Why do you like Harry Potter?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 85533

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "gmail11220" <grossl at k...> 
wrote:
> I am a senior at Kenyon College and I am doing a research paper for 
my
> senior project on the role of fantasy and magic in our society. I am
> sure this question has come up many, many times. I am new to this
> group so I do not know what has been said. Why do you like the Harry
> Potter Books? I have read all the books myself but I am interested 
in
> what other people think. This would greatly help my project. Thank
> you.

Geoff:
I repeat below part of a post I wrote on 10/08/03 which in part was 
comparing other children's and fantasy literature such as Tolkien. I 
have edited the comments slightly to remove some of the comparative 
remarks.

If you want to read my full comments, it was message 76390 - or you 
could email me direct.

For a while I allowed myself to be swayed by members of my church who
said that HP was bad and taught children all the wrong things. I
finally met up with Harry last November when my wife and I and a
friend with whom we were staying found ourselves at a loose end and
went to the cinema in Barry (near Cardiff for non-UK readers) and saw
COS. Very soon after, I watched PS on Sky Box Office and was greatly
impressed to the end that I bought the then four books in short order
and read them. I am now going through these four for the fifth time
(now entering GOF) and have read OOTP three times. (Currently seventh 
time at 20/11/03!!)

I have gained more enjoyment out of the Potter books than any other
juvenile fiction I have read. I think the way in which the books grow
darker and tackle deeper problems (such as gratuitous killing in GOF)
is a tribute to the writer's skill. If we are seeing it from Hary's
POV, PS shows us a naive, gauche boy taking rentative steps into a
strange, exciting and unsettling new world. We see him growing in
confidence (sometimes unfounded!) and experience and the latest books
are now tackling themes which would not be out of place in fiction
written specifically for adults.

Frankly, I would rather read something like the books I have
mentioned or watch things like Star Trek than get involved in themes
which mirror real life - family rows, affairs, terrorist violence
etc. Escapist maybe, but the volume of traffic on this site shows
that many of us can not only enjoy this material but let our own
imaginations speculate how we might write the next book or how we
would the characters to develop; we may disagree politely with each
other over who is going to betray whom whether Petunia is a closet
witch but it is all very stimulating stuff whether there are split
infinitives or not. 

Geoff