Moral Messages and Hagrid

[Marilyn Peake]

No: HPFGUIDX 128761

Hi, everyone,

I'm new to this group.  Reading through some of the recent posts, I 
was fascinated by the thread about moral messages and Hagrid.  I'd 
like to join the discussion.  What I absolutely love about the Harry 
Potter books is that J.K. Rowling writes them as though the wizard 
and muggle worlds are real, as though Harry Potter is a real boy and 
a real wizard.  For me, this puts Hagrid into context.  He is simply 
a flawed character, like many adults in the real world.  When Hagrid 
was first introduced, I found him unsettling, almost like an 
alcoholic with a bad temper.  But, little by little, we see that 
Hagrid is so much more than his flaws; and that the love he feels for 
Harry, as well as for animals, is what makes him a better person than 
he might otherwise be.  After he gives Dudley a pig's tail, Hagrid 
says, "Shouldn'ta lost me temper ..."  Hagrid has some sense that he 
is flawed.  He is not a great or wise person like Professor 
Dumbledore.  I think that the genius of the Harry Potter books is 
that they do more than simply present good vs. evil in simplistic 
terms to children.  I think that the Harry Potter series presents 
layers of good vs. evil to children, in the way that good and evil 
truly exist in the real world.  Talk about shades of gray!  It isn't 
always the hardworking man in the suburban house (Mr. Dursley, 
described by J.K. Rowling as "... the director of a firm called 
Grunnings") who is good.  It isn't always his dutiful wife who is 
good, either.  On the other hand, evil doesn't always come dressed in 
black cloaks.  Good and evil are more complicated than that.  As 
children read Harry Potter for the adventure and for the fantastical 
elements such as "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters", "Bertie Bott's 
Every Flavor Beans", "Chocolate Frogs", and unicorns, they're 
absorbing the intricacies of real world good and real world evil.

To quickly introduce myself - I'm the author of three children's 
fantasy adventure novels, I have a Master of Arts in Clinical 
Psychology and, prior to becoming a writer, worked as a Staff 
Psychologist.  My web site is: http://www.marilynpeake.com .  When I 
read, I have to admit, I tend to analyze books and characters on a 
psychological level.

Cheers,
Marilyn Peake

~~ Drink deeply by land or sea. Earth comes only once.~~
>From THE FISHERMAN'S SON Trilogy 
http://www.marilynpeake.com
http://www.thefishermansson.com
http://www.thecityofthegoldensun.com