The Magic Within, WAS: Harry Potter as a "Classic" Series

[Katie]

No: HPFGUIDX 172527

 "Katie" <anigrrrl2@> wrote:

> >SNIPPAGE>>> 
> > These are classic books, on the level of LotR and Narnia. At 
least 
> > to me. This is a classic story, and she stuck to the appropriate 
> > happy ending. 

> > Of course the book wasn't perfect. No book is. But she has 
brought 
> > magic back into my life, and made me remember the best of myself 
at 
> > moments when that seemed unlikely, and these books hold a lot 
more 
> > whimsy AND profundity than most adult novels I can think of. 

>>>SNIPPAGE>>>

> Claire:
> Katie, I completely agree with you.  They are classics, and the 
fact 
> they are, perhaps, flawed does not detract from that at all, not 
for 
> me at least.  They are full of magic and not just the kind where 
you 
> wave a wand or speak a spell to make things happen.  They're magic 
> because they transport the reader out of her mundane, Muggle life 
> into an emotional realm that makes things possible.  They 
entertain, 
> instruct, touch each one of us in different ways.  And they have 
> brought a disparate group of people together, adults, discussing 
> passionately a group of "children's" books.  If that's not magic, I 
> don't know what is.
>
*****Katie replies:*****

I was trying to explain that very point to my husband the other day. 
He is not a Potter fan and also not a big reader, in general. We 
actually had an argument, because he felt I was "obsessing" over the 
release of the book. I was trying to explain the transportive power 
of the books and also the feeling of community amongst the fans. You 
managed to put it into words better than I could have.

There really is something remarkably unique about the magic in these 
books. It is both literal and philosophical. While I love the wands 
and the spells, the potions and the brooms...I love the philosophy 
that the most fundamental and powerful form of magic is love. We see 
this, of course, with Lily's sacrifice...but also the love of the 
Weasleys for each other and for Harry, the love of Dumbledore for 
Harry(though many will dispute that, I am sure), and finally, the 
love Harry has for his friends and his willingness to die for 
them...that truly is magical. 

I know some feel like JKR missed the mark with some of the morality 
in HBP and DH, but I disagree. She showed us that the MOST loving 
people can be fallible, wrong, and make bad choices, but be redeemed 
by their friends, family, and by their own choices. This is a 
fundamental lesson for all of us, not only children. I do not want my 
children (ages 4 and 2) to think of the world as a black and white 
place, where there are good people and bad people. Everyone has light 
and dark, everyone makes bad choices and can be selfish, but still be 
good and loving people. I think we don't see fallible heroes enough, 
in children's OR adult literature. "The world is not divided into 
good people and Death Eaters."

And these basic themes of, for lack of a better phrase, "the magic 
within", this is what makes the series a classic. Not only the 
creation of a whole new world, but the classic and fundamental 
questions of human existence. Good versus evil, love versus hate, and 
what makes us human...these are JKR's themes, and she tackles them 
with levity, wisdom, and complexity. Truly, Harry is forever. Katie