Why was Harry Potter raised by muggles?
All other children of wizards grew up in the wizarding world
Question: Why was Harry Potter raised by muggles? This constrasts with other wizard children. They all grew up in the wizarding world. Even if they weren’t in the wizarding world, they grew up aware of magic and sorcery.
Answer: Because all of Harry Potter’s readers are muggles. J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, chose to introduce readers to her fantasy world by letting them explore it through the eyes of her hero.
Welcome to Costs Matter, a series that asks different questions all of which have the same answer: to better manage costs. The costs are frequently economic though not always. The series focuses narrowly on the impact of costs. It does not claim these costs are the sole cause. To read more in the series, visit https://medium.com/galileo-onwards/costs/home.
Any story, especially a fantasy one, needs to explain the magical world to its readers. One way to do it is to set it up like a technical textbook. This would probably be 200 pages of details with no plot. No publisher would touch it. Instead, the best way is for the author to invite us into their world by letting us explore it through the protagonist — Harry Potter, in this case. A reader exploring a world is more engaged than a reader being dictated to. Thus, presenting the story as an exploration rather than an exposition increases engagement. And, as Facebook’s stock price will tell you, increased engagement is all about costs.
Put differently, we were kept engaged by exploring and experiencing because Rowling eschewed elaborate exposition.
Other examples
All fantasy/science-fiction stories have the same problems and they approach it along the same lines. Below I discuss two examples, one each from fantasy and sci-fi.
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, some dwarves decide to raid a dragon’s lair. The story is narrated through the eyes of an eponymous Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo perfectly represents the reader’s perspective. Hobbits, like us, have no special powers and thus their capabilities never need explaining. Everything Tolkien wants us readers to know he exposes through Bilbo’s questions and experiences.
In Isaac Asimov’s science fiction novel, The Caves of Steel, the problem is slightly harder. Here, the the story is set in a future that is normal to its hero, Elijah Baley. Narrators who to explain their story universe cue the elaboration by having a character express surprise. In both Harry Potter and The Hobbit, this is easier because the central characters, like us, are outsiders to the world. Asimov doesn’t have that luxury: Elijah Baley is an insider to his world but we are outsiders. What does Asimov do? He doubles down. If one stranger in a strange world can explain some stories, why not two? The Caves of Steel introduces two characters drive the plot: Earth human, Elijah Baley, and alien robot, Daneel Olivaw. We are introduced to the world through their interactions. It’s a great read too. And, like the Harry Potter novels, it is also a great detective novel.
Coming back to Harry Potter, why is Harry always stuck at the Dursleys during summer? That is a question to be discussed in a future Costs Matter post.
