Universitality of Harry Potter

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 143701

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Miles" <miles at m...> wrote:
>
> abhikush wrote:
> > I was also wondering
> > if there are other religions in the wizard world besides 
> > Christianity.I would like to know the views of others in the 
> > group.
 
> Miles:
> I think, the answer to this can lead us to a general question. As 
> far as I remember, there is not a single piece of any specific 
> religion mentioned concerning the entire Harry Potter series. We  
> can assume, that there is a more or less Christian background 
> within the British wizard community. But we learn about wizards
> in Uganda, Africa in general and all over the world, so we can 
> assume other religious backgrounds for wizards e.g. in India, 
> Arabia, or Australia. Rowling does not mention the role of religion 
> in wizards' world, but she deals with basic ethical questions, 
> which matter in any religion as well as for atheists, agnostics 
> a.s.o. 

> I do not know whether this undetermined position towards religious 
> aspects is taken intentionally by Rowling. We could discuss this, 
> there are some hints in interviews. But the outcome of this 
> position is a big part of the "mystery" about the world wide 
> success of Harry Potter. You do not need much religious background 
> to understand the questions which are important in the story. It is 
> about good and bad, about love and hatred, about to be true or 
> untruthful, about friendship and care. To understand this, you have 
> to be a human being - not more.

Geoff:
(I have judiciously snipped Miles' interesting observations, mainly 
to shorten the length of the reply post. I hope I haven't removed 
anything germane to my argument).

One or two points about this which come to mind are JKR's comments 
about her faith and cultural considerations.

I believe that she is in an analogous position to JRR Tolkien who 
apparently took a similar undetermined position towards religion 
despite his deep Christian faith. There is a slight difference in that
LOTR was placed historically in a lost pre-Christian age. But if you 
read it, you can see many elements of Christian belief in it as I can 
in the HP books. Some of you will say that these beliefs are 
universal but, speaking personally as an evangelical Christian, I 
would say that these are placed in our conscience by God himself. 
Which is why readers from other faiths and backgrounds can feel that 
they are on familiar (yet strange?) ground.

Miles: 
> There are some cultural details that distinct Harry Potter as an 
> English boy and his sorrounding as British/Irish (the Weasleys are 
> surely from Ireland;) ). I do frown reading about kidney pie, 
> certainly. And a reader from an Islamic country or a Jew may be 
> disgusted at people eating pork. But these details are not decisive 
> for the whole story, they are just folklore. The core of the story 
> is universal.

Geoff:
You may frown about kidney pie or pork but these are not "just 
folklore". Remember that this story is set against the backdrop of a 
British school and British culture. The pupils at Hogwarts are varied 
in their likes and dislikes and are very reminiscent of any 
heterogeneous group from the Home Nations in their attitudes, 
behaviour and habits. BTW, I do not see the Weasleys as Irish. Seamus 
Finnigan is very much the Irishman among them. If I read a story set 
in another culture, I accept the cultural differences for what they 
are although I may hang on to those which parallel by own British 
ideas in order to keep a sense of familiarity.

Miles:
> There is something else making Harry Potter universal: We see Harry 
> entering a new world, which is only slightly similar to the world 
> we all know, and merely on some points connected to it. The 
> wizarding world is new to us - a reader from India would have to 
> explore it only slightly more than a reader from Britain to 
> understand it.

Geoff:
This is true of many stories of adventure and quest. As you suggest, 
the core story of Harry could be that of a growing boy in many other 
lands. It is the juxtapositioning of this with his Englishness that 
makes the story similar to others and yet uniquely fascinating. 
Referring back, this is also true of LOTR, because the relationship 
between Frodo and Sam is very much that of two English people, one 
more middle class than the other reflecting the situation of the 
early 20th century, the time when Tolkien was first working on his 
books.