This piece of literature and cinema may function and as a whimsical jaunt of fluff for the first few installments which really is what gets the kids hooked. But to the older crowd, it is only setting up a good background for bigger issues. Also, this background she creates works extremely well to metaphorically illustrate some of her underlying messages, which I really think is a perfect medium to convey some of these messages that might be less effectively conveyed in a more realistic story. She uses magic as a means to talk about deep mental and ethical issues. However, since this is a 7 volume novel with thousands of pages of text, I won’t be able to give too much of an analysis. However, I can give you a taste of some of the things that stuck out to me as a way of making a case that these books might warrant a second look. There have been lots of criticisms that say that J.K. Rowling’s efforts function only as children’s books, and that her works are unoriginal clichés played out again and again in fairytales. They may be right; however there are some deeper levels that are worth a look.
First of all, the duality of the human condition is put forth literally in the hero Harry Potter, as he has part of Voldemort’s soul (Voldemort being pretty much the embodiment of evil). He also is sharing some of Voldemort’s thoughts, which of coarse are intrinsically evil. This theme of duality is nothing new in the literary world but a very important theme none the less, because we all struggle in different ways with good and evil thoughts inside ourselves. J.K. Rowling puts forth an interesting view point on how to deal with the good and evil thoughts, I might even call it a stoic view. There is an important line where the person instructing Harry (Severus Snape) on how to defend Harry’s mind against this connection between his mind and Voldemort’s. He says to ’empty yourself of emotion’ and not to dwell on sad memories. Stoic ethics are predicated on detaching yourself from that which you cannot control, and almost all emotions stem from things we cannot control (a loss of a loved one, betrayal, fear of the unknown, and even past mistakes) so that we can then make a decision based on reason. We see J.K. Rowling giving instructions on how to defend yourself from evil thoughts that encroach on our mind, and by defending against evil thoughts, the hope is to curtail subsequent evil and undesirable actions. ‘But not everything is only good or evil.’ This is true, however if we do not let emotions guide our minds we will transcend our human weaknesses and can make just and rational decisions, or so say the Stoics. You might say ‘You cited 2000 year old philosophical teachings, if we have always known that “fear is the path of the dark side?” why do we need to hear it again?’ Another pillar of philosophy is the idea of continuous self-evaluation and continuous self-improvement, essentially saying we need to continually hammer away at our shortcomings and that is what J.K. Rowling is doing here.
J.K. Rowling also talks about mentally guarding yourself against evil thoughts in other places in the book as well. Like I said earlier, magic has limitless possibilities of how to metaphorically illustrate an idea that might be a little harder to demonstrate inside the bounds of normal life. We see the representation of depression in what she calls the ‘Dementors’, things that suck all happiness out of you, they literally force you to think of your most tragic and horrible memories. Again she gives us instruction on how to fight it; by holding onto our happiest thoughts. By training your mind to block out the destructive and saddening thoughts that depression (Dementors) can bring on and only dwell on that which makes us ‘most happy’.
Again, I am just outlining a couple of things that are outlined in Harry Potter, and some things that I wouldn’t call childish clichés. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Are there other important metaphors that you want to mention? Do you think that Harry Potter is a piece of fluff unworthy of your time? Let me know.
-by Jim deVries
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