Harry Potter’s main claim to fame is not so much for what he’s done, but having been a kid who survived. So why is Harry a celebrity among wizard-folk?
SIMPLE: HE’S A glory hog who unfairly receives credit for the accomplishments of others and who skates through school by taking advantage of his inherited wealth and his establishment connections. Harry Potter is no braver than his best friend, Ron Weasley, just richer and better-connected. Harry’s other good friend, Hermione Granger, is smarter and a better student. The one thing Harry excels at is the sport of Quidditch, and his pampered-jock status allows him to slide in his studies, as long as he brings the school glory on the playing field. But as Charles Barkley long ago noted, being a good athlete doesn’t make you a role model.
Sort of amusing tongue-in-cheek indictment of the whole Rowlings wizard world.
(via Randy)
Gee, I must be misreading the books, I thought Harry was given opportunities to be all those things, and fought very hard not to slide into the easy path of money and priviledge…
Guess this means I will just have to study those books again…
Hey wait!!! Isn’t there an excellant study aide, just around the corner?
Thanks to Liz, you know where I will be on the 15th.
Now… gotta figure out what kind of ‘costume’ I can mock up to amuse Fiona… Hmmm….
okay, I’m getting lonely here – nobody has anything else to say on the subject of potter?
*…sound of crickets in the high lonesome…*
Ok, I’ll bite.
Potter can be read as a simplistic adventure yarn in the best tradition of “kid to whom things happen”. The KTWTH is often equipped with a background that others do not share, as a backstory nod to why things typically end up on his/her doorstep instead of some other nameless protagonist.
Nancy Drew had a father in the detective business and waaaaay too much curiousity for one girl. Tom Swift (Senior or Junior) had a mind and fortune to spend. Tarzan had improbable breaks. Lamont Cranston had impossible origins and unlimited wealth. Clark Savage Jr. had an entire frelling foundation put together his life from childhood to turn him into a trouble magnet.
The point is: all of these folk were author-manipulated more or less adroitly to be larger than life. Potter isn’t special or unlikely in this regard. The pulp hero (and that’s really what Harry is) has always had a bit of a golly-simplistic backstory. I really like the stories.
The griping about Harry seems to parallel Professor Snape’s voice in the books. 🙂 Perhaps demonstrating the author’s knowledgable aside about the archetype she builds.
All that being said, here’s what bothers me about Harry Potter: the author.
Does Rowling respect the pulp philosophy? I’m not sure she does, thought her writing says she understands the pulp characters.
Is she aware of that good is more powerful than evil? She seems to through Lily, Harry’s mother, or Dumbledore, Harry’s mentor, but there are increasing signs that she does not understand that young pulp heroes must see evil clearly, must take consequences on themselves before others who might be harmed. And the terrible consequences of Evil are never stronger than a determined hero.
Frankly, in the more recent works, Evil is getting away with murder– even as Harry’s heroic qualities become more refined.
The author has written work that is darker than most children’s fare. Love, caring, nobility and all sorts of really important sacrifices get ground up in the gears of murder, idiocy, craven values, theft, betrayal, and very lame governmental mismanagement.
I think the stories are way too adult for the audience that is reading them.
Maybe the whole world is too adult these days.
Oh, no…
“Potter Does Piccadilly”
I’ve read all five books. I read them all before I let my daughter start. I read her the first one out loud. The second book she just finished last month. She’s seven.
The books are dark, to say the least. I read them as a mother, and cry for Harry. The only characters I really identify with are Dumbledore, McGonagal, Lily, and Hermione. For Fiona, I think it’s all about Hermione’s story. She talks to me more about what Hermione is doing, or how stupid Ron is for how he treats Hermione, and then about Dobby. Dobby she is keen on. She keeps quoting Dobby right out of the books. I hope they end this second movie appropriately and let Dobby have his moment.
I do not think the books are too dark for Fiona. None the less, I’ve only let her get up to number two – maybe she’ll read three next summer, but no rush since they’re delaying that movie so it doesn’t conflict with Matrix. Now, I think that’ll be the last movie, myself, and I also don’t think there is a change she’s going to be able to produce all seven of these books. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I’m wrong.
The fourth book I’d like to put off until she’s ten. With the movie schedule I should be able to do that. I think she’ll be able to handle it by then, although it will still be scary. I found it scary.
Fiona may not be typical. She read Coraline this summer to no ill effect. But I’m also okay with her reading books written for adults. I was reading Updike when I was ten, and I’m not too twisted for it.
Did I say five books? I meant four books. (Shakes head to clear cobwebs.)
I’ve got to go with Jenn on this. Harry has resited the urges of money and priviledge admirably. The only splurge that HP has allowed himself is buying “the lot” of candy on the train to Hogwarts. He didn’t buy himself new clothing or glasses with his inheritance. He didn’t buy himself a new broom. He’s very frugal with his money. In the fourth book this is actually brought up while he’s staying with the Wheazlies.
As a parent, I think the books can get a little dark, but this few moments are made up for by the moral(s) of the story: overcoming adversity, friendship, pursuit of truth, a sense of team.
I am quite anxious to see how she concludes all of this. And I hope she can.
I am not as concerned as Arref that she maintain a style type, so much as I am concerned that she may lose consistancy.
The fact that she is behind in her latest installment seems to indicate that she, unlike her Harry, may be having a bit of a problem in putting aside worldly issues.
As a big fan of all the standard classics for children’s literature, Asimov, Bradbury, L’Engle, Lewis, Tolkein, etc… all of whom I had read before I was thirteen, I think she can do it.