End of an Era — Harry Potter

By: Snigdha Jain (Communicating Reality Intern, CCS)

“Magic cannot bring dead people back to life…. Once you’re dead, you’re dead.” — J.K. Rowling, WBUR radio interview, 1999

Harry Potter. These are two words that every child, teenager and adult recognises, regardless of whether they have read it or not. This book has reached such epic proportions of success, fame and recognisability that one can’t mention the book without immediately having a dozen connotations added to its usage. If we look at it through the kaleidoscope of time, it appears to have all the makings of a 90s pop fiction novel — mystique, thriller, romance, maturity and the issue of mortality dominate the series.

Harry shaped the emotion and psychological lives of an entire generation of children, from the first instalment on 30th June 1997 to the last instalment on 21st July 2007. What’s really fascinating is that as one grows older, the way one interprets and relates to the events in the books alters. For example, many critics now feel that the Harry Potter series is too dark and contains unsuitable content for young preteens and teenagers. They worry that the books encourage an unhealthy and dangerous interest in the occult. The Catholic writer Michael O’Brien has complained that “Rowling’s wizard world is gnostic in essence and practice, neutralizes the sacred and displaces it by normalizing what is profoundly abnormal and destructive in the real world.”

On the other hand, some critics have become so fascinated with portrayal of themes such as death, that they think it almost compulsory for young adults to read this and form their own opinions. John Granger, author of Finding God in Harry Potter, argues that the books speak to something deep in the human heart. “All humans naturally resonate with stories that reflect the greatest story ever told, the story of God who became man,” He believes that the Harry Potter novels “touch our hearts because they contain themes, imagery and engaging stories that reflect the Great Story we are wired to receive and respond to.” It doesn’t matter what side people choose to take, the fact that Rowling deals with something as dark as death in such a beautiful way is undisputable. So much so that even young children who do read Harry Potter find it riveting to say the least — they just can’t put it down.

Harry Potter is close to my heart because this is a story which revolves around the kind of choice that every individual must make. To be on the side of life rather than death; and which understands that the seeming triumph of the evil one must in the end be endured in love and obedience, and cannot be dismissed as a neo pagan rave-up.