The Magical Attraction of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

Precisely at 9:00 a.m., my downstairs doorbell rang, and upon looking out the window, I saw it was the mail truck, but funny, I couldn't imagine what was being delivered to me as I wasn't expecting anything, at least not on that day, Saturday, July 21st. After ringing the bell to let the mailman inside my apartment building, the mailman presented me with a package. Ah, but it turned out not to be just any package, but the book I had pre-ordered from Amazon. com. It had arrived, and much sooner than I had expected! The package I was holding in my hands had arrived to me the very day of the book's worldwide release.

Like a giddy child at Christmas, I ripped opened the package and slid out the book...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling's last and final book of the magical world she had created and for the past ten years, has entranced millions of readers young and old. While some people have already finished the 759-page book, I'm still reading it, very slowly, as I want to savor every moment of this final entry of Harry Potter's life that many of us have shared all these many years.

I'm by no means a child, but I do love reading children's books, and J.K. Rowling's books have been on the top of my list of books to get absorbed in, more so than mainstream adult books. So I think many of us who have been involved with the Harry Potter books will feel a bit of sadness, now that this is to be the last and final book.

I think it can be safely said, that thanks to Ms. Rowling, a new burst of interest, especially in children, has been created in the art of reading again as nothing like before. There is a wonderful article, dated July 8, 2007, from The Galveston County Daily News, entitled "Harry Potter inspires new readers" by Rhiannon Meyers. In the article she relates of how one boy, Xan Stanley, the same age of eleven as when we are first introduced to Harry Potter, who, while coming from a family of readers, and in which his own mother was a librarian, never took much to reading. Diagnosed with dyslexia, Xan often became discouraged about reading, that is until his mother brought home a copy of the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Then, his whole world opened up for him, and like many children he became entranced by this magical world of wizards and witches, Hogwarts School, muggles, Diagon Alley. As stated in the article, "...Stanley found a kindred spirit - a boy who faced struggles too..."

However, it's not only children like Xan Stanley who have learning disabilities who can relate to Harry Potter's struggles, or perhaps identify with the other main characters. So many children nowadays come from, what could be considered "dysfunctional" family backgrounds. Like Harry Potter, many children may not have been raised in a two parent family background, products of divorce, or raised by other family members, and may never have gotten to know one of their biological parent or both parents. Today's children may have known ridicule while growing up, such as how Harry was ostracized and neglected by the only family his knew, his aunt Petunia, uncle Vern and forever being tormented by his cousin, Dudley. Up until age eleven, Harry was ignored that is, until one glorious night, precisely at the stroke of his eleventh birthday, his whole world changed, and he found out he was special...he was a wizard with magical gifts. Grown-ups too, reading Harry Potter may also relate to J.K. Rowling's books, identifying with Harry their own childhoods...I know I did, as my parents were divorced when I was only a year and a half old, and I never got to know my father, and with this was viewed by my peers at school as being a bit "odd" for at that time, when I was a child, divorce wasn't as commonplace as it is now.

It's not only Harry Potter's character that young and old alike can identify with. Some of us may see just a little of Hermione Granger in ourselves...a character also ridiculed, especially by the "purebloods" like the Malfoy family for not coming from a wizard family but instead from a lowly "mugbloods"--again the theme of being "different". Also, there is Hermione Granger's personality of being an "insufferable" know it all, the child in the class that when a question is asked by a professor, always has her hand up, as she knows the answer...I relate to that, having always been the bookworm with my nose in a book, the epitome of the studious student, so oh, yes, I was the insufferable know it all myself as a child, just as Hermione's character was and therefore, I was often ridiculed and taunted by my peers. Then of course, is Ron Weasley, another character many of us may be able to identify with as he came from a family background that while from a wizarding family, were outcasts due to their poor financial status. How many of us have been taunted by the fact, that maybe our own family background wasn't exactly in the money so to say and had to do with less than our childhood friends around us who came from financial backgrounds that were better than ours. All in all, it could be said that each one of the main characters, has some personality characteristics that we can all relate to.

There is one area I would like to briefly touch on however, in relation to the Harry Potter phenomenon, since there are two sides of the issues here in connection with these books. While on the one side, are many people, children and adults alike who have embraced these books with open arms, while the other side, especially fundamentalistic Christian groups have practically have had an outright war against the Harry Potter series of books ever since they came out. Various sectors have literally banned these books from libraries and schools and have prevented their children from reading Harry Potter, claiming that these books are encouraging children to want to take up "witchcraft" and cast spells. It is true that witchcraft does in fact exist, especially for those who follow the Wicca and more pagan paths of religion. However, people such as this only show their ignorance of what true witchcraft means, and instead view all forms of witchcraft as being "evil", this no doubt from erroneous viewpoints not only perpetuated by Christianity itself, but by media hype that still show those who follow the Wiccan/pagan path as being in league with the Devil and Satan, so far from the actual truth.

I think today's children have a better sense of understanding and sophistication of what is real and what is not. J.K. Rowling's books are pure entertainment, nothing more. They are not books that will convert the masses to suddenly take up witchcraft. Also, if any of these groups which are so antagonistic to the Harry Potter books did just a little bit of reading themselves, they would realize that many of the concepts brought forth in her books, are steeped heavily with Celtic folklore and legend, just as J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings are also based on not only Celtic, but Nordic mythologies and legends. As an example, in Harry Potter, we have that famous "Grim", that black dog that strikes terror even in the wizard world, for it is bearer and bringer of death. This is right out of Celtic folklore, for it is even considered an ill omen today, in Britain to see a black dog, as opposed to say American culture that views a black cat as evil or unlucky. The point I'm making here, is that, with just a little reading those who condemn Rowling's books would see that her basis for many of her ideas are based on old time legends themselves. It is therefore, ludicrous to think that these groups would actually view her books as promoting an interest in children to become witches. You might as well say, that if a child read a simple book like Peter Pan would suddenly take it in their heads to want to fly.

Many of us, whether young or old who have been following the Harry Potter books, are probably wondering what is next in line for Ms. Rowling, as I don't think any of us can imagine that her writing days are over--no author who has been writing for any length of time can just suddenly give up on the craft of writing, as it is too ingrained in a writer's personality. Who knows? Perhaps, Ms. Rowling just might come up with another "magical" series of books that will enchant us just as these books have. I for one hope so.