Harry Potter is Wiztastic! By Amanda Lukas

I was a late bloomer. When everyone was reading it and talking about it, I wanted nothing to do with it. I avoided it at all cost. Finally, when all the initial excitement died around it, I picked up the first one. I finished the last Harry Potter book about a month ago. I understand the obsession behind the book. It is well-written for all ages, and has relatable characters in which the reader gets attached to and cares about.
I thought I would never read the Series, so I let people around me tell me every little detail about the book, including all the deaths. So, when I finally picked it up, I knew which ones I shouldn’t get attached to from the beginning, because I would just end up heartbroken. However, in Book Five when Sirius was killed, I cried. Dobby, a minor even slightly annoying character got tears when he was killed. I balled when Dumbledore begged for his life (or the end of it as we later find out). I knew these deaths were going to happened. I expected them. Yet, JK Rowling wrote them in such a way that even if the reader hears all the rumors, it matters who survived.
Book One wasn’t the best literature I’ve ever read. However, the series got better over the time (unlike some writers cough*Stephanie Meyer*cough). The first book was a wonderful introduction to a character that resembled the tragic typical main character—a young child, abused and neglected by those who were supposed to take care of him, orphaned at a young age, who soon finds out that he is more than what he lived as for the last eleven years. The audience heard a story similar to this one before, but it’s new in the story behind it. There are other stories with wizards, but never from the perspective of a young group learning about their powers. Never before was a wonderful world full of mystical creatures and a secret world of magic painted for the reader to be absorbed in. To think of a world where a war that us “Muggles” would never completely understand; this is the world that JK Rowling presents in her Series. Not only is this story created, but the developed and relatable characters help move the plot along.
Obviously the main character is Harry Potter, since the Series is named after him. However, the reader finds himself or herself falling in love with not just Harry. There is his two best friends—Hermione Granger, who is the bookworm with a lot of knowledge and skill and does not fit into the typical girl mold because of the two male best friends, and Ron Weasley, who has lived his life in the shadow of his several older brothers who have done everything first and now has to deal with a famous best friend while struggling with his feelings for Hermione. Through the story the audience sees the two of them—along with Harry—grow from eleven year olds to adults, dealing with teenage decisions along with the mishaps of war and destruction. The reader more than likely screamed at Hermione and Ron to “just get it on already!” during their several arguments that is rimmed with jealously and tension. The reader called Ron several names that one’s mother should never hear uttered, when he left the two of them in the woods in the Seventh Book.
If the reader couldn’t relate to these two, there were several other characters to attach oneself to. The last remaining Marauders: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin for example. Could the reader put oneself in the reckless and restless shoes of Sirius Black, needing something to stimulate him and the desire to help despite the danger? Or was it Remus Lupin, the man who just wanted to fit in and had a ‘furry little problem’ that held him back? (As a reader, I screamed at Remus along with Harry when he was trying to leave a pregnant Tonks, and it made me go “aaawww” in a very girlie voice when they died right next to each other.) Luna Lovegood, though a kind of creepy girl, was a misfit that everyone has felt like before. Neville was the lovable loser that the reader just wanted to hug and cheer for. I know I leaped for joy when he destroyed the last Horcrux. All these characters, from major to minor, had a story behind them. The reader may not know all of it, but the audience knew enough to at least understand the motives of the characters and actually relate to them. JK Rowling did a brilliant job in making the audience do something that is rare… CARE!!
The characterization of the characters was not the only thing done well by JK Rowling. The Series became darker as the number of the book increased. However, it still remained one of the best selling books for children in the world. Why? With so many characters dying left and right, wouldn’t children be too disturbed to pick up another book? Well, JK Rowling wrote it in the way that didn’t let the mind linger on it too much. In the Fourth Book when Cedric Diggory died, the words were, “He was dead.” That was it. She wrote nothing else about the death of Cedric. As a teenager or adult reader, that left a sickening feeling in one’s stomach. Yet, that is the greatness that is JK Rowling. Children can’t handle the lingering feeling of death, and children don’t have a long attention span. The way she wrote it allowed the reader to know what happened, but also allowed the young ones reading not to linger on it. It was like a parent’s version of the tale behind death. A parent doesn’t tell their eight year old the details of death. Instead, the parent says the goldfish for example is going on a long trip that it will not return from. Death isn’t an easy topic, and to linger on it, would disturb Rowling’s core audience—children. No other writer that I’ve read has found that balance between the appropriate approach towards death.
Another thing that is remarkable about the books is how an 800 page book can be an easy read. The reader picks it up and read until he or she finished. The language is at a lower level; it is not at any fault or lack of skill of JK Rowling, but once again, she has to keep the audience in mind. These books are for all ages. The ten year olds have to understand it just as much as the forty year olds who are reading the Series. The books are miraculously written because every so often, a “big” word slivers its way onto the page. Yet, the words and meaning are easy to understand.
There are many theories behind what Harry Potter means. Here is my theory—England is still very much affected by WWII. The whole nation was bombed, families destroyed, several of Britain’s men were sent into battle and never returned. Some readers may believe that it’s the story of Jesus, and everyone has the right to their opinions. However, I believe that this story gets its inspiration from the destruction of war. Instead of preaching religion and the importance of it, I believe JK Rowling is “preaching” something else entirely. She is telling a tale of a story of a war that had no other purpose than destruction of another because they were different. Did Voldemort ever remind the reader of Hilter? He is a half-blood, raised by muggles, and son of a squid. Wasn’t Hilton dark-haired, brown-eyed, and half-Jewish? JK Rowling was discussing how pointless war is, and how many people can die from it. It is not just the people who were fighting, but the innocent are destroyed as well. That is also another reason for the short sentences surrounding the death of characters. Death is final. Killing is pointless. War is not good for children or other living things.
The Harry Potter Series is on the banned book list. There are rallies and protesting in which whole boxes of Harry Potter copies are burned. Why is this well-written series being punished? What do you think? Who’s your favorite characters? Do you find anything wrong with the books?