ABSTRACT
Harry Potter is not merely a hero of children’s literature – he is a symbol and product of the English nation. Continually chosen to face insurmountable challenges, over the course of the Harry Potter series he comes to represent an evolving but long-held belief in the chosenness or ethnic election of the English people. According to Anthony Smith, to be chosen is to be “saved and privileged” by God and, since the Elizabethan era, the belief in English chosenness has permeated literary works, in which its people overcome adversity to become divine models of national virtue. More recently, globalization has seen a decline in British influence, which might have been expected to coincide with a decline in the belief in English ethnic election. This chapter analyses Harry from a religious and ethnocentric perspective, and explores how globalization has instead strengthened a new understanding of English ethnic election. By drawing on biblical allegory and canonical English heroes, this chapter suggests that, just as chosenness is decisive in Harry’s life, so is the idea of English national predestination in response to the current global context.
