The Role of Religion in the Potterverse

[sartoris22]

No: HPFGUIDX 186216

> No.Limberger:
> > I see no compelling evidence within the Harry Potter novels
> > to support the notion that they were based upon Christianity.
>

Sartoris22:

As I said before, I find it odd that neither the narrator nor a muggle character compares Voldemort to Hitler. However, that omission doesn't stop me from comparing Voldemort to Hitler, just as the omission of specific Christian references doesn't stop me from seeing Harry as a Christ-figure, regardless of the author's intentions. Following reader response theory, every reader essentially rewrites the text. Although an author's intentionality is an interesting debate, and I do believe Rowling intended the Christian allusion, the point is that once something is written, the writer loses control of how that work will be interpreted, or even what a good or valid interpretation, within reason, of the work is. It reminds me of a scene in the film Back to School in which Rodney Dangerfield hires Kurt Vonnegut to write a critical essay on one of Vonnegutt's novels and the teacher says the interpretation is all wrong. No matter what the writer intends, the reader controls interpretation, and sometimes a writer creates allusions in her work of which even she isn't aware, even though, in this case, I think that Rowling was fully aware of the Christian allusions.