Schoefer depicts the Harry Potter books as being "sexist" and very "stereotypical." Her central criterion is that there are only strong men within the stories and all the women are described as almost helpless. She establishes her criterion in the end of the first paragraph when she states, "Believe me, I tried as hard as I could to ignore the sexism." Schoefer identifies several positive qualities of the Harry Potter books throughout her evaluation such as "Glittering mystery and nail-biting suspense, compelling language and colorful imagery, magical feats juxtaposed with real-life concerns..." She gives the book a lot of credit in the beginning of her evaluation by saying she had a hard time having a problem with it, but at the same time she could not ignore the sexism, stereotypes, and the suppression of women in general. Schoefer fails, however, to mention the times when Hermione's knowledge saved the boys lives. She also fails to mention that Professor McGonagall is the motherly and guiding conscience of the entire series. It is obvious that Schoefer is trying to make a point so she fails to mention these key details of the books, but if she wanted to present a good argument she would have included them if only to show that she understands both sides of the issue. Instead she sticks soley to her own opinions of sexism with in Harry Potter. She uses the examples of Hermione, Ginny, Penelope, and McGonagall to support her point that women are always beneath men with in the confines of this particular series and therefore mirrors reality. I found no real refutes to her argument other than at the start of her evaluations when she pays tribute to the ability of the author to entrap the reader. My refutes are stated above, that Schoefer fails to mention the positive attributes of the women.
An in depth look at any book will show some sort of sexism, feminism, or discrimination, that is if one looks hard enough for it. The Harry Potter series was created for the entertainment of children, as an escape from the real world. The books did their job well by getting children to become interested in books. Therefore, what is left out is not as big of a deal as Schoefer makes it out to be.
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