Re: Harry Potter–A Worthwhile series??

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 33638

In HPforGrownups at y..., "kimballs6" <kevinkimball at h...> wrote:
>  After reading the first book in the Potter 
> series, reading The Hobbit, and brushing up on The Lion, the 
> Witch and the Wardrobe, I see a tremendous gulf between 
> Rowling and the other two writers.  
<snip>
> 
> Finally, concerning the adult world, or those who would be in 
> authority, there is only derision. <snip examples>  When 
presenting the adult human 
> world, Ms. Rowling presents it in such a ridiculously negative 
> light that it becomes completely unrealistic and even offensive.  
> All adults are foolish, bungling, stupid and boringly 
> unimaginative.  Why would a child ever look up to them or need 
> them in any way?
  
I think you might have picked a  more comparable Narnia book to 
brush up on. The Harry Potter series is a romance of the "child 
exile" genre. The story begins when the child is deprived of his or 
her (awkward, isn't it?) parents and cast out of h.o.h. rightful 
place. It ends when the child has been restored to h.o.h.  
inheritance and rightful place in society. In contrast, The Hobbit 
begins with Bilbo Baggins enjoying a quiet, settled life in the 
Shire. Lewis's Pevensey children do live in unsettled times, but 
they have the care and protection of their parents. In both these 
stories the protagonists are sent into danger in order to learn 
something they can not learn while they are safe and protected: 
that there are more important things than being well-off and 
comfortable. Harry Potter's story begins in a much different 
situation and therefore his quest has a different purpose.

If you want to compare the treatment of adults in Lewis and 
Rowling, a better choice might be The Silver Chair, which is also 
a child exile story. Jill and Eustace begin the book in a miserable 
situation. They are bullied unmercifully, like Harry at the 
Dursleys, and the adults around them are no help. In both 
books, the protagonists escape their initial plight only to find 
themselves in a still more dangerous world, but one in which  
they discover they can resist evil, provided they make the right 
choices. Those choices are not presented as unambiguous 
absolutes.

Aslan  warns Jill: "Here on the mountain I have spoken clearly: I 
will not often do so down in Narnia."   Even in Narnia, good and 
evil aren't always easily distinguished and rules may sometimes 
need breaking. The kids find Narnia in the charge of Trumpkin 
the Dwarf, whose major fault is that "You could never make him 
see that this might be the time for making an exception to the 
rule." They have to sneak off without his permission in order to 
fulfill their quest. All the adults whom Jill and Eustace meet  on 
their quest to find the lost Prince Rilian are  either wicked, 
weak-willed or rather ridiculous.   The children call their helper 
Puddleglum a "wet blanket." The Prince himself is helpless to 
counter the enchantment of the Witch who holds him captive. Not 
until Prince Rilian is freed from enchantment and the quest 
nearly won do we see adults in their proper role.  In Rowling's 
first book also, Dumbledore comes to the rescue  only after 
Harry has found his way to the Stone.

>Difference in character development between Harry, and 
> Edmund and Bilbo:
> 
> At the beginning of Harry Potter, Harry hates his family, 
laughing 
> at their stupidity and dreaming of revenge - "...the largest snake 
> in the place.  It could have wrapped its body twice around 
Uncle 
> Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can...."  Not much 
growth 
> in maturity has occurred between the first chapter and the last 
> paragraph.  When the other `witchlings' feel sorry for Harry as 
he 
> goes back to his nasty family, Harry smiles and says, "They  
> don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home.  I'm going 
> to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer...." 

At the beginning of The Silver Chair, Jill and Eustace hate their 
school. "Look here, Pole, you and I hate this place about as 
much as anybody can hate anything, don't we?" At the end of the 
story they still hate it, and set out to punish their tormentors. They 
are under orders to use only the flats of their swords...ah, but the 
Head and the bullies don't know that, do they? The situations are 
parallel, as you will discover if you read the second HP book.
  
Character development in a child exile story does not require the 
hero to redeem himself or return home less dependent on the 
comforts there. Rather, the character returns with a new power to 
resist evil, but also with the maturity to use that power for justice, 
not revenge. Of course, this distinction is quite lost on the villains 
left behind, who aren't morally capable of discerning it.

MoongirlK wrote: 
 >>I don't believe that Christian (I may be wrong about the 
Judeo portion of it) tradition says that children must obey all adult 
authority regardless of the situation or consequences. <<

In  Judaism, any of the  commandments may be broken in order 
to save  life except the commandments against murder and 
idol-worship. The Jewish tradition calls for the child to honor the 
parent and it places an  obligation on the parent to make this 
possible. Anyone who makes it difficult for someone to obey a 
commandment has sinned, "You shall not place a stumbling 
block before the blind."Lev.19:14. A child may sometimes have to 
defy a parent to do God's will, as the legend of  Abraham 
smashing  his father's idols shows.

Pippin