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Hero For Christ

Harry Potter: A Philosophical Review



by Christopher Sunami, Columbus Philosopher, 12/26/07

Author J.K. Rowling offers a deceptively complex look at children's fantasy in her wildly-popular seven volume series, "Harry Potter." While the early volumes of the series seem to buy heavily into notions of fate and destiny, the later volumes reveal that the series's true bias is in the opposite direction. In a sense, Rowling has her cake and eats it too, in that she capitalizes on the power of fantasy tropes such as the "fatal prophesy"; and archetypes such as the "wise old mentor" and the "evil villain"; yet deconstructs such notions at the same time.

Thus, on the surface, the books are filled with the machinations of fate. Harry is a prophesied child of destiny, who is "sorted" into his school's house of heroes, while his enemies are sorted into the house of villains. Blood is of paramount importance, with some people born to be wizards and others born to be ordinary "Muggles." Similarly, some people are born into "good" families, and others into families that are "evil." At a larger level, as is common for fantasy worlds, there also exist entire species that are coded into predetermined roles --the servile house-elves, the evil werewolves, the dumb brutal giants, and so forth.

At a deeper level, however, each of these notions is challenged or subverted by the author. Harry learns that his fatal prophesy may or may not refer to him at all. His selection by the House of Gryffindor rather than the House of Slytherin is revealed to be dependent on his own personal choices. Wizards are born into Muggle families and vice-versa, heroes are born into families of villains, and heroic behavior is found in the House of Slytherin as well as in the House of Gryffindor. In addition, Rowling turns house-elves into leaders, and werewolves and giants into heroes. Over and over again, the repeated message is that everything depends on individual human (or non-human) choice and free-will.

Another notable fact about the books is their determinedly secular nature. This is less a function of their embrace of the occult, and more a result of the series' heavy emphasis on the afterlife, without any mention of God, heaven or hell. Moreover, the characters neither pray nor attend church, and while Christmas is central to many of the books, it plays a role entirely divorced from its religious meaning. (This seems common in British children's fantasy --see "The Dark Is Rising", "The Box of Delights" and even "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" for other examples.)

At a less literal level, the characters of Dumbledore and Voldemorte, who seem through much of the series to be stand-ins for God and the devil (as representatives of absolute good and absolute evil, respectively), are eventually revealed to both be resolutely human.

In the end (and contrary to popular belief) I would say there is nothing in Harry Potter that is inimical to religion --but that there is nothing it it that is particularly supportive of religion either.

See Also:

  1. Pop+Philosophy
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