POTTER AND THE MAGIC OF COMMUNITY FORMATION
Of all the fantasy works from the last fifty years, J. K. Rowlings Harry
Potter series is among the best known and most influential. Deeply rooted in the
tradition of the Bildungsroman, the series depicts the transition of an ordinary
protagonist from an abused little boy to the hero of a magical world. Research
into the Harry Potter series has also increased over the past decades. One of the
best collections is Elizabeth Heilmans Harry Potters World: Multidisciplinary
Critical Perspectives (2003), an edited volume that looks at genre, gender
relations, power balances, and the representation of heroes in Rowlings work.
Another important book by Susan Gunelius (2008) undertakes an in-depth study
of Harry Potter as a business venture.
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Guneliuss study demonstrates how Harry Potter spin-off products constitute

a massive market of consumption that goes far beyond singular objects to
clothing, candy, games, and household items. In the summer of 2010, an entire
world dedicated to Harry Potter appeared: Universal and Warner Bros chain of
theme parks known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.1 Broemel (2015)
calls this a highly immersive and highly detailed themed environment (p. 3)
where guests can explore the main sites from the booksfor example, Hogwarts
Castle, Hogsmeade Village, Diagon Alley, and the Hogwarts Expressand
purchase related merchandises, from magic wands to invisible cloaks, wizarding
robes, and butterbeer. Apart from being an entertainment center, The Wizarding
World of Harry Potter is a place where a community of people can come together
and enjoy their favorite fantasy world.
In order to explain its merchandising success, Gunelius (2008) points out
that Harry Potter has a strong fan following made up of customers who are
extremely emotionally involved (p. 95) in the brand. Such customers have
personalized experiences and feel connected to the brand: As a result, social
networks of loyal customers formed who seek out all products related to those
brands. These loyal customers always want more of the brands they love (p. 96).
Gunelius (2008) calls these communities networks of merchandise collectors
(p. 96). Fan interest in Harry Potter spin-off products is partly shaped by how
Harry himself is affected by the artifacts around him in the novels. Although the
stories feature numerous fantasy objects, I will focus on three which signify
Harrys adaptation to wizarding communities and ultimately influence the
readers perception of subject-object relationships throughout the series: Harrys
invitation to attend Hogwarts, his invisibility cloak, and the Mirror of Erised.
The very first object is the acceptance letter that Harry receives on his
eleventh birthday from Hogwarts. The letter is an unexpected intrusion into
Harrys unhappy life with his guardians, the Dursleys. Harry knows very little
about his heritage at this point: He couldnt remember his parents at all. His
aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask
questions (Rowling, 2003, p. 48). Prior to the letters arrival at Privet Drive,
Harry had only a limited set of objects in his life. He is treated like a servant,
without the right to possess anything better than his cousins hand-me-down
clothes, which remind him of old elephant skin (p. 53), and a pair of broken
glasses.
Harry does not even have a right to a proper name, as he is only called boy,
he, and you by his aunt and uncle. There is no appropriate space for Harry
apart from the dark and dusty cupboard and later his cousins second bedroom
full of broken things. The letter from Hogwarts is therefore not only the first
object that carries his name (No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him
[Rowling, 2003, p. 54]), but also an invitation to a place where he could belong.
In a classroom setting, the letter can be discussed as the first object in the Harry
Potter series that reconnects the protagonist with his biological family and with
the community of wizards. Furthermore, students might be asked to analyze the
scene critically, to evaluate to what extent the Hogwarts administration was
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aware about the abusive conditions Harry experienced. The fact that the letter
was addressed to The Cupboard under the Stairs (Rowling, 2003, p. 54)
indicates that both McGonagall and Dumbledore likely knew the boy had to live
under the stairs. This function of the letter in fantasy can be related to the
general discourse on letters in literature. On the one hand, the letter is a
transitional object that enables Harry to enter a place where he belongs; at the
same time, however, it subverts the positive image of the Hogwarts
administration as a rescuing force by putting in question Dumbledores and
McGonagalls motives.
The next object that inspires community formation is from Harrys father:
James Potters invisibility cloak. Apart from further tying the boy to the
wizarding world, it provides Harry with a physical connection to his family
history: A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin [sic] his own story when every kid
in our world knows his name (Rowling, 2003, p. 81). The cloak, given to Harry
as an anonymous Christmas present, is the first material object that connects him
with his deceased parents.
The third major object that allows community formation is the Mirror of
Erised. The mirror further re-connects Harry to the community of his family:
Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs
of green eyes like his, other noses like his []Harry was looking at his family,
for the first time in his life (Rowling, 2003, p. 287). After the link to his family
is established, Dumbledore forbids Harry ever to look for the mirror again, as it
does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live (p. 294). Thus, Harry is
encouraged to bond with real people, as opposed to dreaming of the imaginary
community of his deceased relatives. Students can be asked to reflect on the
power that Dumbledore has over the formation of Harrys communities. In the
spirit of critical pedagogy, students might question Dumbledores role as Harrys
educator and the leader of the wizarding world, and thus reflect upon the
inherently political nature of education (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 10). Harry is being
educated as a wizard in very specific ways, and it would be important for
students to compare and contrast the practices of education at Hogwarts with
those from their own experience.
Harry Potter can also be used as a case study of how authoritarian teachers
construct the identities of their students. Dumbledore and McGonagall give
Harry back his name with the letter, provide him with a history through the Cloak
of Invisibility, and finally operate the mirror that has the power to reflect the
essence of Harrys personality. Through the educational system and by means of
material objects, Harrys identity as well as the identities of other students are
shaped, molded, and constructed by the Hogwarts administration.
Furthermore, students might be asked to make connections between fantasy
objects in the text and Harry Potter spin-off products. What kinds of
communities are formed in themed spaces and through possession of Harry
Potter merchandise? Who is shaping such community formations on a global
scale? Why are consumers drawn by fantasy objects in such strong ways that
they are willing to invest time and money to possess them? Harry is being drawn
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into particular choices by Dumbledore and other powerful parties of the

wizarding community, and in a similar way, people of all ages are drawn by
influential mass producers and mega-corporations into excessive consumption of
their products. Both students and teachers can benefit significantly from using
popular fantasy literature to raise the level of critical consciousness, specifically
about their attitudes towards material objects, in the classroom.
RECKLESS LEARNING PRACTICES
To show different types of community formations that lead to an alternative

model of learning, I would like to consider a lesser-known work of fantasy that
has escaped broad attention by the mass market. Published in 2010 and a
bestseller in Germany, Reckless is the first book of the ongoing Reckless series. It
was written by the internationally recognized, award-winning German author
Cornelia Funke. Until now there has only been limited scholarship on Reckless. It
is nevertheless deserving of critical attention, especially for its discussion of
objects, community formation, and education through experience.
The story is set in present-day New York. It begins with a glance to the past,
where twelve-year-old Jacob Reckless suffers from the absence of his father. He
disobeys his mother by entering his missing fathers study to look for answers no
one is willing to give him. Once again the magic begins with a mirror, An abyss
of glass which distorted everything in reflection that John Reckless has left
behind2 (Funke & Wigram, 2010, p. 9). The artifact reveals its secrets only to
those who cannot see their reflections in it. Once Jacob realizes he has to cover
up his distorted image,3 he falls through the mirror and finds himself in a
different world. In both Harry Potter and Reckless, the mirror establishes a
connection between the protagonists and their missing parent(s). Whereas for
Harry the encounters with fantasy objects are arranged by adults and lead
towards an adaptation of predetermined roles, for Jacob the adventure begins
with his emancipation from his mother and little brother. Although childrens and
young adult literature are often critiqued for an abusive portrayal of young
people (Zipes, 2006), Cornelia Funkes Reckless series resists this convention.
From his initial entry into another world, Jacob learns by doing, experimenting
and experiencing new situations. He is a stranger in The World behind the
Mirror. Whereas the Mirror of Erised reestablishes Harrys connection with his
family, the mirror in Reckless signifies Jacobs breakup with his family and his
familiar world.
The World behind the Mirror or, sometimes, MirrorWorld, is strongly
reminiscent of classical fairy tales, though these are the much darker tales that
contrast the cheerful fantasies presented by the Walt Disney franchise. It is also a
darker world than Harry Potters. For example, one of the most horrifying places
in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is the Forbidden Forest, which students
are generally forbidden to enter. By contrast, the entire MirrorWorld is like a
never-ending forbidden forest with its cruel monsters and child-eating witches.
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From the age of twelve, when he first dares to step through the mirror, Jacob
hunts for magical treasures and experiences adventures with his short-tempered
mentor Albert Chanute. However, while the adults at Hogwarts are mainly
positive and supportive role models for Harry, Jacob is stuck with a selfish,
drunk, and often violent Chanute who was a miserable substitute for a father
figure4 (Funke & Wigram, 2010, p. 36) as his main guardian in MirrorWorld. In
contrast to Harry, who faces adventures that are staged by his teachers like the
obstacles in the Underground Chambers, Jacob does not experience the support
of parental-like supervision. On the contrary, Chanute often uses the boy as bait
for witches and monsters. After several years of a fairly rough apprenticeship,
Jacob overcomes his teacher and continues the treasure hunt successfully by
himself. His main goal becomes to establish a reputation as the best treasure
hunter in the MirrorWorld. In contrast to Harry, who becomes exactly what the
magical world wants him to become, Jacob makes decisions independently and
sometimes even in defiance of his mentors, as when Jacob is preparing for the
heroic adventure of saving his brother, while Chanute is the first to try to talk
him out of it.
Jacob is fully in control of the objects in the MirrorWorld: he learns the skill
of finding them, as opposed to Harry who is constantly given things by other
characters. The relics Jacob finds, collects, and sells as a treasure hunter (a Glass
Slipper, Golden Ball, and a Wishing-Table), not only serve as plot devices to
advance the story, but also help to construct Jacobs personal history. These
objects provide him with a valid place in the community, as well as with a day-
to-day occupation: There is always something or someone that one could be
searching for in this world5 (Funke & Wigram, 2010, p. 68). Still, apart from his
professional success, little is known about Jacob even by his closest friends. In
the classroom, environments where skills and possessions have excessive value
can be problematized. Students might be asked whether Jacobs reticence
reminds them of contemporary social relations and whether such attitudes
prevent people from achieving emotional intimacy.
The protagonists personality corresponds to the title of the novel: Jacob is
self-centered, courageous, and often impatient, yet readers still sympathize with
him. He is positioned as the opposite from his younger brother Will,6 who one
day accidently travels through the magical mirror. As opposed to Jacob, Will
does not look for an adventure: He merely repeats the gesture following his older
brother. Will is a conformist, happy to accept his quiet life in the primary world,
who nevertheless attempts to restore the lost connection to his brother (Spisak,
2010, p. 75). There is a contrast in the ways Will and Jacob approach fantasy
objects and participate in communities around them. Will uses the magic mirror
in order to reconnect with his brother, while Jacob employs it to escape
responsibility. It is worth noting that Will only followed Jacob after the death of
their mother.
Will is shown to be the good son, who is willing to commit to the relationship
with his family as well as with his girlfriend Clara. Their relationship provides a
contrast to the ambiguous bond between Jacob and his female companion Celeste
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Auger (a.k.a. Fuchs [Fox]). Altogether, Jacob is drawn by material objects, their
value and the status they can ensure. Wills sudden appearance in the
MirrorWorld forces Jacob to rethink his set of priorities. Because of his
impracticality, Will immediately runs into trouble. He is attacked and infected
with a rapidly spreading curse. Unless his brother is able to find a cure, Will
could turn to stone, or, more precisely, transform into what is called a goyl
warrior. The goyls are hostile species heavily persecuted by humans. The novel
introduces multiple characters who undergo radical transformation and change,
allowing the reader to explore mechanisms of self-creation.
Transformations are often connected to artifacts. Nearly every character in the
novel uses objects for the purposes of connecting with or distancing from
different communities. The most prominent example is Celeste-Fuchs. Celestes
artifact is a shape-shifters dress that allows her to turn into a fox, linking her
personality to her appearance. On a physical level, the dress is practically
blended with the heroine. It is essentially an extension of her body: Her hair was
as red as the fur that she loved so much more than the human skin. It fell long
and thick over her back, it looked almost like she was still wearing a fur. The
dress too, glimmered in the moonlight just like the fox fur, and its fabric seem to
have been woven from the same silky hair7 (Funke & Wigram, 2010, p. 69).
The artifact is valuable to Celeste in many ways. Her self-identification closely
relates to the object, even to the extent where she does not feel fully in control of
it: She suspects that she might be losing her identity along with the dress. Even
the threat of aging too quickly, a price paid by all shape-shifters in the book,
cannot stop Fuchs from wearing the dress.
Celestes dress is another fantasy object that allows withdrawal from a
community rather than connection to it. She gained it as a little girl by rescuing a
fox from the cruelty of her brothers, and the dress became her means to escape
the community of humans in favor of becoming an animal. In addition, the
treatment of material objects in Reckless allows for a rich exploration of gender
relation and the mechanisms of identity formation. Students might be asked to
reflect upon consumerist ideology, specifically in relation to fashion, and women
who shape their identities according to their looks. Further, the example might be
used to explore more generally the mystification and bestialization of women in
fantasy fiction.
In the classroom, it would be useful to compare the different roles fantasy
objects play in Harry Potter and Reckless. Harry is generally able to survive the
many challenges he faces, especially through the positive effects of his school,
his peers, and his extraordinary powers. Jacob, by contrast, must learn to develop
his own strategies for dealing with the difficult situations he encounters. In
Reckless it is above all the importance of learning through experience that guides
Jacob and the other characters to success. The contrast between Will and Clara
and Jacob and Fuchs helps point towards the different roles material objects can
play in community formation. The novel emphasizes that objects can only help to
achieve goals if the characters reveal sufficient moral strength, courage, and
resourcefulness. The notion that, by themselves, even the most magical objects
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remain useless becomes an effective commentary on the contemporary

perception of consumption.
The German fantasy novel Reckless touches on rebellious identity formation,
individual emancipation, and resistance to authority. The book offers a
meditation on the importance of recklessness when viewed against rational
planning. Viewed this way, the contrast to Harry Potter becomes clear: In
Harrys world, school authorities control and manage his education, whereas
Jacob and Will struggle through various reckless adventures on their own. In
both books, objects play a crucial role in enabling and limiting each characters
growth. These books can help encourage students and teachers to reflect on their
own values. When do objects encourage and when do they restrain community
formation? How is education best achieved? In what ways does fantasy fiction
comment on contemporary, consumerist culture? The contrast between Harry
Potters world and the MirrorWorld of Jacob and Will can fuel the debate.
EDUCATION THROUGH ESTRANGEMENT
The final text, The Stranger, is the most complex work of the three. It is the first
book of the Labyrinths of Echo series, written by the leading Russian fantasy
author Svetlana Martynchik. The works are for the most part unknown in North
America, but very well-received in Russia. Martynchik first published the novel
in collaboration with her husband Igor Steopin in 1996 under the pseudonym
Max Frei. This book in particular is tied to philosophy through its eponymous
association with The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942). The book series is more
often discussed in the press (Booker, 2006) than in critical scholarship, even
though a number of insightful studies exist, such as the research on empathy and
gender-marked speech conducted by Kukushkina, Smirnov, and Timashev
(2002). Although the work is frequently seen as mere entertainment, Freis
novels can be used in classrooms to deconstruct power relations, critique social
marginalization, and reflect on teacher-student relationship dynamics. Above all,
the Labyrinths of Echo series can be viewed as a profound reflection on
education and its tendency to be abused for regulation and control (Kincheloe,
2008, p. 10). In fact all three works discussed in this chapter portray different
kinds of learning practices, and should be viewed as examples of how
fantasy literature can encourage a more self-reflexive attitude towards education.
The Stranger begins with the protagonist introducing himself as
simultaneously the author and fictional character of the novel. Max might have
even been your neighbor8 (Frei, 2006, p. 5), but recently moved to a city that
cannot be found on any map9 (p. 5). He seems at first to be an average young
man. In his own words: I was a proud owner of a somewhat failed, but calm and
quiet, moderately well-fed life and a great deal of illusions about what I actually
deserve10 (p. 243-244). The reader does not learn much about Maxs affiliations,
possessions, or relations. However, already in the prologue, Max introduces the
readers to Sir Juffin Halley, his friend, chief, and teacher11 (p. 8) whom Max
initially meets in his dreams. Sir Juffin will play the role of a kind of guide, even
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guru, to Maxs eager interest, becoming the central figure to all Maxs
adventures and communities. Education in The Stranger proceeds through an
apprenticeship, in contrast to the processes shown in the other two novels. Sir
Juffin will guide Max through various experiences, in the hopes of encouraging
Maxs own free decisions.
In The Stranger, dreams occupy an essential place in Maxs life, potentially
more important than any other experience of his otherwise unfulfilled existence.
In contrast to Harry and Jacob, Max does not seem to have been part of any
community whatsoever prior to his adventure. In that way, he is doubtless the
most alienated character of the three: The only place where we see him
interacting with others is in dreams. Consequently, when the mysterious stranger
Sir Juffin promises a fresh start, an exciting job, and an intriguing future,
the readers are not surprised that Max takes the chance and moves to Echo.
The portal is an enchanted, old-fashioned trolley that helps to accomplish the
transfer between worlds. As with Harrys escape through the wall and Jacobs
through the mirror, Max crosses into another world on a trolley.
Echo is the capital of the United Kingdom of Uguland and various other
comical sounding places. The name Echo contains a word play with ambiguity
typical for Martynchik: on the one hand it suggests that the Echo world is a
shadow world to our own that we tend to oversee in daylight. On the other hand,
it is inseparable from the real world in the same way an echo is inseparable from
the initial sound. Echo reminds us of a dream world, a space where familiar
experiences quickly become strange and marvelous.
The prologue of The Stranger already suggests several topics for critical
reflection and classroom discussion. The students might reflect on Maxs desire
to escape the mundane world, his quick confidence in Sir Juffin, and the process
of estrangement from a familiar environment. Attebery draws his definition
of estrangement from similar images: The concept of wonder may be
understood as an alternative formulation of the idea of estrangement: []
through the formal manipulation of their linguistic representatives we are
made to see familiar objects and experiences as strange (Attebery, 1992, p. 16).
The general theme of escapism and its consequences in fantasy literature might
be brought up in this context.
At first it seems as if Juffin invited Max to Echo and enabled the transition
between worlds. In fact, only much later in the books do we learn that the
magician in a sense invented Max in order for him to save the world of Echo. At
this point the Juffin-Max relationship resembles that between Dumbledore and
Harry. Both Dumbledore and Juffin have complete control over the initial
environment that Harry and Max encounter in the magical worlds. Similar to
Harry in Hogwarts, as soon as Max arrives in Echo, he finds himself in Juffins
house. From that moment, we engage in a complex relationship between a
mentor and his student that continues through the entire series.
Juffin more closely resembles Dumbledore, but very much differs from
Chanute in Reckless. He favors Max, but Max is his only student. Juffin also has
significantly more power: While Harry and Jacob are constantly exposed to other
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characters from the beginning, during his first weeks in Echo Max only interacts
with Juffin, his butler, and their dog. Maxs entire perception of Echo is based on
what Juffin and his surroundings teach him. Juffin functions as a guide or a
leader, a wise vehicle for Max, to educate him in the ways of the new world.
Juffin also teaches Max to communicate with material objects. Magicians in
Echo are able to perceive the emotions of things. At one point in The Stranger,
Max reads the memory of a little box that has witnessed a mysterious murder.
This account helps to solve the crime by revealing details about the tragedy. In
the classroom, an understanding of objects that carry a valuable past might be
contrasted with consumer cultures tendency that always prefers new things,
disregarding the values of older objects. As a follow up, students might be asked
to reflect on who benefits from peoples never-ending desire to consume.
Initially, the reason Juffin brought Max to Echo was to let him work as his
assistant. He represents a successful community of people that Max wishes to
enter. This new-found desire to belong to a community is contrasted with the
loneliness and failure that he experienced in the primary world.
Juffin essentially creates Max simultaneously on multiple levels: He teaches him
how to behave properly in Echo, how to operate magical objects, and how to
communicate with other characters. Juffin also provides Max with a history by
inventing a legend that is supposed to explain the protagonists strangeness to the
natives. Max adopts the identity of a barbarian from a desert land: Whatever it is
you dosaid Sir Juffin Halley,you wont even have to apologize! Your
origins are the best explanation of any vagary you might do in front of the capital
snobs12 (Frei, 2006, p. 18). Juffin, as the authority figure and teacher, not only
invites Max into the world, but he helps to form Maxs identity. Even the name,
Max Frei, technically means without Max in German. In the classroom,
students might be asked to consider reasons that might lead Max to accept
Juffins authority. As part of a critical thinking exercise, a connection to real
teachers, educators, and political authorities should be established: How often do
students notice that their educators behave like Juffin, and they themselves
follow along like Max?
The Stranger includes a wide variety of fantasy objects. Throughout the novel,
objects contribute to reshaping the identities of the characters. Objects are
described in much more detail than the protagonist. If he is not defined by Juffin,
Max is defined through the objects that belong to him. When Max acquires the
Cloak of Death, for example, an artifact that marks him as someone able to kill
instantly, he suddenly becomes immensely powerful. As opposed to Harrys
Cloak of Invisibility, Maxs Cloak of Death does not provide him with a history,
but instead grounds him further within the social system of the Echo world.
Juffin explains: This uniform is only for you. You are from now on Death, Max.
Death at the Royal Service (Frei, 2006, p. 208). The relationship between Max
and the Cloak resembles how Celeste struggles to identify herself without the
dress. A comparative reading of the two works could invite a gender studies
approach, as the characters motives fit into a gender binary norm. As a woman,
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Celeste struggles with her appearance, whereas for Max his clothing relates to his
powers and his social status.
There are different ways that characters come to possess artifacts in fantasy
narratives. In Harrys case he is largely provided with fantasy objects. Jacob
Reckless learns hunting skills from his mentor and makes it his job to find, use,
and sell artifacts. The Stranger portrays a third alternative: Max not only finds
and keeps objects, but he creates them himself, pulling objects from the crack
between the worlds. To a point, Juffin displays the attitude of a conservative
teacher who works within a system that Paolo Freire (2000) would refer to as
banking education. But the author ends the novel by reversing the model. Max
learns how to create himself: When he pulls things from the crack between
worlds, he takes them out of his primary world. In terms of critical pedagogy this
means that as a student, Max is encouraged to access his previous experiences
and knowledge in order to master new skills. This is the very first step of critical
pedagogy.
Max not only learns to create objects, he creates his own community. Max is
forced to become the ruler of a barbarian land. The protagonist eventually adopts
his new identity and even takes care of the small number of his subjects. In the
classroom, this episode might be discussed in relation to the overall character
building of the protagonist. The series proceeds by representing the process of
education and community building as more and more complex, at times
questionable, but always provocative and thought provoking. The fundamental
difference between The Stranger and Reckless and Harry Potter is that Max is
ultimately able to create himself and his communities. The book shows how
students can be empowered by their teacher to free themselves from external
control.
TRANSITIONAL FANTASY FICTION IN THE CLASSROOM
Fantasy fiction can be used for classroom discussions about mass culture,
education, community formation, consumption, entertainment, and self-
development. It is a more useful genre than people tend to assume. Especially
useful can be an exploration of the roles and functions of objects in fantastic
narratives, their connection to consumer culture, and to the understanding of
community formation.
The works I have presented explore different forms of education and
various ways of creation and breakdown of communities. Harry Potter is a
reflection on a conservative school system, where the protagonist enters an
already existing community of wizards. Reckless represents the world full
of dangers that students often must explore on their own, where protagonists
remain alienated from communities. The Stranger depicts a guru-like mentor
figure and explores his relationship with a fully dependent student, who in the
end nevertheless learns to create objects and communities of his own. Starting
from an analysis of objects and how they are treated in the books, we can derive
a sense of how communities are formed and how education is practiced.
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Taken together, the three books demonstrate that education is a complex

multi-layered process, one that is not so much about schooling and training, but
about learning and acquiring skills. The key purpose of education, which these
books show in different ways, is formation, growth, and development instead of
conforming and fitting in. In Henry Girouxs words (2010) students need to
acquire the knowledge and skills to become literate in multiple symbolic forms
so as to be able to read critically the various cultural texts to which they
are exposed (p. 255).
The transitional objects in these novels enable this kind of growth. It is
important to encourage students to reflect on them, instead of fetishizing and
consuming them. By demonstrating how fantasy objects impact characters within
the narratives by drawing them into various communities, students can be made
aware of how they themselves participate in their own self-formation and the
formation of communities. By stimulating their fantasies through fantasy fiction,
teachers and students can be inspired to pursue their own, shared fantasies of
education.
NOTES
1
In Florida as one of the seven islands of Universals Islands of Adventure (Broemel, 2015, p. 32).
2
Authors translation.
3
4
5
6
Funke suggests an intertextual narrative by naming the characters after the Brothers Grimm.
7
8
9
10
11
12
REFERENCES
Attebery, B. (1992). Strategies of fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Booker, I. (2006 January 20).
[Max Freis diagnosis: Unspoken stories that must be told] [Web log interview].
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Broemel, E. T. (2015). Food, fantasy, and the spectacle: The role of food and illusion at the
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Stephanie Dreier
University of British Columbia
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CYNTHIA DAWN MARTELLI AND VICKIE JOHNSTON
13. CRITICAL LITERACY IN INQUIRY LEARNING

Perspective Sharing through Multiple Literacies,
Continuous Inquiry, and Reflection
Near the end of the school year, the atmosphere of my eighth grade language arts
class shifted from excitement of the long-awaited summer break ahead to jitters
and nerves as thoughts of entering high school loomed just beyond. My students
shifted nervously in their seats as questions buzzed around the room: What if I get
lost? What if I cant make friends? What if everyone thinks I am a nerd? I sat
in awe staring at my students realizing their questions were not centered on the
academics of high school; they were genuinely worried about not being accepted
by their peers. All during the school year these same eighth grade students ruled
middle school with an air of confidence bordering on narcissism. Yet, now, here
they sat anxiously looking at me with wide apprehensive eyes searching for
confirmation that everything would be just fine. However, this was not an answer I
could easily give them and even if I did, I felt my students would still be filled with
doubt. Transitioning from a middle school of about 600 students to a high school
crammed with over 4,000 students presented numerous challenges my students
soon would encounter.
My eyes habitually settled on three students I was most concerned about:
Lauren was hunched over in the back corner of the classroom, eyes peeking from
under her long dark hair and drawing away in her sketch pad oblivious to the lively
discussion around her; Thomas stretched out his long legs with one arm slung over
the back of his chair averting his attention to the clock and waiting for the bell to
ring; and Alex, a teacher pleaser, was right under my nose eagerly participating in
the endless questions about high school. And of course, Alex was the only one of
the trio that spoke up, I wish there were instructions on how to survive high
school! Students laughed and patted Alexs back as they filed out of the
classroom for the day. And why werent there any instructions? I thought as I sank
down into a students chair and reflected on the day. The wheels in my head started
turning.
I was intrigued by the variety of questions my students pored over about
transitioning to high school, and their enthusiasm on the topic could not be
ignored. My students were living in the present and wanted to learn about issues
affecting them now. I knew classroom learning must be connected and relevant to
their lives, experiences, and passions. An inquiry-based teaching method in which
students gain knowledge and skills by investigating their complex questions
seemed to offer opportunities for making the kinds of authentic connections my
students were seeking.

MARTELLI AND JOHNSTON
CRITICAL LITERACY AND INQUIRY LEARNING
An inquiry-based teaching method engages students in creating and questioning

while developing their skills in critical thinking, collaboration, and communication
(Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008). Inquiry-based learning traces back to John
Dewey and his concept of learning by doing (Dewey, 1916). Roots of inquiry-
based learning grew from the constructivist theory that students construct
knowledge through their environment and through social interaction (Piaget, 1969;
Vygotsky, 1978). Students learning is driven by their own questions about their
own experiences and the social, cultural, and historical conditions that shape those
experiences (Goodman, 2005).
Critical literacy is the ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in
order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships
and is a vehicle through which individuals communicate with one another using
the codes and conventions of society (Robinson & Robinson, 2003, p. 3). It helps
students to discover power relations within a social and historical context of their
lives within the broader framework of their culture (Goodman, 2005). Critical
literacy enriches an inquiry-based learning environment in which challenging
problems are posed and higher order thinking questions are discussed with multiple
perspectives rather than presenting one voice as definitive or authoritative. It is this
lens through which to look critically at texts to challenge the content and intent and
to get the most pleasure and inmost meaning of the text (McLaughlin & DeVoogd,
2004). This kind of higher order thinking is interdisciplinary in nature,
experiential, and rigorous, enabling students to prepare for higher education.
According to Callison and Preddy (2006), critical literacy emphasizes the
empowering role that literacy plays in reshaping the environment in which one
lives and works, and students must be able to apply the inquiry process and
knowledge gained as a means for political or social action in order to change the
status quo. Researchers argue that critical literacy in inquiry learning involves
more than just an academic activity; they believe it involves a proposed change and
that this change must be contested, debated, and ultimately determined by the
power of evidence and argument (Callison & Preddy, 2006). In this learning
environment, middle school students are able to demonstrate problem-solving
skills by applying what they learn to real-life situations (Finkelstein, Hanson,
Huang, Hirschman, & Huang, 2010), and learning through problem solving can
result in knowledge that is more transferable and flexible than that which is
achieved through more traditional teaching methods (Bransford, Sherwood,
Hasselbring, Kinzer, & Williams, 1990).
Critical literacy in an inquiry-based learning environment is comprised of three
key practices and principles: multiple literacies, continuous inquiry, and reflection
(Goodman, 2005). Multiple literacies from a variety of informational sources and
continuous inquiry must be utilized in order to gain understanding of multiple
perspectives. Critical reading of multiple sources is a skill and a strategy that
students must utilize in order to be informed participants in their society. Critical
literacy also requires students to actively reflect on their own work; consequently,
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CRITICAL LITERACY IN INQUIRY LEARNING
students must be given multiple opportunities to reflect on their learning.

Constructionism introduced the idea that constructing an artifact that can be shared
and reflected upon furthers a learners understanding (Harel & Papert, 1991; Kafai
& Resnik, 1996).
Through analyzing multiple texts, sharing their own viewpoints in focus groups
and exploring their community, my students encountered a variety of perspectives
on what it actually takes to survive high school. Through perspective sharing,
students explored viewpoints of different characters in a story of different people
in a real-life situation, discovering how and why people make new friends and the
sacrifices that are often made in friendships. Alternative texts, juxtapositioning,
Mind and Alternative Mind Portraits, and theme-based focus groups were some of
the critical literacy strategies in an inquiry learning-environment that guided
students to create alternative perspectives. Students shared their individual
perspectives through focus groups, dramatization, poetry, and song lyrics. The
culminating project was developed from a project of choice in themed focused
groups in order for students to best express their learning.
CRITICAL LITERACY IN AN INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Engagement and motivation are key factors when teaching critical literacy in an
inquiry based learning environment, and students must choose to be actively
engaged and empowered to construct personal meaning (Larmer & Mergendoller,
2010). Because critical literacy in inquiry learning involves a proposed change that
must be contested, debated, and determined by evidence and argument (Callison &
Preddy, 2006), choosing a core text is vital, as other multiple literacies chosen will
all connect to the concepts debated and discussed in this text.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupry (1943) is often recommended in
schools as a childrens book due to its vivid illustrations and short page count.
However, a critical look from a middle school level reveals a wealth of meaning
and makes for an entertaining, powerful introduction to some of eighth grade
language arts most difficult concepts such as figurative language, symbolism, and
thematic significance. Analyzing The Little Prince encourages engagement by
having students read for authentic purposes, make personal connections, focus on
comprehension, and respond in meaningful ways (Baker & Wigfield, 1999;
Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997), and it can be used as a cornerstone book through which
students can explore some of the issues up-coming freshman find themselves
facing as they make the transition from middle to high school, helping them
discover how one culture meets and comes to understand another, how and why
people make new friends, and what friends are willing to sacrifice for one another.
In an inquiry-based learning environment, researching themes through multiple
texts is central to critical pedagogy, and the selection of a high-quality text to first
uncover these themes is vital to the process. Antoine de Saint-Exuprys fantasy
novel The Little Prince was chosen for this eighth grade class because it contained
issues involving love, loss, friendship, loneliness, and resiliency, as well as social
issues.
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The Novella, The Little Prince

After the eruption of the Second World War, Antoine de Saint-Exupry, the author
of The Little Prince, was deported to North America. In the midst of declining
health and personal cataclysms, he composed many of the writings for which he
would be remembered, including a tender tale of loneliness, friendship, loss, and
love from the perceptual experience of a young, little prince fallen to Earth. A
previous memoir written by the author had recapped his aviation experiences in the
Sahara Desert, and he is thought to have drawn on those same accounts in The
Little Prince.
The Little Prince is a story of the encounter of a pilot, who has crashed in the
African desert, and a little prince, who himself has disembarked on earth far away
from his planet which can be spotted above as a small star. The pilot, a hopeful
artist at the age of six, had that career defeated by the lack of imagination of
grown-ups who could not understand, without explanation, his drawing of a boa
constrictor eating an elephant. The young pilot then concluded that adults were
incapable of recognizing importance in anything except what lies on the surface.
The little prince, through conversing with the pilot, asks the pilot to draw him a
sheep and awakens the pilot to his own restricted sense of what is important,
convincing him to conclude that he too is now like the grown-ups.
The little prince speaks of his planet where baobab sprouts, and he has to dig
them up every day in order to avoid them taking over the planet. He also speaks
with great affection of his special rose, the only one of its kind, and his devotion to
its well-being regardless of the fact that it lied to him. The little prince describes
his journey to earth, stopping on the way at different asteroids on which grown-ups
such as a king, a businessman, and a drunkard, among others, appear to him very
strange because of their life-time dedication to things that are only quantifiable and
have no ultimate purpose. He conveys the discussions he had with a fox, learning
the art of taming and rites, which turns a common relationship into something
rather unique to cherish. The pilot learns to love the little prince, as the little prince
loves the rose. After some time, the pilot has repaired his plane, and the little
prince is also ready to return to his planet through the concoction of a snakes
poison. Yet the little prince reassures the pilot that the separation is only physical,
for taming establishes bonds that sustain through time and space, such that the stars
they each gaze upon each night will remind them of each other.
Themes. Because the critical literacy in an inquiry-based learning environment is

driven by students questions about their own experiences and the social, cultural,
and historical conditions that shape those experiences (Goodman, 2005), it is
important to begin with the themes that emerge from the core text. For our class,
key themes emerged from the reading.
A predominant theme is the treasure found in true friendship. The little prince
learns from the fox to see with ones heart instead of just with ones eyes. This
cultivates the eternal bond that is the essence of friendship. When the little prince
arrives to earth, he suffers from looking at the surface of things. He leaves his
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planet because he is annoyed by the vanity of the rose. The fox reminds him of
how unique his rose is and since the little prince has loved and nurtured the flower,
she is very special. The little prince finally understands that he must look beneath
the surface of the rose to find her beauty. The pilot observes, What moves me so
deeply about this little prince, who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flowerthe
image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even
when he is asleep (de Saint-Exupry, 2000, pp. 68-69).
Another theme, no less important, is that too often humans are preoccupied with
wealth, power, and technology and are missing the important things in life such as
beauty, love, and friendship. Instead of investing the time to love others and notice
the small wonders of the world, people are always searching for something and are
never happy with where they are in life. This theme is conveyed through the
geographer who is misled into believing that facts and figures are important, and
with the business man with his wealth and the drunkard with his alcohol which
often hide the truth and cause them both to miss out on the true meaning of life.
One predominant theme that stands out in The Little Prince is that relationships
teach responsibility. The theme shows that the responsibility challenged by
relationships with others leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of ones
own responsibilities. The group working on this theme pored over two questions:
Are taming and friendship the same? and Why did the little princes opinion of the
rose change? The group decided that the little princes love for his rose was the
driving force behind the novel. They determined that the rose was the little princes
friend and companion whom he faithfully tended, yet he left her because of her
vanity. The rose pervaded the little princes conversations with the pilot; and
eventually, the rose became the reason the little prince wanted to return to his
planet. The fox emphasized the importance of taking time to get to know someone
and used the language of taming to teach the gradual nature of building trust.
The little prince learned through the fox that investing oneself in a relationship
makes that person, and everything associated with him or her, more special. The
little prince discovered that it is even more important to give to another than to
receive what the other gives back in return.
The group discussed new friendships that would develop as they transfer to high
school, contrasting acquaintances with true friends. The group discussed how
cultivating lasting, loving friendships takes time and effort and can have a huge
impact on happiness and quality of life. Through research, the group found a
Swedish study which concluded that maintaining rich social friendships could add
significant years to ones life.
All of the groups noticed that perseverance was a trait found among all
explorers. Thomas was instantly interested in the theme of perseverance as he often
witnessed his grandfather endlessly working in a career that he did not like.
Nonetheless, Thomas discovered through his interview with his grandfather that
not only did the construction job provide a secure and stable income for Thomas
and his sister, but that his grandfather developed strong, lasting relationships
within his community. The group generated two questions to investigate: Why does
the little prince travel to many planets? and What are the similarities of the pilots
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commitment to fixing his plane and to learning more about the little prince?
Through analyzing the varying perspectives of the different characters, the group
found that both the pilot and the little prince had positive outlooks because they
traveled outside of their comfort zones.
However, the group also discovered that perseverance could be seen as negative
and a curse in some characters, such as the businessman and the geographer who
did not know how to stop their fruitless enterprises. The little prince and pilot were
rewarded with friendship and love as they persevered through their adventures.
The pilot learned about the little prince by asking numerous questions, even if the
little prince did not happen to answer some of them. The little prince worked hard
to tame the fox by showing up daily and working hard to gain the foxs trust. The
conclusion of the group was that the little prince would not learn from the fox if he
gave up, and that without venturing far and long in the desert, the pilot and the
little prince would not have found the well. The group felt the wells water was
sweet and satisfying because they had worked hard for it together: It was born of
our walk beneath the stars, of the song of the pulley, of the effort of my arms (de
Saint-Exupry, 2000, p. 71).
Honesty was a characteristic discovered by many of the student explorers. Many
instantly related the theme of honesty in The Little Prince to how they saw others
portray themselves and how they really were on the inside. A quote provided the
focal point of one groups analysis, One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything
essential is invisible to the eyes (de Saint-Exupry, 2000, p. 63). In this group, the
conversation centered on how the little prince thought that his rose was just like the
hundreds of other roses on earth; on the other hand, he learned that he must view
the rose with his heart and understood the truth about their relationship. The group
enthusiastically talked about cliques found in their middle school such as jocks,
nerds, artists, loners, etc. and how these same groups probably exist in high school
as well. They discussed how some students dress in a way that did not match who
they really were on the inside, just like when the little prince visited the
businessman who continuously counted stars, claiming he owned them. But the
little prince realized that although the businessman may not be a liar, he was
pursuing a lie. He was driven by greed and focused on unimportant things which
led the students to conclude that some students might dress differently for certain
purposes. Therefore, the group felt that they should consider the advice of the fox
to the little prince about the rose: the truth wasnt always what you saw; it was also
what you couldnt see.
MULTIPLE LITERACIES AND CONTINUOUS INQUIRY
Although multiple literacies, continuous inquiry, and reflective practices are key
components found in critical literacy in an inquiry-based learning environment,
these must happen concurrently. Multiple literacies from a variety of informational
sources, continuous inquiry, and constant questioning, discussing, and debating
must be utilized at all stages in order to gain understanding of multiple
208
perspectives. Consequently, students must be given multiple opportunities to

question, discover new resources, and reflect on their learning.
By reading The Little Prince, students addressed questions of how one culture
meets and comes to understand another. Read in the context of the colonization of
America, the book provided a meaningful framework within which students could
investigate a specific period in American history. By encountering The Little
Prince alongside various informational sources, students developed a basis of
comparison by which to understand both the real implications of figurative
language in literature and the hidden assumptions and biases that may skew
informational texts.
Through alternative texts, students examined essays and exploration accounts
left from early American history and applied their understanding from evaluating
an authors argument or defense of a claim by examining the relationship between
generalizations and evidence and the way in which the authors intent affects the
structure and tone of the text. Through an inquiry-based educational environment,
learning grows out of challenging questions that cannot be answered by rote
learning, thus placing students in an active role as problem solvers, decision
makers, investigators, and/or documentarians.
Focus Groups and Class Discussions

In authentic critical literacy tasks, students must become active readers, moving
beyond a simple understanding of a text into a deeper comprehension of the
underlying themes, critically reflecting on the texts purpose and becoming aware
of the techniques that the author uses to influence the reader. Theme-based focus
groups create active readers and writers by engaging students in authentic critical
literacy tasks. Critical literacy in an inquiry-based learning environment requires
students to actively reflect on their own work; consequently, students must have
multiple opportunities to discuss and debate in order to reflect on their learning.
One way of accomplishing this is by creating focus groups based on themes that
emerge from the text.
Through theme-based focus groups, students in this class worked
collaboratively to gather historical viewpoints, to share their own perspectives, and
to go out into their community to hear stories and learn from others. The students
worked collectively, engaging in a problem-posing dialogue (Freire, 2000). They
automatically developed need-to-know questions from their discussion on what to
expect when entering high school the next academic year. Learning that occurs
through problem solving is more likely to be retained and applied and can result in
knowledge that is transferable and flexible (Bransford, Sherwood, Hasselbring,
Kinzer, & Williams, 1990).
After analyzing multiple texts, sharing their own viewpoints in focus groups and
exploring their community, students discussed a variety of perspectives on what it
actually takes to survive high school. Through this perspective sharing, students
explored the viewpoints of others though different characters in a story, as well as
people in real-life situations. This spurred whole-class discussions and extended
209
the students research in a variety of areas, particularly in the area of exploration,

since the little prince himself explores a variety of planets on his way to Earth.
To build a common understanding of what it means to be an explorer, students
began by reading examples from the early days of Americas discovery, including
Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas (Freedman, 2007), Who Really
Discovered America? (Hart, 2003), and Exploration and Conquest: The Americas
after Columbus: 1500-1620 (Maestro, 1997) to compare with The Little Prince.
The students wrote responses to their reading in response journals and made notes
of memorable details, phrases, and passages that stood out to them. They captured
their reactions by freely responding and citing evidence from the text.
During discussion groups, students discussed their readings in depth and
researched a variety of other resources on explorers. One group of students
discovered that explorers were sources of information for their people but were
also dependent on information gathered by othersinformation that was not
always correct. Two groups of students discovered how the planet-dwellers
individual personalities in The Little Prince have an influence on the landscape of
their planet, suggesting further avenues for research.
Theme-based focus groups allow students to contemplate problems and
situations that reflect the world as they know it. Exploration and discovery become
paramount, and students were responsible for sharing their themes and gathered
knowledge to the rest of the group. They developed higher order thinking questions
to have a deeper understanding of the text, enhance class discussions, and
encourage personal reactions. Throughout this time, the students and I assessed
their progress in a collaborative and supportive manner. Students self-assessments
helped determine their learning progress and included journals, conference
summaries, and written reflection. Their self-reflections were used as a final
written summary to be included as part of their final projects.
Developing Questions
Critical literacy in an inquiry-based teaching method motivates students in creating
and questioning; consequently, their learning is driven by their own questions
about their own experiences and the social, cultural, and historical conditions that
shape those experiences (Goodman, 2005). According to Nicolini (2008), critical
literacy may help students develop empathy, as it teaches students to reflect on
social issues and shapes how they interact with one another in their learning
environment. Students must find their learning personally meaningful and must
meet a clear educational purpose (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010), a purpose
developed in my class through student inquiries as they made connections among
The Little Prince, the informational text, and their own experiences. However, the
students wanted more: they wanted to learn about explorers in their own
community. After brainstorming in groups and as a whole class, the students
developed a central question: What are common characteristics of explorers
shared by human beings in the past, present, and in our own lives?
210
In teams of four to six, the students developed lists of need-to-know questions

that would help answer the central question: What are some characteristics of
explorers shared by human beings in the past and people in our community? What
did explorers learn from exploring? How did exploring shape who they were? How
did people in history and in our community become explorers? and What traits of
explorers do we share with others? To meet the curricular goals related to
research, students paired up and chose an historical explorer and a community
member with a story of exploration. In order to identify attributes of explorers
embodied by these two examples, students were required to use evidence from
primary and secondary sources. The clear educational goal focused on teaching my
eighth graders how to identify important characteristics of explorers in historical
figures and literature, community members, and themselves, and how to draw
meaningful connections among these traits.
Interviews
Critical literacy challenges students in an inquiry-based learning environment to
pursue multiple perspectives on issues of personal importance (Callison & Preddy,
2006; McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004); consequently, the interview can be a
powerful tool for acquiring differing opinions. Interviewing people in the
community helps students to understand and embrace diverse viewpoints and
consider underlying messages.
For example, Lauren was intensely interested in the illustrations in The Little
Prince, commenting that the author had done all the art work himself and that the
narratora pilot, just like de Saint- Exuprydid not appear in any of the
drawings, a fact she noted as significant. She explained that she viewed artists as
explorers, extending her understanding of the term exploration beyond its
physical manifestation and leading her to share her plans to interview an artist.
Another student, Thomas, had difficulty finding an explorer in his community.
When another student connected the Robert Frosts (1993) poem The Road Not
Taken to the concept of exploration, Thomas became inspired to interview his
own grandfather, viewing him as an explorer who had made a difficult career
choice earlier in his life.
To help connect the experiences of the historical and community explorers,
students completed Mind and Alternative Mind Portraits (McLaughlin & Allen,
2002) which provided a starting point for critical discussion to examine
characteristics of explorers from two different viewpoints: historical and
contemporary. A whole class discussion examined how each person has their own
unique personality that contributes to their adventures and shapes who they are as
individuals.
REFLECTING AND AUTHENTIC CRITICAL LITERACY TASKS
Because critical literacy is the practice of evaluating information, insights, and

perspectives, strategies in which students can process and reflect on different
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perspectives is essential. Authentic critical literacy tasks are defined as ones in

which reading and writing serve a function for children and that involve
children in the immediate use of literacy for enjoyment and communication
(Hiebert, 1994, p. 391). The focus is on student choice and ownership that involve
a variety of reading and writing opportunities to promote discussion and
collaboration (Paris et al., 1992). Juxtapositioning requires the reader to examine
two contrasting text or two pictures next to each other to make the contrast
between them obvious. Mind and Alternative Mind Portraits require the reader to
examine two points of viewboth may be represented in a story, interview, or
discussion. These reading strategies enable students to examine their topic or issue
from more than one perspective. (They can also identify perspectives that are silent
or missing from a text.)
The student groups represented here decided to create two Mind and Alternative
Mind Portraits to create a list of characteristics of explorers, one for their past and
community member and one for the pilot and the little prince. Students drew two
head silhouettes, each representing a different perspective, and listed ideas that
delineated that persons perspective. Students analyzed their Mind and Alternative
Mind Portraits to create a whole class list of characteristics of explorers,
discovering similar traits in both their historical figures and community members:
learner, responsible, honest, and persistent. The pilot and the little prince in the
novel also represented these traits. The students formed groups based on which
theme from The Little Prince interested them the most: exploration, relationships,
perseverance, and truth.
The class found that each of the novels main characters hungered for both
adventure and introspection, exploring both the outside world and the world within
himself. The class also developed further questions for discussion: Who changed
the most in The Little Prince? Which became more transformed: the little prince or
the fox? and Why does the little prince change his opinion of the rose?
Juxtaposition is a useful device for readers to understand multiple perspectives;
it can be used to sense the goodness in one character by contrasting the evil in
another character. By examining character development, students compared the
characters in The Little Prince that inhabited only their own tiny planets to the
traveling main characters, and they agreed that both the pilot and the little prince
had gained a greater perspective on life through their journey. The pilot and the
little prince traveled outside of their comfort zones and mental boundaries as
compared with the other characters. It was through the pilots encounter with the
little prince in the isolated desert that he achieved a newfound understanding of the
world.
As students explored themes, they learned to relate what they were learning to
their own lives. In their theme-based focus groups, students generated questions to
investigate, speculate, and problem-solve in order to internalize, build upon, and
transfer to their own lives. Many student-generated questions required students to
analyze characters, settings, and phrases side-by-side, analyzing multiple
perspectives in order to drive home messages about themes and strengthen the
bond between the reader and the story. Students understood that the same event
212
could be perceived in many different ways and may only represent one persons or
characters perception of the situation.
Antoine de Saint-Exupry showed through the little princes travels that
spiritual growth must also involve exploration. Both characters may be stranded in
the desert, but the narrator and the little prince were explorers of the world and
were exploring their own feelings, understanding more clearly their own essences
and their places in the world. By leaving their homes and the relationships they had
already formed, the pilot and the little prince learned the value of what was truly
essential. Lauren was drawn to this theme as she saw art as a way of exploring
oneself. She viewed art as being about creative exploration; and by challenging
herself, she grew in observation and understanding of her own surroundings,
enabling her to see innovative solutions in other facets of her life. These themes of
exploration and discovery helped the students understand the larger discussion of
their impending transition to high school. As Alex pointed out, When we start
high school we are going to meet many different types of people just like the little
prince did when he traveled to different planets.
Following up on his comment, I asked students to think about resilience as a
process and not necessarily a trait, mentioning that everyone in fact has the
capacity to be resilient and that it was learned based on our experiences and the
tools we were given to deal with them. Students revisited de Saint-Exuprys
quote, But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart (de Saint-Exupry,
2000, p. 71), as well as the character traits of the prince in The Little Prince.
Students made the connection of resilience to the little princes commitment to
learning and self-improving, to the acceptance of others, to his relationship with
the pilot, to the taming of the fox, to his planet with the Baobabs, and to his
protection of the rose.
Students also made the connection of resilience to the pilot. The pilots first
impression of the little prince was annoyance of his endless questions as he was in
a hurry to fix his planes engine. However, he realized that his ability to comfort
the little prince and to listen to his stories was more essential. The pilot eventually
opened his heart to friendship and learned the secret of sharing, love, and how to
view the world through new eyes. The narrator (i.e., the pilot) wrote his story and
made his drawings to remember his relationship with the little prince. The students,
genuinely interested this theme, shared their own stories of personal resilience in
their focus groups, making connections to both their interviewed community
members and their researched historical explorer.
CONNECTING IT ALL TOGETHER: ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES
Through examining alternative perspectives, students explored the viewpoints of

different people in real-life situations and different characters in a story. Using this
type of critical literacy in inquiry learning, students were enabled to create multiple
perspectives that included reading alternative texts, juxtapositioning, Mind and
Alternative Mind Portraits, and theme-based focus groups. Strategies such as these
that foster critical literacy encourage students to be actively engaged, motivated,
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and result in a substantial amount of critical discussion. The culminating project

was a student choice project, upon teachers approval, to share with the entire
eighth grade student body at our school.
One student chose to create her own childrens book written in verse to share
her perspective on how to survive high school, using her own illustrations to
accompany the text. Another student asked if she could work with Lauren to help
compose poetry for the childrens book. Two other students constructed a highway
with a sports car to symbolize how life is a journey. They planned to write their
own lyrics to the song Life is a Highway (Cochrane, 2006; Rascal Flatts) to
share their advice. One theme-based focus group stayed together to write several
skits exploring different situations students might find themselves in during high
school to perform to the eighth grade students.
As teachers, we want our students to be actively involved in their learning, so
we strive to use engaging texts and teaching techniques. Critical literacy in inquiry
environments offers a framework that helps us to not only engage students but also
provides an avenue in which students discover for themselves meaningful lessons
by seeing the world through alternative perspectives. At the beginning of the unit I
just wanted the students to read and discover the many resources available to them
in varied texts. What I ended up with was a class of engaged readers that had
learned how to interact with the text, broadened their understanding of the
perspectives of others, and saw the character value of encountering struggles in
life. I ended up with a class that learned to read and think critically, to ask the
difficult questions, and to value differing opinions. I also ended up with middle
school students that might just be resilient enough to thrive through high school
and beyond.
CONCLUSION
During the year in my language arts classroom, the students developed into a
community of readers, not only reading for pleasure but also for enrichment,
and/or information. They saw reading as a means for discovering more about the
world and oneself and the world around them. Critical literacy encouraged my
students to actively analyze and deconstruct texts they encountered. They began to
see any text, whether it is a picture book, non-fiction text, novel, or a song, as
something that was created by a person or people with their own distinct
perspective in society. The educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire (2000), stated
that critical literacy is a vehicle for students to learn to read the world. According
to the Common Core State Standards Initiative (2016), the Common Core State
Standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the
knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and
careers. Alex, Lauren, Thomas, and their peers are twenty-first century students
who are expected to learn how to think and articulate their knowledge. Critical
literacy enriches inquiry-based learning environments by posing challenging
problems and challenging questions; where higher order thinking is experiential
and rigorous, enabling students to understand different perspectives which help to
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prepare them for the real world. Students engaged in interesting research,
determined their own direction of learning, evaluated a wide range of resources,
and learned how to become lifelong learners. By using critical literacy in an
inquiry-based learning environment, students can see the relationship between the
standards and real life as they transfer concepts and abilities in the classroom to the
world outside classroom walls.
REFERENCES
Baker, L., & Wigfield, A. (1999). Dimensions of childrens motivation for reading and their relations to
reading activity and reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 34, 452-477.
Barron, B., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2008). Teaching for meaningful learning: A review of research
on inquiry-based and cooperative learning. Excerpted from Powerful learning: What we know
about teaching for understanding. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf
Bransford, J., Sherwood, R., Hasselbring, T., Kinzer, C., & Williams, S. (1990). Anchored instruction:
Why we need it and how technology can help. In D. Nix & R. Spiro (Eds.), Cognition education and
multimedia: Exploring ideas in high technology (pp. 115-141). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Callison, D., & Preddy, L.B. (2006). The blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy.
Westport, CT: ABC-CLIO, Incorp.
Cochrane, T. (2006). Life is a highway. Me and my gang. [Digital Download]. Burbank, CA: Lyric
Street, Walt Disney.
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de Saint-Exupry, A. (2000). The little prince (R. Howard, Trans.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company. (Original work published 1943)
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New
York: Macmillan.
Finkelstein, N., Hanson, T., Huang, C.-W., Hirschman, B., & Huang, M. (2010). Effects of problem
based economics on high school economics instruction. (NCEE 2010-4002). Washington, DC:
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences,
U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/west/pdf/
REL_20104012.pdf
Freedman, R. (2007). Who was first?: Discovering the Americas. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
Freire, Paulo. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York, NY: Continuum.
Frost, Robert. (1993). The road not taken and other poems. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.
Goodman, S. (2005). The practice and principles of teaching critical literacy at the educational video
center. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 104(1), 206-28.
Harel, I., & Papert, S. (Eds.). (1991). Constructionism. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Company.
Hart, A. (2003). Who really discovered America? Charlotte, VT: Williamson Publishing Company.
Hiebert, E. H. (1994). Becoming literate through authentic tasks: Evidence and adaptations. In R.
Ruddell & M. R. Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4th ed.). Newark,
DE: International Reading Association.
Kafai, Y., & Resnick, M. (Eds.). (1996). Constructionism in practice: Designing, thinking and learning
in a digital world. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Larmer, J., & Mergendoller, J. R. (2010). 7 essentials for project-based learning. Educational
Leadership, 68(1), 3437.
McLaughlin & Allen (2002). Guided comprehension: A teaching model for grades 3-8. Newark, DE.
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd. (2004). Critical literacy: Enhancing students comprehension of text.
New York, NY: Scholastic.
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Maestro, B. (1997). Exploration and conquest: The Americas after Columbus: 1500-1620. New York,
NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Nicolini, M. B. (2008). Chatting with letters: Developing empathy and critical literacy through writing
communities. The English Journal, 97, 7680.
Paris, S., Calfee, R., Filby, N., Hiebert, E., Pearson, P. D., Valencia, S., & Wolf, K. (1992). A
framework for authentic literacy assessment. The Reading Teacher, 46(2), 88-98.
Piaget, J. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Robinson, E., & Robinson, S. (2003). What does it mean? Discourse, text, culture: An introduction.
Sydney: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wigfield, A., & Guthrie, J.T. (1997). Relations of childrens motivation for reading to the amount and
breadth of their reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 420-432.
Cynthia Dawn Martelli

College of Education
Florida Gulf Coast University
Vickie Johnston
College of Education
Florida Gulf Coast University
216
REBECCA SUTHERLAND BORAH
14. BRUCE BANNER CAN BE AN ASSHOLE

Using a FanFic to Break Down Privilege and
Introduce Service-Learning Concepts
In primary school, when we first begin to write creatively and make up stories of
our own, one of the rules authority figures often impress upon us is not to copy or
imitate too closely what others have created before us. Mimesis as a teaching
technique was not in vogue. Whether its fixing holes in a plot from a book or
television show or inserting ourselves as a bright-eyed Mary Sue or Marty
Sam among the characters we love in a movie franchise, young writers who
borrow too much are usually discouraged by writing teachers, scoffed at by
snobby peers, or are told by the academy to avoid using what is not yours or face
academic discipline for plagiarizing or maybe even a cease and desist order from
an author. Therefore, its not a huge surprise to find that the academic view of fan
fiction often relegates it to the shady underbelly of creative writing that is way too
friendly with much-despised genre fiction for it to be practiced much less
discussed except as part of social, cultural, or media studies. Even worse, as Grady
(2016) notes in her recent Vox article, Why Were Terrified of Fanfiction, is the
misconception that its written by oversexed teenaged girls and is porny and
borderline illiterate, which is wrong for moral, aesthetic, and legal reasons
(Grady, All of these arguments, para. 3). Whatever it is, the message from
traditional authorities is clear: its certainly not literature and should not be in a
classroom!
However, the nature of fanfiction as subversive, often questioning accepted
norms, makes it an accessible and useful tool for engaging students in critical
thinking both in and outside the academy. Introducing it in my Composition with
Service Learning classroom has helped students engage in challenging discussions
about race, class, and privilege that we otherwise might have glossed over or
ignored. Furthermore, the particular piece I used introduces students to what
Gottlieb and Robinson (2006) describe in their Practical Guide for Integrating
Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum as active participation in the public life
of a community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus
on the common good (p. 16).
WHAT IS THIS STUFF?
Fanfiction, also known as fan fiction, fanfic, FF, or just fic, can loosely be defined
as any text that is inspired by or builds upon the original work of another. In its
current form, fanfiction often uses characters or settings (even universes) found in

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published novels, television shows, or films, but may also focus on musicians,
celebrities, athletes, and other real people or historical figures. Fanfiction is written
for other fans without the goal of monetary gainpeer acknowledgement and
reactions are usually enough reward for the author. According to the Fanlore Wiki
(2012), It is most commonly produced within the context of a fannish community
and can be shared online such as in archives or in print such as in zines [fan-
produced collections] . Writing fanfiction is an extremely widespread fannish
activity; millions of stories have been written, and thousands more are written
daily (Fanlore Wiki, 2012). Surprisingly for some, Virgil, Chaucer, and
Shakespeare all used preexisting material and their works built on other stories,
extending, extending, and sometimes subverting them (Fanlore Wiki, 2012) while
derivative works, such as Jean Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel/retelling of
the events of Jane Eyre from the perspective of Rochester's mad wife, can be even
more readily recognized as a form of fanfiction, as can works in shared universes
such as Lovecrafts Chthulu mythos notes HubPages writer Kerryg (2011) in her
article The Basics of Fanfiction (Kerryg, 2011). One might even argue that
Cervantes would not have finished the second volume of Don Quixote if the
publication of the fannish counterfeit second book by an unknown author had not
spurred him to complete his masterpiece. Fanfiction has been around since the first
storyteller shared a tale and the next individual retold it and added a few flourishes.
Writing about characters relationships or shipping, is among the most
popular types of fanfiction. Pellegrini (2016) writes in her HubPages article, Is
Fan-Fiction Wrong? that Fan fiction stories can come in all different styles,
genresand ratings. Many stories are shipping stories, about pairing characters
together romantically, whether or not those characters officially became involved
or not (Pellegrini, 2016, A brief introduction, para. 8). Another popular subgenre
is slash fiction in which straight characters are instead portrayed as gay or
bisexual and in relationships with each other (Pellegrini, 2016, A brief
introduction, para. 9). Shipping fanfiction runs the gamut from fluffy G-rated
romances that might lead up to a chaste kiss to mature pieces with very explicit sex
scenes, rough language, sexual kinks, and violence that are rated NC-17.
Intrigued, I began to explore some of the fanfic on An Archive of Our Own
(AO3), I stumbled across The Hollow Men by an author calling herself Lettered,
which featured Bruce Banner (the Hulk) and Steve Rogers (Captain America). The
summary reads, Steve goes to Uganda, ostensibly to fetch Bruce, who doesnt
want to join the Avengers. Steve tries to figure out how to do the right thing; they
both try to find their place in the world (Lettered, 2012), but what actually
happens is a critical exploration of multiple types of privilege and power and the
troubling nature of first-world responsibility. Its also a meditation on civic
responsibility and our mixed motives for wanting (or not wanting) to help others
on their own terms rather than ours. The author also touches on the evolving
concept of masculinity and the role violence and its threat plays in an unstable
environment.
The author weaves in the themes of action vs. inaction from the T.S. Elliot
poem referenced in the title and does more than just chronicle Steves journey to
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BRUCE BANNER CAN BE AN ASSHOLE
find his calling in the world after being absent from it for 75 years. The story is
told in third person from Bruces perspective as he works within the community,
but resists the temptation to tell Steve what to do because he feels Steve needs to
have his own agency and make his own decisions rather than take orders or follow
his advice without questioning it.
The themes of civic engagement and responsibility in the piece mirrored the
process my students and I experience each term as they become a part of a
community outside our academic one to perform their required field service work.
Early on in the development of Service Learning as an educational movement, the
Commission on National and Community Service defined Service Learning in part
as a method of teaching that
(a) provides educational experiences under which students learn and develop
through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences
that meet community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with
school and community; (b) is integrated into the students academic
curriculum or provides structured time for a student to think, talk, or write
about what the student did and saw during the service (National
Community Service Trust Act of 1993)
Surprisingly, this engagement process is what Lettered has Bruce and especially
Steve manage to do over the course of the story. Although the setting is not an
academic one, Bruce and other characters mentor Steve through his community
engagement experience. Steve learns to work with elders and community leaders to
meet the villages needs while his conversations with Bruce and local leaders show
Steve engaging in reflection about his work in the community that lead to his goals
of gaining empathy and insight. Just as appealing is Bruces struggle not to over-
influence Steve and force his own opinions or agenda onto him. Admittedly, I
often wonder how much I should push my students to engage with the community
in a structured manner as part of the course requirements as opposed to letting
them find their own autonomous ways that ought to make their service and
academic experiences more meaningful.
Although Lettereds piece is not as polished as most works published in a
collection of readings, it is certainly as complex and more engaging than other
works covering the same subject area in print or on the Internet. The added bonus
is it brings together two of my teaching and research interestsService Learning
and fan culture. Not only would The Hollow Men be an excellent reading for
introducing students to the complexities of doing service work in the urban
community surrounding our university because of the obvious divisions in race and
socioeconomic status, but as a piece of fanfiction, the work would also serve as an
example of a newer and exciting genre my students would likely be familiar with
when we studied genre analysis.
The piece explores several issues relevant to Service Learning: small things that
everyone can do matter; the people who live in the village find their own agency;
the status quo and power structures are challenged, unpacked, and broken down;
and the superheroes go on to do what they can, but they deal with issues of doubt,
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fatigue, angst, and motivation just like the rest of us. There is no deus ex machina
or berman swooping in to save anyone.
DIGGING IN: A CLOSE READING OF THE TEXT

WITH CONTEXT AND CONNECTIONS
In Sandvoss (2014) essay, The Death of the Reader?: Literary Theory and the
Study of Texts in Popular Culture, he argues that cultural studies of popular texts
and literary criticism share the same roots: we need to find a point ofif not
compatibilityconvertibility between these two fields. This point is found in the
shared essence of both disciplines: the analysis and interpretation of meaning in the
study of texts and their readings (p. 62). Therefore, just as not all pieces of
literature are judged as having equal value or merit, applying standards to cultural
texts such as fanfictions, especially when using them in an academic setting,
becomes necessary at some point. However, because texts dont exist in isolation,
we have to consider their contexts. This is especially important when dealing with
a piece of fanfiction that inherently depends upon other texts and presumes an
audience to have a certain amount of familiarity and cultural knowledge. In other
words, in the classroom, we can treat a piece of fanfiction much like we would a
piece of traditional literature; however, we also need to consider its cultural origins
within a fandom to fully understand it as a text. As Sandvoss concludes, the
synthesis of fan studies and reception aesthetics enables us to explore aesthetics as
a subjective category with objective criteria[and] move further toward exploring
why fan texts mean so much to so many people and the meaning of this affective
bond between text and reader in a mediated world (p. 74). Thus, at this point it
should be useful to take a closer look at The Hollow Men as an example of this
type of text, so we can evaluate whether or not it is successful and to what degree.
The title of the novella is a direct reference to T.S. Eliots 1925 poem of the
same name, which has itself become a kind of popular culture touchstone via
references to it or lines quoted from it in numerous films, novels, multimedia
pieces, and song lyrics from Apocalypse Now to Kami Garcias novel Beautiful
Creatures to episodes of The Big Bang Theory and Mad Men. Knowing the poem
and its themes of isolation, impotence, and disillusionment is helpful but not
absolutely necessary to understanding Lettereds work. Much more important to
the piece is some knowledge of the characters and their backgrounds in multiple
forms of media.
Lettereds version of Bruce Banner is a complex one, based loosely on actor
Mark Ruffalos portrayal of the character in Marvels The Avengers (2012), but
also one that includes elements from the popular comic book character and
television series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno as well. She incorporates
some of the awkward charm of Ruffalos performance with his nervous
preoccupation with his hands and self-deprecating humor; however, we see how
the biting sarcasm and intelligence from the film version barely scratched the
surface when it comes to his frustration and anger over thwarted ambitions and an
ever-present struggle for control over his mind and body. Bruce describes himself
220
as incomplete and broken due to his own prideful fall and self-centeredness. He
lives with the ever-present fear that his control over his inner demon might slip
away at any moment with disastrous consequences. When confronted with the
almost saintly presence of Steve Rogers, who embodies traditional western male
virtues straight out of the 1940s, Bruce cant help but compare Steves apparent
physical and moral perfection to his own inherent flaws and shortcomings:
When Bruce was a kid, they still had those little books in the American
Heroes series that you could buy for a dollar. Bruce had bought the Captain
America one because hed wanted to learn more about the science behind the
serum [used to turn Steve into a super being]. Hed never thought he was
interested in Steve Rogers for the man himself.
And yet, when Bruce had performed the experiment [to recreate the
effects of the serum], hed done it on himself.
He couldnt think why. All evidence suggested Steve Rogers was the
kindest, the fairest, the best, and you couldnt make that. You couldnt
engineer it in a bottle; Steve wasnt Captain America because of the serum.
Meanwhile, Bruce wasnt honest; he wasnt fair, and he wasnt kind. He
had always been arrogant, and despite everything Dad saidmaybe because
of everything Dad saidhe full-heartedly believed in his own brilliance.
Hed never been able to kill his passion to know, and sure, curiosity sounded
innocentuntil you took it too far without considering the consequences.
Hed been so irresponsible andand careless; hed been careless. (Lettered,
Sect. 2, para. 1-4)
Bruce is caught in a destructive cycle of pride, anger, and guilt, which prevents
him from using both his potentially lethal physical gifts as the Hulk and most of
his considerable mental gifts as a genius as well. He has chosen not to act as an
Avenger, but to remove himself from the world and merely get by as a small part
of the existing Ugandan village community where he stands out as the only
identified white Westerner. Bruce finds this situation preferable to exposing
himself to the demands and temptations of Western society represented by Tony
Stark (Iron Man) with his affluence and technology and the international policing
organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D., which would like to put all Bruces talents
to use. In Uganda, Bruce has the choice to be a nearly normal part of the village
community. He knows he is capable of doing more than just teaching biology,
sanitation, and disease prevention ad hoc and occasionally practicing medicine
(despite the apparent absence of a medical license), but as T.S. Eliot puts it, Bruce
has chosen Shape without form, shade without colour, / Paralysed force, gesture
without motion (The Hollow Men, ll. 13-14). Although Bruce chooses this state
of relative inaction to keep his own autonomy and not risk harming others, one of
the consequences is a festering mental and intellectual stagnation he knows deep
down is slowly becoming untenable, much like the situation Eliot describes in the
referenced poem.
Initially, Steves presence in the village serves as a painful reminder of Bruces
shortcomings, but the scientist in Bruce is also compelled to analyze Steve as both
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a unique specimen and a heroic Western icon. Bruce starts his ongoing associations
and comparisons with Abraham Lincoln and eventually lists Paul Newman, Buzz
Aldrin, Tom Joad, a cowboy, Smokey the Bear, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Houston,
Norman Rockwell, Christopher Reeves Clark Kent, and Gregory Peck, but he
eventually decides Steve is simply Steveutterly unique and unreplicatable.
Despite the fact that his physical perfection is a product of science (which Bruce
values and believes in), Lettered shows what makes Steve exceptional is his grit or
ability to persevere, even when he has doubts and feels weary and cynical, because
he is able to make himself keep going when most others cannot. Steve cant help
but take action and serve where he can because thats who he is. Hes been
endowed with great gifts and he genuinely believes it is his responsibility to use
them wiselyas Stan Lee is credited with writing: With great power comes great
responsibility. Initially, this makes Bruce defensive and resentful, but eventually
he respects and admires the other man and comes to see Steve as an equal and a
friend.
Although Lettered is telling the story from Bruces perspective, it is clear Steve
is also struggling with many of the same issues the scientist turned monster and
recluse is. After Bruce flatly refuses to return to the U.S. with Steve, much to
Bruces chagrin, Steve decides to stay in the area, too, and help the local citizens
with projects that will benefit the village. The soldier starts by digging a well for
fresh water because its obvious to him a closer water source will benefit all the
residents and they seem to agree. Next, Steve offers to rebuild the village church,
which was destroyed by a fire. Bruce points out that ad hoc do-gooding and charity
often dont have a lasting impact and can even cause more problems than they
solve, so Steve gets to know his new neighbors and consults with community
leaders and learns to determine whats needed by building a consensus with the
people he wants to help.
Rosenberger (2000) in her essay, Beyond Empathy: Developing Critical
Consciousness Through Service Learning, notes how crucial it is to get
community buy-in when it comes to creating sustainable projects because
otherwise even the best intended do-good actions perpetuate the unequal
dynamic of existing power structures. She suggests using a Freirean approach
involving all the stakeholders on an equal footing to provide a framework for
conceptualizing a critical service learning pedagogy. In bringing a Freirean
perspective to service learning, my goals are to deepen the dialogueconcerning
the dynamic of power and privilegeand to generate a practice that seeks to
transcend the status quo and promote justice and equality (p. 24).
As work is progressing on the church, Steve tells Bruce there are several people
who want to organize a community garden, and Bruce suggests they structure the
project as a cooperative to improve its stability going forward. When Steve says he
plans to provide the startup funds, Bruce points out that a microloan from a local
bank would have more long-term benefits and help further invest the stakeholders
in the project. Without initial buy-in, people wont feel a commitment to the work
and the project will fail just as Rosenberger notes in her essay (pp. 24-28) and
Freire (1994) expounds upon in Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
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True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which

nourish false charity. False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the
rejects of life, to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in
striving so that these handswhether of individuals or entire peoplesneed
be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become
human hands which work and, working, transform the world. (Freire, p. 27)
Bruce would never call Steves offer to fund the garden false charity; however,
Lettered provides an excellent example of how the best of intentions may trap
people in a cycle of helpless dependence.
As well-defined as the two main characters and their struggles are, one of the
problematic elements in the piece is the choice of setting the story in Uganda and
by necessity peopling it with original supporting characters who are comparatively
shallow and somewhat stereotyped. Arguably, when dealing with iconic characters
who have existed for over 50 years in print, it is almost impossible to balance them
out with new characters, no matter how colorful or complex, especially when they
are not the main focus of the story. Even setting the story in Wakanda, the fictional
home of Marvels King TChalla, the superhero Black Panther, would not work
because it is a first-world society with an elite culturenot some place Bruce
would choose to lay low or that Steve would choose to lend a hand. Be that as it
may, none of the minor characters have last names and only one of them
(Solomon) has a story arc. Most are simply there to support and facilitate the
actions of the main characters in the plot. Faridah, the nun who oversees the
orphanage near the village, and Solomon, one of Bruces students who plans to
become a doctor, are the only two characters who have extended and meaningful
conversations with Bruce that we get to read.
In a modest subplot, Solomon marries Irene, another student who plans to move
to Kampala to continue her studies and become a physicist. At one point, while
Bruce helps Solomon with his rsum, the younger man brings up the aftermath of
an incident when Bruce nearly Hulked out while preventing Steve from
interfering with the local schools principal using corporal punishment on a
student. Bruce literally put his body on the line to prevent Steves cultural
interference though it greatly pained both of them to let the child be beaten. Just as
the two characters must negotiate a complex cultural landscape, educators need to
ease students out of popular misconceptions such as poverty is the result of
laziness or a lack of morals and into a more nuanced understanding of our place in
the broader community. Langseth (2000) in his essay, Maximizing Impact,
Minimizing Harm: Why Service Learning Must More Fully Integrate Multicultural
Education, argues that myths such as There is a hierarchy of wisdom, with
faculty wiser than students and students wiser than the community, cause damage
to current and future partnerships; however, Service learning can be an extremely
effective means of addressing limitations in traditional multicultural education
efforts (pp. 252-253).
Langseth stresses the importance of interrogating knowledge, showing respect,
practicing intentionality, and showing leadership to build a healthy partnership
with community members. He also warns academics to be prepared to receive
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feedback from their partners (Langseth, 2000, p. 259). Bruce experiences this when
Solomon informs him about the corrupt school officials machinations to
undermine Steve after the former soldier comes back to confront the principal
about the beating and not paying Lillian, one of the schools teachers. Solomon
wants to know if Bruce thinks Steve will force the principal to pay because he has
the physical power to do so.
You dont think Captain Rogers should make the principal pay? [asked
Solomon.]
[Bruce replied,] I dont think its any of my business.
I think the principal, hes afraid of Captain Rogers.
Steve would never hurt anyone, Bruce lied.
You dont think so? Solomon raised his brows. Captain Rogers sure
lets us know hes mighty strong.
Looking down, Bruce found his glasses in his fist again. He switched them
to the other fist. He put them down. He would never hurt anyone unless he
has to, said Bruce.
Ah, said Solomon. When he has to. . . .
Looking at the glassessomehow in his fist once againBruce said,
Hes just trying to do whats right.
Solomons voice was still soft. I think that for a century, white men have
come to my country to do whats right. Somehow they think they know that
better than we. Of course, before that, they came to my country to do whats
wrong. Its an improvement, I suppose.
Bruces fist tightened. Im sorry.
Why are you sorry? You come, you pay your rent, you mind your own
business. No problem. I plan to be a tourist myself someday. The wry smile
was playing on Solomons lips.
Tourist, said Bruce, and played with the glasses some more.
Yes. Irene will become a great physicist, world renowned, and we will
visit the great Doctor Banner in New York. (Lettered, 2012, Sect. 16, para.
12-24)
Much to Bruces chagrin, Solomon has caught on to exactly who he is and knows
he, like Steve, is an Avenger with great physical power and resources. Bruce has
never claimed to be a permanent part of the community, yet hes a bit surprised to
be called a tourist though he doesnt reject the label. Both this conversation and
the one with Faridah, though only small parts of the overall work, come at crucial
points to give both Bruce and Faridah and Solomon some insight into each others
intentions that benefit both characters involved in each dialogue, something of
which Langseth would heartily approve (p. 250). Faridah makes clear her
perspective that charitable acts, no matter how small when compared to the big
picture, still count for those individuals involved. Solomon expresses his concerns
about uses and misuses of political (and possibly physical) power escalating in his
community. In the end, Faridahs young charge Asha, who suffered from
meningitis, dies of her illness and the community eventually gets together to oust
224
the corrupt principal (and Lillian is paid her back wages). Although neither Steve
nor Bruce, despite who and what they are, could do more than ease Ashas
suffering a bit, and Steves confrontation with the principal only sped up the
inevitable purge, both outcomes end up being realistic, positive experiences and
appropriate uses of normal, everyday power.
Like Bruce, Lettered refuses to champion a single right answer in favor of
making her audience reason through what would be the right action for them to
take under what circumstances. As I read through the endnotes and comments, I
found the amount of research and soul searching the author had put into the story
was also quite impressive. She shares her sources and reflects on her writing
process as well, which is certainly an activity essential for Service Learning.
Although The Hollow Men is not a perfect piece, I judged it to be a complex and
interesting text, which deals with many of the issues my students face when they
begin their field service working with a community partner.
CASE STUDY/APPLICATION: WHERE THE READER MEETS THE TEXT

AND THE EDUCATOR GETS SCHOOLED
I included Lettereds The Hollow Men along with John Elder Robisons Look Me
in the Eye: My Life with Aspergers as my primary texts in my Intermediate
Composition syllabus. As the official course description notes, ENGL 2089 is a
sophomore-level writing course that builds on the initial first-year composition
course and introduces higher-level learning about writing and reading, and
focuses students attention on how meaning is made, understood, and
communicated across and within discourse communities. My department also
encourages instructors to use experiential learning and the majority of instructors
incorporate a genre analysis assignment as the central project for the course.
For the past fifteen years, I have included a direct service project with a
community partner that involves meeting the goals of the course. Most of my
students volunteer for 14 to 16 hours as tutors within the Cincinnati Public Schools
system, but there are other service opportunities, including working at an urban
church with a food pantry and social support services and interviewing hospice
patients to create a memory book for their survivors. These opportunities are with
established partners, so there is less of a need for students to negotiate their service
since the community partner has already done the groundwork. However, students
may also use existing partnerships if the work includes reading, writing, and/or
research in combination with communicating, critical thinking, or mentoring. In
this case, the lessons Steve learns about community engagement in The Hollow
Men become much more applicable.
Because textbooks often take a few weeks to arrive, having an online text to
start the course is advantageous, and my initial assumption was that aside from the
T.S. Eliot poem The Hollow Men, Lettereds piece would not require a great
deal of background information. Concurrent with the reading schedule, I use the
first three weeks of the 15-week term to inform students about Service Learning
and its principles before training and placing them with a community partner. The
225
BORAH
Hollow Men would help to soft sell some of the concepts of community
engagement and use critical literacy strategies to deconstruct white privilege,
gender roles, and power structures in the education system and larger community;
however, when I conducted an informal poll during the first class session, about a
quarter of the class did not know who Steve Rogers was and less than half of the
students had seen the first Avengers film from 2012. Luckily, roughly half at least
knew what fanfiction was and almost everyone could correctly identify a picture of
the Hulk.
This immediately concerned me because one of the tenets of using popular texts
in the classroom is that the audience already is familiar with characters or
worlds/settings and wants to engage with the text. Jenkins (1992) in Textual
Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture notes, I have found
approaching popular culture as a fan gives me new insights into the media by
releasing me from the narrowly circumscribed categories and assumptions of
academic criticism and allowing me to play with textual materials (p. 5).
Fortunately, there were at least a handful of students in each section who were
already enthusiastic about working with characters from the Avengers films. I had
already put together a picture album on my class Facebook page about Uganda to
help with the setting, so I added another one with pictures and back stories for the
characters. With 54 years of material to sort through, I had to limit myself to the
high points, especially with Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Also, I realized I had to
include trigger warnings for the abuse in Banners background and for the
schoolyard scene in The Hollow Men. I had not left enough time in my schedule to
show the full Avengers film in class, but there were plenty of clips on YouTube,
and Tumblr had many relevant gifs, screen captures, and stills.
I spent a class period covering T.S. Eliot and The Hollow Men and
introducing the concepts of colonialism before assigning the first third of the
novella and asking students to look for power structures and take notes on
characters motivations and any questions they had. I started off the next class by
asking what questions students had and the first one was Why is Bruce Banner
such an asshole? Everyone, including me, laughed. We talked about the
characters background in comic books and what we knew collectively about him
from the films, which, as it turned out was quite a bit of information. Some
students had even discovered our Facebook albums and could add that angle to the
conversation. This led us back to why would we say one of our two main
characters was a jerk. I asked where we got this idea. A student responded that
Bruce calls himself an asshole. I asked, why would he do that? Another student
suggested that maybe Bruce has some self-doubts or self-esteem issues, which
sparked several minutes of discussion. I asked if Bruce actually acts like an
asshole, at least so far? That turned out to be more difficult to answer since Steve
is there to ask him to do something Bruce does not want to do (return to New York
and work with S.H.I.E.L.D.) and then, like an annoyingly perfect cousin, Steve
stays in the place Bruce has chosen to settle. By the end of the discussion, even if
the students didnt identify themselves as Bruce Banner fans, the majority could at
least identify with the character.
226
For our next discussion, students read selections from Kretovicss (1985) article
Critical Literacy: Challenging the Assumptions of Mainstream Educational
Theory, which proved to be a challenging text, but one that together we were able
to break down once we tackled the jargon. As Kretovics puts it,
In placing ideological critique within the framework of a critical pedagogy,
we can begin to move beyond an overly deterministic reproductive analysis
and its discourse of despair. We can begin to develop strategies by which
students and educators can combat the racial, class, gender, age, and ethnic
distortions and biases that presently characterize the process of schooling.
Consequently, we can map transformative strategies to challenge the
inequalities and social injustices within the wider society. (p. 58)
Once students started spotting the biases and inequalities they had observed within
their own educational experiences, they were able to critique the broader
educational system and also apply similar strategies to their readings as well. As
we read further into The Hollow Men and the plot and characters began to flesh out
in more detail, students were also able to critique the complexities of the setting
and the ways several charactersnot just outsiders Bruce and Steveserved the
community. Faridah in particular was cited as someone who worked within the
system, but still tried to change the status quo by helping individual people in
hopeless situations such as Asha. Several students identified with Solomon
because he strove to get an education and had the goal of returning to serve the
community. They also liked the idea that he could respect Bruce as a teacher, but
stood up to him and didnt let him get away with omissions and avoid giving direct
answers.
By the time we finished reading and working with Lettereds novella, most
students had made contact with their community partners and started their
fieldwork. They were also writing entries in their reflection journals, which first
asked them to share their concerns about their service and then to describe their
initial onsite visit to the school or agency. Likewise, I had introduced them to their
literacy narrative assignment, so they were thinking about what sort of literacy they
wanted to examine. As we wrapped up discussion about The Hollow Men, I used a
survey to ask students what they had learned from the piece that they could apply
to their service. Most concluded that they now had a better understanding of the
importance of community buy-in and the need to include all stakeholders in any
decision-making processes. Several also mentioned the importance of empowering
people to make their own decisions about what help they need and matching those
needs with the right volunteers.
When I asked in the survey what character students identified with the most, I
was pleasantly surprised that students named Solomon and Faridah along with
Steve and Bruce. Students noted these characters all exhibited patience, a
willingness to communicate, and a desire to be open-minded. Steve may have
come the closest to completing a traditional heros journey as described by
Joseph Campbell (1949) in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, but he leaves the
community in the end. Bruce goes from cynicism to belief in others and stays and
227
BORAH
works in the community a little longer while Solomon is brave enough to question
the existing power structure and advance through education and plans to come
back and help the community as a permanent member. Faridah and the other
characters continue their work as community members with the benefit of the
church building and the cooperative model.
In order to get more feedback, near the end of the course I asked students to
assess the piece as a course reading and to reflect on any connections to their
service projects up to that point as a short writing assignment. Students were
overwhelmingly positive about the piece with the only reservations being that
some thought they needed more background on the movies and characters and a
few even stated the novella was deceptively easy reading when it actually
tackled complex problems and required more than one reading. A few made strong
connections between both the novella and the T.S. Eliot poem as well as their
views on service:
As a whole, I believe this work succeeds immensely as a reading. Not only is
reading about superheroes an incredible change from the norm, but the
underlying themes actually made me question my own life. It challenged me
in a new and exciting way that I havent felt from a reading in a while. I will
admit, however, I believe this self-evaluation stemmed intensely from the T.
S. Eliot poem, The Hollow Men. This poem does directly relate to the
characters of the story. It discusses this beautifully broken space we all hide
in, between thought and action: Bruce being chained to his thoughts and
Steve being questionably liberated by his actions. In my life, I find myself
struggling to escape the chains of thought, much like Bruce. (Amanda B.)
Going from the cerebral academic mode to connecting with the community can be
a challenge for many students, but the reading helped prepare them to make this
challenging transition. The fundamental idea that service requires making
connections and being willing to both give and receive came up in several
reflections. Likewise, students were able to recognize how performing service
was going to require them to take action and interact with our surrounding
community:
In the end, Steve reminded Bruce that there is so much good that can be
done, regardless of how Bruce feels about himself and what he can become.
Steve shows Bruce that wallowing and focusing on the things he cant do
turns into thousands of things he wont do. He reminds Bruce that he has to
be a part of this world, whether he likes it or not. An important lesson to take
into the beginning of our service learning. (Josef A.)
CONCLUSION
Overall, despite some challenges, Lettereds The Hollow Men proved to be an

overwhelmingly successful piece to introduce my students to some of the issues,
which they would face while doing their field service in the community
surrounding us. For some students, connection to the characters was immediate
228
and gratifying while others found them more of a challenge because of the
sizable amount of background information available. However, classroom
discussions were lively and collaborative with student experts sharing
information. Discussions also drew out questions about race, culture,
socioeconomics, global politics, and gender that made discussing issues closer to
home a little easier than if we had begun by reading about them in current news
articles. The information and discussion about the fanfiction genre also provided a
common example for introducing the second major writing assignment, the genre
analysis paper. Because fanfiction often challenges the norms of existing power
structures, it paired especially well with a critical literacy approach that students
could in turn use to examine their own experiences in and outside academia. I plan
to continue using Lettereds novella in the coming terms and refining my
introduction of the material to help ease my students into their Service-Learning
projects.
REFERENCES
Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. San Francisco, CA: New World Books.
Eliot, T. S. (n.d.). The hollow men. Retrieved June 18, 2016 from Allpoetry.com https://allpoetry.com/
The-Hollow-Men
Fanlore (June 11, 2012). Fanfiction. Retrieved June 18, 2016 from Fanlore Wiki:
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fanfiction
Gottlieb, K., & Robinson, G. (Eds.). (2006). A practical guide for integrating civic responsibility into
the curriculum (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Community College Press.
Grady, C. (2 June 2016). Why were terrified of fanfiction. Vox. Online magazine.
Jenkins, H. (2013). Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture (Updated 20th
anniversary ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. (Original work published 1992)
Kerryg. (July 7, 2011). The basics of fanfiction. Retrieved June 18, 2016 from Hubpages.com:
http://hubpages.com/literature/fanfiction
Kretovics, J. R. (1985). Critical literacy: Challenging the assumptions of mainstream educational
theory. The Journal of Education, 167(2), 50-62.
Langseth, M. (2000). Maximizing impact, minimizing harm: Why service learning must more fully
integrate multicultural education. In C. R. OGrady (Ed.), Integrating service learning and
multicultural education in colleges and universities (pp. 247-262). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Assoc. Publishing.
Lettered. (June 17, 2012). The hollow men, part two of responsible science series. Retrieved June 18,
2016 from Archive of Our Own, The Organization for Transformative Works:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/437186
National community service trust act of 1993. (Sept. 21, 1993) Pub. L. (pp. 103-183). Stat. 107. 785-
923.
Pellegrini, N. (July 6, 2016). Is fan fiction wrong? Retrieved July 14, 2016 from Hubpages.com:
http://hubpages.com/literature/is-fan-fiction-wrong
Rosenberger, C. (2000). Beyond empathy: Developing critical consciousness through service learning.
In C. R. OGrady (Ed.), Integrating service learning and multicultural education in colleges and
universities (pp. 23-43). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum assoc. publishing.
229
BORAH
Sandvoss, C. (2014). The death of the reader?: Literary theory and the study of texts in popular culture.
In K. Hellekson & K. Busse (Eds.), The fan fiction studies reader (pp. 61-74). Iowa City: Iowa
Press.
Rebecca Sutherland Borah

English Department
University of Cincinnati
230
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Rebecca Sutherland Borah earned her BSEd and MA in English at Northeast

Missouri State University and her Ph.D. in English from Southern Illinois
UniversityCarbondale where her major area was Composition and Rhetoric. She
is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati where she
teaches Composition with Service Learning and the occasional Monsters in
Literature, Censorship, or Tolkien course.
Dawan Coombs ([email protected]) is an assistant professor of English at

Brigham Young University where she works in the English teaching program. She
is a former high school English and reading teacher. Her research interests include
preservice teacher preparation and reading pedagogy.
Claire A. Davanzo holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts Degree in Secondary

English Education from the University of Delaware. While attending, she
presented her paper Touched by Something Extra: Todorovs Fantastic in Tim
Burtons Big Fish at the Myths for Muggles Research Symposium on Fantasy.
She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in British Literature at Montclair State
University.
Stephanie Dreier is a Ph.D. candidate in Germanic Studies at the University of

British Columbia (Vancouver). Her research focuses on object relations theory and
comparative fantasy literature. She is currently working on her dissertation project
entitled Artifacts and Self-Identification: A Comparative Study through Fantastic
Literature.
Mark A. Fabrizi earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Hull in
Great Britain. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Secondary Education at
Eastern Connecticut State University, teaching both graduate and undergraduate
courses in English methods, literacy, and education. He previously spent eighteen
years as a high school English teacher where he taught courses in film, media
literacy, fantasy literature, and creative writing.
Danielle E. Forest graduated with a Ph.D. in Education from Old Dominion

University in 2014. She has taught courses in literacy and language arts methods
and childrens literature at Old Dominion and the University of Southern
Mississippi. She was a fourth grade classroom teacher prior to her doctoral studies.
Nathan Fredrickson is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religious Studies

at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), with Masters degrees in
Classics (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UIUC), Library and
Information Science (UIUC), and Religious Studies (UCSB).
231
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Nathaniel Gee received his M.A. from the University of Mississippi. He has
taught English in several independent schools since 2001, and he currently teaches
seniors at Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama. His course introduces students
to the great thinkers in human history by using canonical and non-canonical texts
to engage 21st Century readers.
Martha M. Johnson-Olin, Ph.D., teaches all levels of composition and literature

courses ranging from Shakespeare to surveys of Science Fiction and Fantasy
literature at Potomac State College of West Virginia University. Her research
interests include teaching composition and gender dynamics in Middle English
romance and fairy tales.
Vickie Johnston, an Instructor II and Program Coordinator for the Special

Education Program in the College of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University,
began her career interpreting for deaf high school and middle school students, and
has more than 15 years of teaching experience in both elementary and special
education classrooms. Her areas of research include literacy, digital literacy,
differentiated instruction, and the integration of technology in literacy instruction.
Cynthia Dawn Martelli served fourteen years as an elementary and middle school
language arts teacher. She is now an Assistant Professor of Reading in the College
of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University where her passion and research
involves the respect and value of childrens and young adult literature as a
powerful education tool in teacher education.
Neil McGarry is, together with Daniel Ravipinto, the author of The Grey City
series, and the host of the weekly podcast, Nitpicking: The Next Generation.
Neil has published in DRAGON.
Jon Ostenson ([email protected]) taught junior high and high school English
for eleven years before joining the faculty at Brigham Young University, where he
now teaches in the English Education program. His research interests include
digital literacies and new media, teacher development, and young adult literature.
Daniel Ravipinto is, together with Neil McGarry, the author of The Grey City
series, and the host of the weekly podcast, Nitpicking: The Next Generation.
Daniel is an Emmy Award-winning software developer and co-authored the award-
winning interactive fiction game Slouching Towards Bedlam.
Margaret A. Robbins has a B.S.Ed. in English Education and a MAT in English

from The University of Georgia, along with a creative writing certificate from
Kennesaw State University. She has articles published in The ALAN Review,
SIGNAL Journal, and Gifted Child Today. She taught secondary English/Language
Arts for ten years and is currently a Ph.D. student and Graduate Teaching Assistant
in the Language and Literacy Education department at UGA.
232
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Louise Pisano Simone holds a BSFS, an MA, and a DLS from Georgetown
University, and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She teaches writing
and social studies in Washington, DC. Her fantasy novel for middle grade readers
won an honor medal in the 2012 Next Generation Indy Book Award competition.
Whitney Sommerville graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in

English teaching. She has taught at both the junior high and high school levels. A
lifelong Harry Potter enthusiast, Whitney seeks to make her students' experiences
with reading and writing magical.
Hannah Swamidoss completed her Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Dallas.

She has published articles on Charles Kingsley, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and
Allen Say among others. Her most recent work, The Quest for a Home: Identity,
Agency, and the Interstitial Space in Rudyard Kiplings Kim, examines cultural
displacement in Kiplings Kim and appeared in Nineteenth Century Contexts
Spring 2016.
Jennifer Jackson Whitley has taught secondary English/Language Arts for seven
of the last eight years and is a doctoral student at The University of Georgia in the
Language and Literacy Education department, where she focuses her research on
social justice pedagogy, ruralities, and creative modes of reader response. Her
work as appeared in various places, including WILLA, JoLLE, and The English
Record.
233

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Fantasy Literature

CRITICAL LITERACY TEACHING SERIES:

P. L. Thomas, Furman University, Greenville, USA

Leila Christenbury, Virginia Commonwealth University

ISBN 978-94-6300-756-6 (paperback)

Published by: Sense Publishers,

All chapters in this book have undergone peer review.

Printed on acid-free paper

All rights reserved 2016 Sense Publishers

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

Introduction: Challenging Fantasy Literature 1

Part One: Philosophical Issues

1. In the Shadow of the Status Quo: The Forgotten in The

2. The Wizards Beneath: Finding Plato and Freud in

3. Youre a Prince, Harry: The Politics of Oppression and

4. Designing a Course Integrating Critical Pedagogy, Fantasy

Part Two: Gender, Class, and Privilege

5. Strong Women in Fairy Tales Existed Long Before Frozen:

6. From Fledgling to Buffy: Critical Literacy, Fantasy, and

7. Gender, Class, and Marginalization in Beatrix Potter 109

8. Depictions of Social Class in Newbery-Winning Fantasies:

9. Indifference, Neglect, and Outright Dislike: Examining

Part Three: Education and Social Justice

10. Magic as Privilege in Robert Jordan and Brandon Sandersons

11. Seeing Harry as an At-Risk Student: Critical Literacy,

12. Magical Objects in Fantasy: A Multicultural Examination 189

13. Critical Literacy in Inquiry Learning: Perspective Sharing

14. Bruce Banner can be an Asshole: Using a FanFic to Break

Author Biographies 231

M.A. Fabrizi (Ed.), Fantasy Literature, 19.

today) in connection to literature, and reinvest the word with a connotation of

1. IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATUS QUO

High fantasy is an inherently conservative genre, often revolving around the

M.A. Fabrizi (Ed.), Fantasy Literature, 1326.

Although Martin outshines Tolkien in the presentation of homosexuality, A Song

The marginalization of minoritiesboth racial and sexualextends also to

Eowyns gender is ultimately revealed to be more a plot device than an upsetting of

of Tolkien and those of Martin, the forgotten of modern fantasywomen, and

2. THE WIZARDS BENEATH

UNCONSCIOUS LEARNING TODAY

Like many teachers today, I am dispirited by the test-taking culture of modern

M.A. Fabrizi (Ed.), Fantasy Literature, 2740.

used words based on context [and] instead of recalling a definition from

TABLEAUS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT

The novel depicts a medieval-like society typical of fantasy novels. A powerful

Freuds structure of the unconscious encourages us to analyze the effect of our

pursue rebellion, obedience, ambition, or pleasure unconsciously. They should

negotiate a healthy middle ground by using reason-oriented logic, not by acting on

LEARNING WITHOUT LIGHT

As Arha grows up in the temple community, her role as priestesssupposedly a

is frightening to study directly. No light is allowed in the Undertomb: This was

THE SOURCE OF SHADOWS

worthwhile victory. In fact, he argues, it is the most worthwhile struggle we can

when her own cavethe Undertombis invaded by a remarkable teacher, thief,

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

CHOOSING THE LIGHT

3. YOURE A PRINCE, HARRY