Jo Rowling really knows how to do “unfair.” The entire Harry Potter series has been essentially a laundry list of grown-ups and bullies who, for one reason or the other, pick on the main character for no fault of his own. The arbitrary exercise of power, the base delight in cruelty, the adamant refusal to believe unpleasant or unusual facts, the cloying condescension from adults to children and teenagers, the politically- or peer-motivated malfeasance, the bossing, the punishing, the bullying, the class prejudice, the age prejudice: It all adds up to a perfect portrait of a world that’ll screw you over simply because it can, and because you can’t do anything to stop it. I often think that a huge chunk of the books’ appeal to children is this faithful re-creation of what the world of “because I said so”-spouting adults must look like through those children’s eyes.
