The Swish and Flick of a Pen
How J.K. Rowling used her own struggles to create a world of magic.
You would be hard-pressed to find someone who has never heard of Harry Potter. The famous boy-wizard and his exploits are popular among readers of all ages. Even those who have never read a Harry Potter book know all about him. It’s almost impossible not to, since the Harry Potter franchise consists not only of the books, but of equally popular movies and a Universal theme park.
With such wild success, many people wonder what it is about the series that makes it so popular. I personally believe that the reason Harry Potter the series is so popular is because Harry Potter the boy is so relatable. Yes, the Harry Potter series is full of magic and other fantastical elements, but it is also the story of a teenager who is in over his head and just keeps pretending everything is fine.
So, how did J.K. Rowling make books about magic relatable? She based Harry’s struggles on her own.
The Hero’s Journey consists of eight components: the call to adventure, supernatural aid, crossing the threshold, challenges and temptations, the abyss, transformation, atonement, and return. Harry Potter is a hero with a Hero’s Journey, but he’s not the hero I want to talk about. J.K. Rowling is.
The Hero’s Journey begins with the call to adventure. In the case of J.K. Rowling, I would say that the famous author’s call to adventure would be when she discovered her love of writing, for if Rowling did not love writing, she would have never written Harry Potter.
The Hero’s Journey also contains a refusal of the call. J. K. Rowling went to school to be a teacher, not a writer, because no one ever makes money by writing, right? (Wrong. Today, J.K. Rowling is worth 650 million pounds. In US dollars, J.K. Rowling is worth over $850 million.)
Because the beloved author is a real person, it is highly unlikely that a god or a witch gave her supernatural aid at any point in her life. Events like that only happen in stories like Harry Potter. In Rowling’s journey, her supernatural aid is actually natural ability; that is, the writing talent that she was born with.
Rowling crossed the threshold into the unknown when she first had the idea of a wizard school and a boy wizard named Harry Potter. She had this idea while traveling to London on a train in 1990.
Her journey has been full of challenges, such as being rejected by several publishers, divorce, single parenthood, financial struggles, and depression. Rowling’s depression has played a large role in her journey, even inspiring the soul-sucking creatures called the dementors that made their first appearance in Rowling’s third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. At one point, Rowling was on Welfare. She described herself as being “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.”
Rowling hit rock bottom after her divorce, contemplating suicide. This is her abyss.
Her transformation, which in her case is her recovery, came about while she was seeking professional help.
Her atonement would be finishing the road to recovery and freedom from her depression.
The return is when she finishes the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, because her journey has come full circle. She loved books as a girl, and now through her books she has provided a way for readers to enter this beautiful world of magic that she created. The Harry Potter series is one of the best selling book series of all time and many readers claim it as their favorite. I am one of those readers. J.K. Rowling has transformed the world through her books.
Rowling has also used the wealth from her books to make positive changes in the world. She founded the charity Lumos(the name referring to a spell in Harry Potter that creates light in the darkness), which seeks to end the institutionalization of children who are orphans or whose parents cannot afford to take care of them. She is the president of the charity Gingerbread, which provides assistance to single parents. She has also donated money to support multiple sclerosis research, so much so that the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University was renamed the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic in honor of her mother who died of multiple sclerosis.
Her books teach many valuable lessons, both positive and negative. The media can’t always be trusted to tell the truth. Those in charge do not always have your best interests in mind. Love conquers all. And of course, the ones who love us never really leave us, for they will always be with us in our hearts.
She shaped my childhood with her books, and she inspires me to this day.