One of the major themes of Harry Potter is dealing with prejudice. The main source of prejudice
in the wizarding world is the concept of full-blood wizard supremacy but other
characters face prejudice for different reasons. One of these characters is
Luna Lovegood. Luna faces prejudice of the more social kind: nobody wants to
interact with her because they believe that she is too weird and strange.
In my
opinion, it could be argued that Luna faces a degree of ableism (prejudice
against disabled people). Luna isn’t disabled (as far as we know, I suppose)
but the way she is treated by other students somewhat reflects the issue. Other
students constantly call Luna “loony” or “crazy” as if she were mentally ill. They
judge the fact that she is in Ravenclaw because they do not believe she is
intelligent enough.
However,
as the series goes on, the reader sees that Luna is quite insightful. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
she is able to cheer up Harry when nobody else could. Her knowledge of death
makes her more emotionally mature than other students in that instance.
Luna
herself did not exactly overcome prejudice. Rather, others are able to let go
of their prejudice against Luna. In Harry
Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Ron states that “she’s grown on me, Luna.
I know she’s insane but it’s in a good way” (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, chp. 19). Luna is finally
able to have friends when the other students realizes that her being “weird” or
even “crazy” isn’t a bad thing.
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