ABSTRACT
This paper begins with the introduction of the author and the background of the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which is the first one of the Harry Potter series. It also points out that racism is one of the book’s main themes. It then elaborates the meaning of intolerance, prejudice and racism as well as the concept of bibliotherapy, the basic idea of which is that literature can heal and help readers to better understand different situations. As far as I am concerned, the Harry Potter series can help readers to have a better insight of racism in the real world. After that, by analyzing the opinions of Wizards and Muggles(non-magic community), it educes the theme of racism in the book; It finally discusses the choices made by the characters, and through the characters’ choices the author expresses her best hope of racial equality, which should be perceived by the readers through the process of reading.
Keywords：Harry Potter; racism; bibliotherapy.
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. The Concept of Racism and Bibliotherapy 2
2.1 Racism 2
2.2 Bibliotherapy 3
3. Two communities – Muggles and Wizards 4
3.1 How Muggles see Wizards 4
3.2 How Wizards see Muggles 6
3.3 Factors connected with racism 8
3.4 Tolerance among Wizards 10
4. Bibliotherapy and Harry Potter series 10
5. Conclusion 13
Acknowledgements 14
References 15
