Harry Potter and The Hat of Machado de Assis
Parallels with Portugal
J.K Rowling, writer of Harry Potter, was in some degree influenced by the portuguese culture, mainly for its writing and architecture. Moreover, her contact with the portuguese language must have brought her in contact with Machado de Assis, as this will be explained.
It is known that, for a period of her life, the author moved to Porto, Portugal. It’s no wonder, hence, that she’s been inspired by local ideas and, in a broader sense, by the writers in the Portuguese language.
For example, the university’s vest and the attire of the women from Faial (Fayal) and São Miguel (San Miguel) in the Açores (Azores) island resembles that of wizards and witches.
The Lello library, in the city of Porto, also draws attention. Its architecture could have inspired for some scenarios we find in Harry Potter’s books.
These relations, notwithstanding, have the purpose to pin point that Machado de Assis, arguably the greatest brazilian writer, has influenced Rowling as well, and in a core subject of the series: the wand’s choice at Diagon Alley and the sorting hat designation to Hogwarts’ houses.
Parallels with Machado de Assis
Machado de Assis published in 1883 a short story entitled “Capítulo dos Chapéus”1, that was later inserted in a collection named “Histórias sem data”2.
The story tells about the day Mariana, after seeing her husband Conrado Seabra, a lawyer, disdains his hat, which seemed to her less imposing before others to whom he’d talked to.
Não digo que seja feio; mas é cá para fora, para andar na vizinhança, à tarde ou à noite, mas na cidade, um advogado, não me parece que…3
Marina asks him to change his hat, to which he relucts with mockery, and then with metaphysics:
A escolha do chapéu não é uma ação indiferente, como você pode supor; é regida por um princípio metafísico. Não cuide que quem compra um chapéu exerce uma ação voluntária e livre; a verdade é que obedece a um determinismo obscuro. A ilusão da liberdade existe arraigada nos compradores, e é mantida pelos chapeleiros que, ao verem um freguês ensaiar trinta ou quarenta chapéus, e sair sem comprar nenhum, imaginam que ele está procurando livremente uma combinação elegante. O princípio metafísico é este: — o chapéu é a integração do homem, um prolongamento da cabeça, um complemento decretado ab æterno; ninguém o pode trocar sem mutilação. E uma questão profunda que ainda não ocorreu a ninguém. Os sábios têm estudado tudo desde o astro até o verme, ou, para exemplificar bibliograficamente, desde Laplace… Você nunca leu Laplace? desde Laplace e a Mecânica celeste até Darwin e o seu curioso livro das Minhocas, e, entretanto, não se lembraram ainda de parar diante do chapéu e estudá-lo por todos os lados. Ninguém advertiu que há uma metafísica do chapéu. Talvez eu escreva uma memória a este respeito. São nove horas e três quartos; não tenho tempo de dizer mais nada; mas você reflita consigo, e verá… Quem sabe? pode ser até que nem mesmo o chapéu seja complemento do homem, mas o homem do chapéu…4
In the same way that each man is its hat complement, also the wizard is complement of his wand. Harry, when went to Ollivander’s store at the Diagon Alley, had to test many wands, but only one found him. The store owner says:
It’s really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course. […] The wand chooses the wizard, remember…
It’s worth also to notice that the platform that Harry uses to get to the train has the same value of the time when the lawyer enunciates his philosophy: nine and three quarters .
Thus, it seems that J.K. Rowling has been influenced by the Chapter of the Hats, with concordance in at least three aspects:
The Machado’s hat, that is less complement of the man than the man of his hat, was represented in the choice of wand by the wizard (or the choice of the wizard by the wand).
The Machado’s hat was also represented in the figure of the sorting hat, that can know more about someone than oneself and designates one’s future in Hogwarts’ houses.
The assigned value nine and three quarters , that, alongside these presented relations - in addition to sounding pleasant - may be a hint to reinforce the key that, to the attentive reader, subtly points to Machado.
At the end of the Machado’s story, Mariana, at home, encounters her husband arriving with a new hat. Nevertheless, after seeing the result, she convinces herself that the previous one suited her husband much better:
Escuta uma cousa, respondeu ela com uma carícia divina, bota fora esse; antes o outro.5
Chapter of the Hats↩︎
Undated Stories↩︎
I won’t say it’s ugly; but it is for seclusion, to walk by the neighborhood, at evening or noon, but at city, a lawyer, it doesn’t seem that…↩︎
The hat’s choice is not an indifferent action, as you may suppose; it is ruled by a metaphysical principle. Don’t think that one who buys a hat exerts a free and voluntary action; the truth is that obeys to a obscure determinism. The illusion of liberty exists ingrained in the buyers, and it is kept by the hatters who, when they see a costumer rehearsing thirty or forty hats, and walking away without buying any, imagine that he is freely looking for an elegant combination. The metaphysical principal is this: - the hat is the man’s integration, a head’s prolongation, a complement ab æterno decreed; no one can touch it without mutilation. It is a profound matter that has not yet ocurred to anyone. The wise have been studying everything from asters to the maggots, or, to bibliographically exemplify, since Laplace… You have never read Laplace? Since Laplace and the Celestial Mechanics to Darwin and his curious worms book, and, however, they did not yet remember to stop before a hat and study it by all sides. Maybe I write a memory on this. It is nine hours and three quartes; I don’t have time to say anything more; but reflect with yourself and you will see… Who knows? It may be that the hat is not even a complement of the man, but the man of the hat.↩︎
Listen a thing, she answered with a divine caress, throw this one away; the other is better.↩︎