The Fall of the House of ______

[sistermagpie]

This thread turned out to be so interesting, it's gotten me thinking even more about incest in literature and what it stands for. Unfortunately I really haven't read any lit crit on the subject. I have a feeling I'll be surfing around today looking for some. The weird thing, too, is that the subject seems to tie in with other recent subjects on

Comments

[ceris]

I think it's clear that the whole Pureblood thing, as well as obviously showing racism, is a reference to our declining British aristocracy (and Royal Family), which has often inbred. But I find wizards as a whole believing themselves superior to we Muggles, although not in as obviously racist a way as the Purebloods are, although quite often we're represented (referred to) as stupid, if not downright nasty (Dursleys being the prime example of middle class Muggle snobbery and hysteria). And of course, with the Purebloods, narcissism must be a factor in their incestuous behaviour - no one else is 'good' enough to mate with them, and the smaller the gene pool becomes, the greater the narcissistic behaviour.

The Weaselys seem to be at the bottom end of the scale - a good family perhaps, but rather like the council estate kids that everyone knows, slightly scruffy, poor, lots of kids. Incest there would of course be a very different matter, since they are presumably not trying to conserve the bloodline.

I agree with you with what you said about Sirius attempting to destroy his whole dynasty - the decay and infestation of the whole Black house however speaks of the fall of dynasty (very House of Usher, I thought) so in effect it's crumbling anyway. Sirius seems to be trying to 'clean' his family of its internal genetic decay (and of course, if he was with Lupin in canon, he would presumably not be providing it with any more heirs. This is, as you say, entirely Gothic in its approach to aristocracy and dynasty.

Another great thread :-)

[sistermagpie]

Thanks! And you're right, I think the whole crumbling house is usually supposed to reflect a corruption of the genetic stock--so you've got madness and violence and inbreeding as part of the whole picture. Though it's interesting to contrast that with the people of the current generations, as it would be depressing to think there's no hope at all.

Sirius himself was destroyed by circumstance and his family turned against him, but what about Purebloods like Draco who are clearly part of the fold? He could be destroyed like Regulus, but it would be nice to just have him learn something. He doesn't yet seem insane, and if he's dating Pansy Parkinson well, she's not the nicest girl but she doesn't seem to be his first cousin either.;-) She always strikes me as someone who's from a good family whose bloodline just doesn't go back as far back as the Blacks or the Malfoys. There's no mention of Parkinson Death Eaters either. I don't see any particular storyline with this as I don't know how much page space would be devoted to something like that, but it seems like this last book took the issue of family very seriously, with different characters either trying to get away from their families (and ending badly) or rehabilitate them (Hagrid with Grawp, which was more ambiguous). Sirius and his mother seemed to only be capable of yelling at each other from extreme points of view. I wonder if Narcissa will prove the savior of her own family line in some way.

[ceris]

I think with Lucius' imprisonment, Draco will become more Pureblood-minded than ever. He is, I suppose, head of the Malfoy clan now (which seems to be a patriarchal institution to me). He might be dating Pansy but he might not be allowed to have a marriage with her if it came to that. There might be another cousin or something somewhere that the family have lined up for him. Narcissa seems to be every bit as brainwashed as the rest of them; call me pessimistic, but I can't see her being a saviour from her limited portrayal so far.

I really, really hope that JKR does something interesting with Draco though, instead of keeping him as he is, because he's just two dimensional for me. I'm hoping that the Lucius imprisonment thing will either bring him out as a villain with a motive, or that it will lead to some kind of redemption for him. Either way, I can see the bond of family becoming more important here.

[sistermagpie]

I agree-the family bond seems like it should become more important. His family's been threatened personally now.

I do hope there's something interesting done with him, though I'm not holding my breath. Obviously his family interests me so I'd like to see it standing strong (if battered) in the end, but that doesn't mean the author sees it that way.