What's so Great About Harry Potter?

Well, it's here - the homestretch. The long-awaited final installation of the Harry Potter saga is mere weeks away and fans are anticipating it with a mixture of elation and sadness. Elation, of course, because now we finally get to see how it all ends. And sadness because it's ending. We anticipate a tremendous feeling of satisfaction at having completed a wonderful and terrible journey, perhaps one that can be compared to that feeling one gets upon their first completion of Tolkien's Ring Trilogy. We fear disappointment.

The question that this naturally leads to, of course, is, "Why?" What in the world makes a simple story - to be truthful, a story that has been told and retold since the dawn of time - so incredibly compelling? The answers to that can be quite surprising.

For one thing, no matter what the critics say, extreme originality doesn't make for a good story. Readers may get a kick out of an original treatment of a familiar theme, but they still want that familiarity. There is something very King Arthur about Harry Potter. Something very Luke Skywalker. Very Frodo Baggins. There is something about a lonely kid finding his place in the universe that appeals to the lonely kid in everyone. We see Albus Dumbledore as a sort of new Merlin, a new Gandalf, a new Obi-Wan Kinobe. No matter what we say in lofty tones by the bookshelves in public and over a cup of tea, we like stereotypes. Encountering them is like rediscovering a friend we knew in another life.

Rowling accomplishes the same thing in her use of mythical beasts gathered the world over. Anyone who has ever read Bulfinch's take on Greek mythology, or similar texts, may experience a thrill to see the creatures that brought such pleasure to hours spent in literature class coming to life outside the classroom. It is as though seeing such creatures in another context somehow makes them more real, and fills our world with the magic we still crave. On the flip side, we also know that kids who have yet to meet such a creature in a classroom someday will, and will then be transported to memories of pleasant times reading the Harry Potter books. In this way, Rowling weaves as powerful a spell as do any of her (obviously beloved) characters.

But familiarity alone is just one element that must be present in a successful story. The story itself is important. Its fate lies in the skill of the storyteller, and J.K. Rowling is a masterful weaver of tales. She doesn't create the sort of artistic passages that can be found in the pages of a William Faulkner or Edgar Allan Poe story, but she creates good story. Her skill at foreshadowing darkness while using humor is impeccable. If you don't believe me, consider our first encounter with the Weasleys' strange clock. Instead of telling the time, it told the whereabouts and conditions of each member of the family, each of whom had a hand of his or her own, be they at school, at work, at home, traveling to and fro, or in "mortal peril." Given the relative domestic tranquility and comfort of the Weasley home when we first wander inside, that final choice can seem quite comical. However, that initial humor merely darkens the seriousness of later books.

Rowling reveals only what needs to be revealed at any given time, allowing older readers a brief return to childhood as they experience this magical world as Harry does - with a sense of wonder that only an 11-year-old can muster. As time passes, of course, we share Harry's newfound knowledge of the world - disappointment, elation and a deepening sense of how the world works. For myself, there was a sense of gratitude that Rowling could accomplish such a thing, and a sense of sadness as Harry slowly became the young man who would be charged with defending the world that he loved, the world that had saved him from an intolerable life as an abused child - perhaps at the cost of his very life.

These are only a few of the things that make the Harry Potter books such a joy for younger and older readers alike. In addition, there is Rowling's skill at world-building and the details - sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant - she employs to enfold the reader safely within the tale. As a result, we may experience the same sense of wonder and culture-shock that Harry does upon encountering the half-giant Hagrid for the first time or seeing the strange dress and manners of the wizards and witches of Rowling's world. There are many interesting personalities she introduces among the pages of the books, and the familiar struggles endured by each - teenage angst, isolation, persecution, slavery, racism, loss of loved ones - to further weave their spells.

In short, Rowling simply uses a familiar story to throw life at us - in all its splendid chaos. It is generally left up to the reader to decide how to feel at any given moment about an event or a character. As a result, the conversations that spring up around the story mimic the conversations that spring up about any event we experience in our own lives. There is no all-seeing narrator to guide us, only the details and our own personalties to determine what we experience while we are there. The ability to weave such a spell, and to cause it to transcend the boundaries of age and culture, is the mark of a master storyteller.