The Mythic Hero, Harry Potter, and Ender Wiggin

[Steve]

Attached is a link to an essay about Ender Wiggin of 
"Ender's Game" fame. It talks about how the author Orson
Scott Card has created a Heroic Monomyth in the Ender 
saga. 

http://www.starshineandshadows.com/essays/2004-03-15.html

"Myth is as real as human concerns are real. It is when 
we lose our ability to feel the mythic that we lose 
contact with that which is most basically and universally 
human. In a real sense a society loses its soul when it
can no longer experience myth." 
(essay quoting from Leeming, David Adams. 
Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero).

I think you will find great parallels between Ender and
Harry. I have always said that a great part of the reason
that Harry Potter is so universally loved, is that the 
story touches us deep down at some universal 'mythical' 
level. In a sense, JKR hasn't simply told Harry's story,
she has told /everyman's/ story (every woman's too); the
core universal story that is at the heart of our meaning
and existance.

Referencing Leeming quote above, when we read Harry, 
Ender, or Bean we are experiencing myth. Not reading it, 
but experiencing it. To be able to do this, is to have a 
soul, to experience, to understand, to empathized, deep 
in our hearts what the character experiences. It goes 
beyond a technically well written story, because, quite 
frankly, many /technical/ stories are dry as toast. 

Every great work of literature touches us on this deeper
level. It creates its own mythology. Can anyone doubt that
Harry Potter has done this? For those who have wandered 
through the Enderverse, can you deny that the myth and 
legends of Ender and Bean do not live in your hearts? 

Notice that Ender fans speak of the Enderverse just as 
Harry Potter fans speak of the Potterverse, you know 
you've touch on something important when an author has 
not only created a story, but has created the very real 
preception of a 'universe'. 

For those who don't know, Ender and Bean are characters
from the book... 

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Bean's unique and touching story is told in the separate... 

Ender's Shadow series

Each series includes the original plus three additional
books. All eight books are a captivating stories of true
mythic-proportion heroes. There is an additonal book called
'First Meetings' that fills in some of the backstory on 
Ender and his family. 


For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn