To The Victor Go The SPOILERS!!!1!
This post will spoil the ending to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But I think you should have finished it. It’s almost been two weeks and it’s a wicked easy read.
Harry Potter is dead––for some twenty or thirty pages that is––and then he comes back to life in a superior and enlightened form and, because of his self-sacrifice, is able to protect from evil everyone he loves.
Which, although almost surprising, was clearly foreshadowed earlier when we saw somewhat leading grave stone inscriptions: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,” and also, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“Oh,” I thought, “Harry will die. Sacrifice himself. But then come back.” Because, as all of you (except probably Ben and Sam) may know, Jesus already did that.
It really isn’t that shocking. Rowling is brilliant in her literate and functional bricolage of elements as diverse as Magical Realism and the Detective Novel. All while assembling and sticking to one of the most challenging, centered and diverse plot lines I know of. Jesus is better known than either Dupin or Borges or Garcia Marquez.
But it could be somewhat surprising. This is Harry Potter we’re talking about. The secular Humanist anti-Christ. The boy witch who solves all his problems by relying on his own power.
Personally, I think the most interesting thing about the new book is that Rowling’s characters somehow continue to disavow the concept of religion completely while at the same time believing in the concept of an immortal soul and an afterlife. (Maybe I missed something, but those two concepts seem, well, tied together.)
Anyway, that’s how I feel. But you don’t have to take my word for it.
Harry Potter is dead––for some twenty or thirty pages that is––and then he comes back to life in a superior and enlightened form and, because of his self-sacrifice, is able to protect from evil everyone he loves.
Which, although almost surprising, was clearly foreshadowed earlier when we saw somewhat leading grave stone inscriptions: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,” and also, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“Oh,” I thought, “Harry will die. Sacrifice himself. But then come back.” Because, as all of you (except probably Ben and Sam) may know, Jesus already did that.
It really isn’t that shocking. Rowling is brilliant in her literate and functional bricolage of elements as diverse as Magical Realism and the Detective Novel. All while assembling and sticking to one of the most challenging, centered and diverse plot lines I know of. Jesus is better known than either Dupin or Borges or Garcia Marquez.
But it could be somewhat surprising. This is Harry Potter we’re talking about. The secular Humanist anti-Christ. The boy witch who solves all his problems by relying on his own power.
Personally, I think the most interesting thing about the new book is that Rowling’s characters somehow continue to disavow the concept of religion completely while at the same time believing in the concept of an immortal soul and an afterlife. (Maybe I missed something, but those two concepts seem, well, tied together.)
Anyway, that’s how I feel. But you don’t have to take my word for it.
posted by M S Martinez at 8/02/2007 02:45:00 PM
4 Comments:
what do you mean when you say, "Rowling’s characters somehow continue to disavow the concept of religion completely. . . ?"
i think the Harry Potter books are driven by religion, or rather drive their own religion. essentially what Rowling has done is create "a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny" (princeton's def. of religion) for her characters.
why would witches and wizards recognize any real world religion?
I'm not saying that they should recognize real world religion. My point was more that the book takes directly from Christianity, and yet adopts the ideas in a most modern, secular view of religiosity or spirituality (and not religion).
There is no unifying idea or ideal in the Harry Potter world for whether or not there is a supernatural power that controls human destiny. Rowling has had Dumbledore say several times that the prophecy that the book is based around could have meant any number of things, but led to the Potter story because of choices made by the principal characters.
Also, I think that definition of religion is terrible. There are religions that don't believe in supernatural powers or destiny. I side more with the Sociologists on this one that Religion is based on a group that holds similar values about what is sacred and what is profane.
Oh yeah... and to answer your last question. They do celebrate Christmas, Easter and Halloween in Harry Potter. So... they could recognize the origins of those holidays.
some might argue that witches and wizards recognize the origins of those holidays better than christians.
i guess my view of religion is broader than yours, and my definition of supernatural powers also broader. the bond between voldemort and harry seems supernatural to me. hell, the whole wizarding world seems supernatural to me.
even by your own definition i don't think the characters disavow the concept of similar values about what is sacred and profane.
i think the problem here is that religion is difficult to define.
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