Why Do You Read the HP Books?

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 142837

ibchawz wrote:
> I have seen criticism of Harry Potter's character and moral fiber.  
> Comments I have seen include him being arrogant, lazy, rebellious, 
> amoral, immoral, plagiaristic, disrespectful, incompetent, etc.  If 
> Harry, as the main character, is really this bad a person, why do you 
> read the books?

Bart:

I am going to assume by your post that you're an American. This is 
because, in the last 60 years or so, American schools have taught a very 
skewed idea of what a hero is, or at least have gone off the deep end 
from the more classical definition. In America, a hero is supposed to be 
someone without any flaws who does great things. The result of this is 
that there are no heroes, as everybody has SOME flaws. It has resulted 
in a mad search for flaws in people we think of as heroes, as if the 
flaws somehow negate what they do.

Yet, classically, heroes can be highly flawed. It is that they do great 
things IN SPITE of those flaws that make them heroes. And the Harry 
Potter novels is about a hero in progress. It shows how he goes through 
the trials and tribulations, how he makes mistakes and learns from them, 
but moves towards great things.

It's been said that the novels have a great deal of breadth, but not a 
lot of depth. They are in an incredibly detailed world, but most of the 
characters lack complexity; they have quirks which stand in for 
personality. But still, reading the novels is very much like playing a 
game; each novel has a mystery, which is solved by the time you have 
finished the novel. But there are a number of series-wide mysteries, 
and, as we read the books, we learn the rules, and can play the game.

And the game is fun.

	Bart