Megan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
themegaloo) wrote2005-03-07 03:13 pm
themegaloo) wrote2005-03-07 03:13 pm
ROFL.
Okay, so, I had a BUNCH of shit I was supposed to do today, right? Namely- two inksheds, two books read, a traditional essay, and an essay test. *cough* They didn't all happen. Namely, the one book and the test over it.
My history class has this policy where you can miss a test and then take a make up on the last day of class. Well, you have to actually MISS THE TEST. So Bucky and I stood up and left. We're both 1906 scholars. We're supposed to be the ones that do all our work ahead of time and make all A's and stuff.
We were the only people that did that. We just weren't prepared for it, and if you mess it up, you can't retake it. I'd rather be prepared and get a good grade.
Sadly enough- I am amused.
Oh, here's my paper on Harry Potter, since I DID actually do and finish that.
The widely popular Harry Potter book series has inspired children all over the world to read, but it has also created a huge controversy. After all, we want our kids to read, but do we want them reading something that several religious authorities have dubbed as ‘evil’? In the end, the decision is based entirely upon how accurate this label truly is.
First off, what is it about the series that could possibly warrant such a title? It’s your typical battle of good and evil, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books that focus on this very point. I suppose possibly the best known of these would in fact be the bible. So what is the problem? What makes Harry Potter so different?
One possibility is the overwhelming prevalence of magic. Most fantasy novels focus on this element to some extent, but few revolve around it like Harry Potter does. Magic, in the Harry Potter universe, is not evil. In fact, it’s a fairly neutral party to the battles, but it can be used to either end. Some spells, however, are very seldom used for good, and in fact, little good can be seen in them. For example, the curse that killed infant Harry’s parents, this is a curse that very few wizards can actually cast. Professor Moody states in reference to the Killing Curse that “You could all get your wands out and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn’t matter. I’m not here to teach you how to do it” (Goblet of Fire, 217). So it’s not just the magic. Another similar spell is the Cruciatus curse, which causes the victim intense pain. It’s clearly seen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that this curse, when cast without the required element of hate, is not at all successful.
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed “Crucio!”
Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with as Neville had” (810).
There are a total of three such spells in the wizarding world, and they have been aptly named the ‘Unforgivable Curses’. These are spells that when cast (and caught), the caster is automatically given a sentence to Azkaban- the wizard’s prison.
Yet regardless of how magic is used within the books, the very word makes many conservative-minded Christians instantly think of the old pagan religions- despite the obvious difference, even in spelling. For example, the old religions of England (those of Morgaine le Fey and Avalon) were very much focused on the land, on sacred rites, and on traditions. Today, it is a religion heavily focused on nature. Not on waving wands and making miraculous things happen. But their ‘magick’ still strikes fear into the hearts of many.
While such religions may induce the most fear, they are hardly the only ones referenced. Another strong allusion in the series that cannot be denied is a constant reference to mythology, particularly in the magical beasts. Very few of the creatures described are new creations, with the notable exception of the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Goblet of Fire. Rowling does an excellent job of incorporating Greek, Roman, Celtic, Egyptian, and various other myths into her stories. It gives it a touch of realism, as though this fantasy could be a part of our lives that we just didn’t know about. However, telling the story through Harry’s point of view, being a new comer to the wizarding world, allows her to keep a touch of fantasy and amazement. This combination of myths has led to the publication of several books containing research on the different aspects of the books. One, The Sorcerer’s Companion, asks “Did you know that wizards were once thought to fly on pitchforks, arithmancy is an ancient form of fortune-telling, and the hippogriff was first mounted by the legendary knights of Charlemagne? Or that Professor Dumbledore’s friend Nicholas Flamel, creator of the Sorcerer’s Stone, was a real person?” (xiii). It devotes a chapter to each of these and the numerous other allusions contained within the books.
What it boils down to is that several Christian groups are fearful of the effect of these ideas- almost a promotion of the old religions. Perhaps this simple series seems to them to be a threat to the continuation of the Christian faith. America is a country based on religious freedom, so there is the grain of possibility, but these are religions that have never held any sort of majority. There is always the slight possibility that children, upon reading such a marvelous book, will want to know about the ‘real’ equivalent. In fact, that’s a fairly common occurrence. I personally researched the Wicca just after finishing the fourth book; however, I kept faith in my Catholicism. Faith, according to most Christian dogma, is tested everyday. If such faith can be shaken by a fantasy book, it probably was not strong enough to begin with.
One of the results of the controversy is that the books have been banned in several schools in the United States, both public and private. Goodbye, Harry Potter; hello, Guy Montag. Banning a book from schools is only the first step to the controlled world of Montag in Fahrenheit 451. The main arguments are based on religion, and yet the separation of church and state has always been an integral part of the functioning of our government. If prayer can be banned, then books can be allowed. Even if there was a solid foundation for the case of Harry Potter as being evil, then this principle is still being blatantly defied.
And yet, what is it about Harry Potter in particular that is so threatening? There is another series of books by an author named Phillip Pullman that is also found in the children’s section of any book store. This series, His Dark Materials, also has strong ties to reality but with a touch of fantasy. However, in this tale, the church is evil and corrupt, God is not the creator, but simply took the credit for it. Metatron is downright evil, and there’s a pair of homosexual angels that help the two main characters in their war against Heaven. This sounds just a bit more controversial that the story of The Boy Who Convinced Children to Read. So why is Harry Potter banned while His Dark Materials sits serenely untouched on the shelves? It’s because Harry Potter is a commonly read book, very few people have ever even heard of His Dark Materials. Apparently it’s not a problem until it’s wide spread. Other books have simply employed fantasy in the past as well. Look at J.R.R. Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings, but once again, it is not the source of controversy, even though it’s also widely read.
“So why does Frodo get a pass while Harry is demonized? Perhaps it is because Tolkien is a safe, dead, white male who taught at Oxford and helped C.S. Lewis become a Christian. He is one of us. Whereas Rowling is a divorced mother who only mentioned she was some kind of Christian when Christians starting attacking her” (Maudlin).
Maudlin makes a valid point; Rowling does not adhere to what is thought of a good, upstanding Christian. The seed of doubt is sown. And thus, Rowling faces the firing squad from the top of the New York Times best sellers list while others do not.
J.K. Rowling is not the only person that faces the firing squad about her books though. Fans are often asked, particularly in the area known as the ‘Bible Belt’ to explain why they’re reading a ‘Satanic book’. Personally, I’ve been a huge fan of the series since the eighth grade. So in high school, I had a Harry Potter lunch box. One day, during my sophomore year, my lunchbox ended up in the trash can. Throwing away a lunchbox is a bit overboard in my opinion, especially since it was a perfectly good lunchbox that had done nothing to offend anyone and it was subjected to the horrors of a trashcan. IT’S A LUNCHBOX. But that’s not all that can happen. One day, that same year, I was sitting peacefully in my Algebra 2 class with my lunchbox- which seemed to cause a lot of problems for an innocent item- and the entire class, well, minus one, attacks me for reading Harry Potter. Every one of them knew me already and knew that I was a perfectly devout Catholic (which may have added fuel to the fire because in my high school it seemed that Catholics were separate from the rest of the Christians), and yet they debated with me for the better part of an hour about how wrong it was to read the books. So not only is there a controversy over the books, but it can be blown way out of proportion as well.
What is truly mind-boggling about it all is that out of my Algebra class, only two people had ever read the books, only the one impartial boy and me. This provides a fairly strong case for the idea of ignorance causing fear. It’s very common for people to be afraid of things that they don’t understand, and without ever reading the book, it’s impossible to understand a world like the one J. K. Rowling has created. And maybe that’s exactly what the world is lacking- understanding. And when understanding fails, tolerance.
Almost every aspect of the books can draw a parallel to the real world. For instance, people are often judged on things that have no impact on their character. In our world, the major example would be race. In the wizarding world, it’s based on whether or not your parents and your parents’ parents on back for generations were of wizarding blood. It has no effect on how talented a witch or wizard is, but an enormous effect on first impressions. ‘Muggle-borns’ are often put down just based on the fact that their parents had no wizarding blood. This information is usually easily found, but it’s very difficult to find the race of the characters. Sure, it’s pretty obvious for the main characters, but did you know that Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Dean Thomas are black? There’s about one line in the books that describes each of them as such. Race isn’t a big issue, blood is. Other similar parallels can be seen in characters such as Dobby, the house elf from Chamber of Secrets. He’s forced to work for a pureblood family and punish himself when he disobeys orders. Sounds a bit like slavery. Then there’s the fear of characters like Remus Lupin (Prisoner of Azkaban) who is plagued by lycanthropy. This basically means that he’s a werewolf. Lycanthropy can be transferred, but not in any ordinary means. It has to be a full moon, he has to be transformed, and he has to bite the person he’s infecting. Sounds a bit like AIDS and the paranoia that surrounds those people infected with it. Even deeper into the books is the Ministry of Magic. The Minister is rather useless and he controls the media, printing lies and hiding the truth. He’s the archetypical politician, and he’s obviously corrupt.
Does all of this strike too close to home? Perhaps the problem with Harry Potter is that it is NOT entirely fantasy, the issues are real, but it’s the situations that aren’t. Maybe it’s making people look at the world with slightly different eyes, making them see racism, cruelty, intolerance, and repression in a more simplistic view. Is this children’s book challenging the ways of the world? It sounds a bit far fetched, but thinking that a book with wand waving and hocus-pocus magic is going to convert all the world’s children to Wicca is just as outrageous, if not more so.
My history class has this policy where you can miss a test and then take a make up on the last day of class. Well, you have to actually MISS THE TEST. So Bucky and I stood up and left. We're both 1906 scholars. We're supposed to be the ones that do all our work ahead of time and make all A's and stuff.
We were the only people that did that. We just weren't prepared for it, and if you mess it up, you can't retake it. I'd rather be prepared and get a good grade.
Sadly enough- I am amused.
Oh, here's my paper on Harry Potter, since I DID actually do and finish that.
The widely popular Harry Potter book series has inspired children all over the world to read, but it has also created a huge controversy. After all, we want our kids to read, but do we want them reading something that several religious authorities have dubbed as ‘evil’? In the end, the decision is based entirely upon how accurate this label truly is.
First off, what is it about the series that could possibly warrant such a title? It’s your typical battle of good and evil, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books that focus on this very point. I suppose possibly the best known of these would in fact be the bible. So what is the problem? What makes Harry Potter so different?
One possibility is the overwhelming prevalence of magic. Most fantasy novels focus on this element to some extent, but few revolve around it like Harry Potter does. Magic, in the Harry Potter universe, is not evil. In fact, it’s a fairly neutral party to the battles, but it can be used to either end. Some spells, however, are very seldom used for good, and in fact, little good can be seen in them. For example, the curse that killed infant Harry’s parents, this is a curse that very few wizards can actually cast. Professor Moody states in reference to the Killing Curse that “You could all get your wands out and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn’t matter. I’m not here to teach you how to do it” (Goblet of Fire, 217). So it’s not just the magic. Another similar spell is the Cruciatus curse, which causes the victim intense pain. It’s clearly seen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that this curse, when cast without the required element of hate, is not at all successful.
Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed “Crucio!”
Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with as Neville had” (810).
There are a total of three such spells in the wizarding world, and they have been aptly named the ‘Unforgivable Curses’. These are spells that when cast (and caught), the caster is automatically given a sentence to Azkaban- the wizard’s prison.
Yet regardless of how magic is used within the books, the very word makes many conservative-minded Christians instantly think of the old pagan religions- despite the obvious difference, even in spelling. For example, the old religions of England (those of Morgaine le Fey and Avalon) were very much focused on the land, on sacred rites, and on traditions. Today, it is a religion heavily focused on nature. Not on waving wands and making miraculous things happen. But their ‘magick’ still strikes fear into the hearts of many.
While such religions may induce the most fear, they are hardly the only ones referenced. Another strong allusion in the series that cannot be denied is a constant reference to mythology, particularly in the magical beasts. Very few of the creatures described are new creations, with the notable exception of the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Goblet of Fire. Rowling does an excellent job of incorporating Greek, Roman, Celtic, Egyptian, and various other myths into her stories. It gives it a touch of realism, as though this fantasy could be a part of our lives that we just didn’t know about. However, telling the story through Harry’s point of view, being a new comer to the wizarding world, allows her to keep a touch of fantasy and amazement. This combination of myths has led to the publication of several books containing research on the different aspects of the books. One, The Sorcerer’s Companion, asks “Did you know that wizards were once thought to fly on pitchforks, arithmancy is an ancient form of fortune-telling, and the hippogriff was first mounted by the legendary knights of Charlemagne? Or that Professor Dumbledore’s friend Nicholas Flamel, creator of the Sorcerer’s Stone, was a real person?” (xiii). It devotes a chapter to each of these and the numerous other allusions contained within the books.
What it boils down to is that several Christian groups are fearful of the effect of these ideas- almost a promotion of the old religions. Perhaps this simple series seems to them to be a threat to the continuation of the Christian faith. America is a country based on religious freedom, so there is the grain of possibility, but these are religions that have never held any sort of majority. There is always the slight possibility that children, upon reading such a marvelous book, will want to know about the ‘real’ equivalent. In fact, that’s a fairly common occurrence. I personally researched the Wicca just after finishing the fourth book; however, I kept faith in my Catholicism. Faith, according to most Christian dogma, is tested everyday. If such faith can be shaken by a fantasy book, it probably was not strong enough to begin with.
One of the results of the controversy is that the books have been banned in several schools in the United States, both public and private. Goodbye, Harry Potter; hello, Guy Montag. Banning a book from schools is only the first step to the controlled world of Montag in Fahrenheit 451. The main arguments are based on religion, and yet the separation of church and state has always been an integral part of the functioning of our government. If prayer can be banned, then books can be allowed. Even if there was a solid foundation for the case of Harry Potter as being evil, then this principle is still being blatantly defied.
And yet, what is it about Harry Potter in particular that is so threatening? There is another series of books by an author named Phillip Pullman that is also found in the children’s section of any book store. This series, His Dark Materials, also has strong ties to reality but with a touch of fantasy. However, in this tale, the church is evil and corrupt, God is not the creator, but simply took the credit for it. Metatron is downright evil, and there’s a pair of homosexual angels that help the two main characters in their war against Heaven. This sounds just a bit more controversial that the story of The Boy Who Convinced Children to Read. So why is Harry Potter banned while His Dark Materials sits serenely untouched on the shelves? It’s because Harry Potter is a commonly read book, very few people have ever even heard of His Dark Materials. Apparently it’s not a problem until it’s wide spread. Other books have simply employed fantasy in the past as well. Look at J.R.R. Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings, but once again, it is not the source of controversy, even though it’s also widely read.
“So why does Frodo get a pass while Harry is demonized? Perhaps it is because Tolkien is a safe, dead, white male who taught at Oxford and helped C.S. Lewis become a Christian. He is one of us. Whereas Rowling is a divorced mother who only mentioned she was some kind of Christian when Christians starting attacking her” (Maudlin).
Maudlin makes a valid point; Rowling does not adhere to what is thought of a good, upstanding Christian. The seed of doubt is sown. And thus, Rowling faces the firing squad from the top of the New York Times best sellers list while others do not.
J.K. Rowling is not the only person that faces the firing squad about her books though. Fans are often asked, particularly in the area known as the ‘Bible Belt’ to explain why they’re reading a ‘Satanic book’. Personally, I’ve been a huge fan of the series since the eighth grade. So in high school, I had a Harry Potter lunch box. One day, during my sophomore year, my lunchbox ended up in the trash can. Throwing away a lunchbox is a bit overboard in my opinion, especially since it was a perfectly good lunchbox that had done nothing to offend anyone and it was subjected to the horrors of a trashcan. IT’S A LUNCHBOX. But that’s not all that can happen. One day, that same year, I was sitting peacefully in my Algebra 2 class with my lunchbox- which seemed to cause a lot of problems for an innocent item- and the entire class, well, minus one, attacks me for reading Harry Potter. Every one of them knew me already and knew that I was a perfectly devout Catholic (which may have added fuel to the fire because in my high school it seemed that Catholics were separate from the rest of the Christians), and yet they debated with me for the better part of an hour about how wrong it was to read the books. So not only is there a controversy over the books, but it can be blown way out of proportion as well.
What is truly mind-boggling about it all is that out of my Algebra class, only two people had ever read the books, only the one impartial boy and me. This provides a fairly strong case for the idea of ignorance causing fear. It’s very common for people to be afraid of things that they don’t understand, and without ever reading the book, it’s impossible to understand a world like the one J. K. Rowling has created. And maybe that’s exactly what the world is lacking- understanding. And when understanding fails, tolerance.
Almost every aspect of the books can draw a parallel to the real world. For instance, people are often judged on things that have no impact on their character. In our world, the major example would be race. In the wizarding world, it’s based on whether or not your parents and your parents’ parents on back for generations were of wizarding blood. It has no effect on how talented a witch or wizard is, but an enormous effect on first impressions. ‘Muggle-borns’ are often put down just based on the fact that their parents had no wizarding blood. This information is usually easily found, but it’s very difficult to find the race of the characters. Sure, it’s pretty obvious for the main characters, but did you know that Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Dean Thomas are black? There’s about one line in the books that describes each of them as such. Race isn’t a big issue, blood is. Other similar parallels can be seen in characters such as Dobby, the house elf from Chamber of Secrets. He’s forced to work for a pureblood family and punish himself when he disobeys orders. Sounds a bit like slavery. Then there’s the fear of characters like Remus Lupin (Prisoner of Azkaban) who is plagued by lycanthropy. This basically means that he’s a werewolf. Lycanthropy can be transferred, but not in any ordinary means. It has to be a full moon, he has to be transformed, and he has to bite the person he’s infecting. Sounds a bit like AIDS and the paranoia that surrounds those people infected with it. Even deeper into the books is the Ministry of Magic. The Minister is rather useless and he controls the media, printing lies and hiding the truth. He’s the archetypical politician, and he’s obviously corrupt.
Does all of this strike too close to home? Perhaps the problem with Harry Potter is that it is NOT entirely fantasy, the issues are real, but it’s the situations that aren’t. Maybe it’s making people look at the world with slightly different eyes, making them see racism, cruelty, intolerance, and repression in a more simplistic view. Is this children’s book challenging the ways of the world? It sounds a bit far fetched, but thinking that a book with wand waving and hocus-pocus magic is going to convert all the world’s children to Wicca is just as outrageous, if not more so.