[Artemisia] Harry Potter

[Stephanae Baker]

Maysun

I've been intending to read Neil Gaiman. Thanks for reminding me.

I suppose you're correct that it isn't fair to compare the Harry  
Potter books to adult fiction in the same genre. All things  
considered, I think I understand what you mean about how Harry sees  
the world, although I get the impression that you and I may have had  
very different types of childhoods. I was introduced to those vicious  
people early on, and I wouldn't have survived childhood without my  
books. And in the end, maybe I'm jealous for the heros of my  
childhood--for Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy; Meg and Charles  
Murray; and even for Dorothy Gale. I think they had no less of that  
quality you've defined than does Harry. For me, they had more. So the  
Harry Potter phenomenon perplexes me.

I also don't believe in Harry. I can't suspend my belief so far as to  
think that a child who grew up in a loveless atmosphere, confined to  
a closet beneath the stairs could develop into a Harry Potter without  
some extra effort, love, and patience from some adults in his life  
somewhere along the line. Where is his aching hole of need? Where is  
his acting out? I mean, we're all familiar with Cinderella, but did  
any of us ever believe she could go through all that and still be so  
good? I'm sure that's an adult perspective, but even as a child, I  
found it comforting that my heros had loving families. It helped me  
maintain some faith in the universe. I know the thing I've never  
liked about Roald Dahl books is that the adults in them are almost  
universally awful. At least some of the adults in the Harry Potter  
books are good.

Anyway, enough of my rambling.

Belladonna


On Jul 25, 2007, at 1:30 PM, Andrea Waddell wrote:

> If we're going on about the "magical things happening beneath our  
> noses in the the everyday, modern world" then I have to sing  
> praises to Neil Gaiman (Thank you Tianna!).  However that's another  
> author that I wouldn't even put in the same class as Harry Potter.   
> There's a wonder and joy in the world that comes from viewing it as  
> a child.  Even in the face of enemies there's something...I  
> dunno...naive, maybe? about the way that Harry views the world.  We  
> become so jaded as adults and we lose that.  I think that's part of  
> why Harry Potter appeals to so many of us.  He exists within the  
> ideals that we honestly believe and that we truly thought the world  
> would live up to when we were kids.  It's like taking a step back  
> to my childhood when I truly believed I could change the world if I  
> did what was right.  It's a beautiful faith to have and most people  
> lose it as they grow older.  We meet those vicious people who would  
> hurt us as soon as look at us.  And we suddenly realize that the  
> beautiful, shining Good we held so dear...it's really hard to hold  
> it up in front of you and keep doing it when you're faced with the  
> selfish darkness of the rest of the world...and then we found the  
> SCA and believed again. :D-Maysun, done waxing  
> philosophical...well, for a minute or two at least...I also stayed  
> up all last night with Harry and I'm a bit tired...that always  
> makes me poetic and thoughtful. :)
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