Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman explore the themes of magic and the supernatural. Harry Potter is the story of a young, seemingly normal boy who discovers that he is actually a wizard. Along with his friends Ron and Hermione, Harry battles enemies inside and outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. None Owens, or Bod for short, from The Graveyard Book grows up in a very unconventional situation being raised by the ghosts of the cemetery where Mr. and Mrs. Owen live. Silas, his guardian who is also a vampire, teaches Bod the ways of the world while trying to protect him from evil handymen. The use of magic and the supernatural in both texts allows the authors to create a hierarchical structure between those inside and outside the magical world. There are clear distinctions between the two worlds, for example ghosts versus humans in The Graveyard Book and wizards versus muggles in Harry Potter. Both texts aim to break down the barriers of this social construction through characters, particularly Bod in The Graveyard Book and Hermione in Harry Potter. The two texts can be described as a hybrid between fantasy fiction and gothic literature. The elements of these two forms allow the authors to use the grotesque, fantastic, and mythical elements to further cement the social hierarchy they have constructed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The tension between wizards and muggles is evident in the scene between Harry, Hagrid, and the Dursleys when Harry discovers that he is a wizard. We are introduced to the word muggle by Hagrid when he explains its meaning to Harry, “it is what we call non-magical people like them” (Rowling 57). The label given to them is clearly negative and shows how the wizarding community considers them superior to "Muggles". This disdain is mutual with the Dursleys labeling wizards as "weird" (Rowling 61), "strange" and "abnormal" (Rowling 58) and Mrs Dursley even going so far as to call her witch sister "a monster" (Rowling 57) . Although it must be said that most Muggles do not know about the existence of witches and wizards and reject the idea of ​​their existence. In doing so, they denounce the magical community's superiority based primarily on their ignorance of the situation. These two dominant groups of people, wizards and muggles, compete in a magically charged environment for the highest position in the hierarchy. This is comparable to real-world social orders where groups of people compete for first place, such as the United States versus the USSR in the Cold War or even the Liberal Party versus the Labor Party. Rowling portrays this social construction from the perspective of the wizards who occupy the highest position in the hierarchy which we will delve into. Looking more closely at Harry Potter, the wizarding community can be further classified into pure-bloods, half-bloods, muggle-borns, and squibs born to wizarding parents but who do not possess magic. There is also a distinction between wizards, particularly pure-bloods and half-bloods, who sympathize with Muggles. This particular form of discrimination is evident between Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley. Ron comes from a pureblood family known for its sympathy towards Muggles. On the train ride to Hogwarts Harry and Ron are confronted by Draco and his friends, Draco describing the Weasley family and Hagrid as "rabble" (Rowling 116). Draco also tells Harry "you will soon find that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter" (Rowling 116) and talks about the "wrong kind" (Rowling 116). Draco is an anti-Muggle pureblood and the wrong type for himanyone who is not pureblood and whose opinions differ from his. There is a sense of Neo-Nazism in the text with pure-blood wizards being the equivalent of Aryans and Muggles or Muggle-borns the equivalent of Jews. The segregation of these groups and placement in a social hierarchy is the magical equivalent of world-systems theory where the social system is based on wealth and power (Kottak 329), although in the case of the magical community it is based on purity of the wizard family tree. In Harry Potter, Hermione is often seen as an outsider mainly due to her muggle lineage, she doesn't fully fit into the wizarding community but at the same time she isn't even a muggle anymore. Bod in The Graveyard Book is similarly described as an outsider, he is neither a ghost nor fully human. Like Harry Potter, The Graveyard Book depicts a hierarchy, albeit different from the one mentioned above; the basis of the structure remains the same. The supernatural world of The Graveyard Book illustrates three distinct social groups, humans, ghosts, and “The Honor Guard” (Gaiman 272). Humans are completely unaware of the supernatural world, similar to most Muggles in Harry Potter; once again the hierarchy perceived by humans is based on their ignorance of the supernatural world. This is a social commentary by Gaiman comparing the ignorance of first world people, represented by humans, to third world people, represented by the supernatural. Taking a look at the cemetery we see that there is a distinct social order among its inhabitants. At the top of the hierarchy we have "The Honor Guard" which includes Silas and Miss Lupescu, it is evident in the text that to become one of "The Honor Guard" you only need to be supernatural in nature but a mythical creature such as a vampire or wolf werewolf. Also at the top of the hierarchy is the elusive Lady on the Gray who is highly prized by the graveyard ghosts. At the center of the hierarchy is the general population of ghosts, comparable to middle- or working-class people in today's society. At the bottom of the hierarchy we have ghouls and also Liza Hempstock, a ghost who was executed for witchcraft. Ironically, Liza is ostracized by the other ghosts because she is a witch, a supernatural entity, as they too are ghosts of supernatural belief. Once again, Gaiman uses this ironic situation as social commentary by pointing out the hypocrisy that accompanies a social hierarchy. As stated earlier, Hermione in Harry Potter plays the role of an outsider in the wizarding community. As the story progresses, we see Hermione play a vital role in thwarting Lord Voldemort's ploy to steal the Philosopher's Stone. He uses his intellect to decipher key information including the riddle about the potions they must solve to get to the Philosopher's Stone. Logic is necessary to solve the puzzle and as Hermione astutely points out "many of the greatest wizards don't have an ounce of logic" (Rowling 307) and luckily for Harry, Hermione does. Michelle Fry (157) discusses the essential nature of the character Hermione in breaking down the barriers of social constructs. The riddle that Hermione solves is evidence that this is the case, meaning that purebloods, such as Draco Malfoy, consider her inferior due to her Muggle-born status. However, he proves them wrong by being able to solve a problem that many wizards, including purebloods, would not be able to solve, proving that a person's lineage does not make "an ounce" of difference in their abilities. There is a sense of the concept of carnival in Harry Potter, where the rigid social structure is overturned and oppressed people, Muggle-borns and Muggle sympathisers, rise up and become powerful (Nikolajeva). They will seize the opportunityto break down the barriers built by pure-blood wizards and destroy notions of ineptitude and inferiority. There are also carnival features in The Graveyard Book which can be seen when humans and ghosts dance the Macabray (Gaiman135). The upside-down world of carnival (Nikolajeva, Hall) is evident in the reversal of the social order, whereby humans recognize the supernatural world for that night, but without remembering it later. Interestingly, the ghosts do not talk about the dance afterwards as Silas explains "there are things that people are forbidden to talk about" (Gaiman 153), showing that now the dance is over the hierarchy is back in place. It has the grotesque element of humans and ghosts dancing together seen in carnival and also in Gothic literature. The song's lyrics, aptly titled 'Danse Macabre' (Gaiman 135), have a strong gothic tone focusing particularly on the macabre (Coats) while at the same time employing carnival motifs of humor (Hall). An example of this is the phrase "one who goes, one who stays and everyone dances the Macabray", which creates an atmosphere of decadence and even terror, but at the same time has the playfulness of carnival. The grotesque is a Gothic motif used in Harry Potter to separate someone's status in the social hierarchy. Hall explores the character of Hagrid, a half-giant, as a grotesque representation. Hagrid is described as having “a long mane and a wild, tangled beard” (Rowling 50), his eyes are “like black cockroaches” (Rowling 50). He is at the bottom of the hierarchy being not only a half-breed but also a half-breed who has a giantess for a mother. When he sees Hagrid, Draco refers to him as a "savage" (Rowling 84) even though we know that Hagrid is anything but a savage with pockets full of "mint cheats" (Rowling 67), "tea bags ” (Rowling 67) and “dog biscuits” (Rowling 79) even exclaiming “bless him, look, he knows his mama” (Rowling 252) when Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback looks at him. He is the epitome of a gentle giant and that has a sort of irony or carnival quality to it. As Draco does, most of the wizarding community despises Hagrid for his differences, his grotesque character, discriminating against him due to his supposedly "wild" nature. Like Hagrid, goblins are portrayed in Harry Potter as grotesque (Hall). Rowling describes a goblin as "dark" (78) with "an intelligent face, a sharp bead" (78), and "very long toes and feet" (78). As well as the clear grotesque connotations, there is also a sense of evil and betrayal associated with goblins, motifs synonymous with Gothic literature. It's no surprise that, like Hagrid, goblins are also at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Both Harry Potter and The Graveyard Book describe a clear hierarchical structure within the fictional worlds they explore that can be compared to real-world social structures. They use magic and the supernatural to stratify different groups of people into rigid social factions. Gothic motifs, particularly grotesque, are used to emphasize this structure and make clear distinctions between segregated groups. Carnival elements are evident in the lyrics and are used as a tool to break social barriers and eradicate discrimination. Strong social distinctions exist between the magical world and the human world, often with the latter denying the existence of the supernatural. Within the magical world there are further distinctions between classes that can be compared to that of the human world. Harry Potter and The Graveyard Book are commentaries on the social hierarchical structure of today's world where we can learn the undesirable implications of labeling people or groups based on assumed value. Works CitedCoats, 7.1 (2001): 157-167..