Comments on: Harry, Harry, Harry

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:48:36 +0000

I went with my husband to a sci-fi/fantasy symposium last year–neither of which I’m a big fan of. I was surprised when the speakers began talking about fantasy novels and how they generally have spiritual themes, including the battle between good and evil, and a Christ figure who dies and comes back. Interesting!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:32:56 +0000

I loved the series, fictional magic notwithstanding. One of the main reasons I loved it was because of the parallels that I found too powerful to ignore. There were MANY, if you ask me. And I’m reticent to compare magical fiction to gospel, too. But hey, if you can package some good, true principles into a book that becomes a world-wide craze, I’m not going to complain.

I have to say that I also love the books for what they did for children and reading. Especially MY children!

(They didn’t hurt my desire for reading, either!)

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:48:03 +0000

My husband thought maybe JK Rowling was trying to “get back” at all the objections to HP as an occult volume, by interjecting all those quite obvious NT themes. Maybe so. But I was moved. Whatever things she’s decided to emphasize, they’re moving to a Western readership–family, love, courage, using community to help (one reason Neville rocks is that Harry TOLD him what he needed! and then he saw how to help and DID it, but Harry first TOLD him! Wahoo!!! Ron and Hermione rock, too, from first to last–I loved it when they showed up with the basilisks), perfect = imperfect, recognizing the complexity in every human, choice + agency… And you know what else? I love that JK Rowling has written these books. SHE rocks, too. She’s changed the world, by creating Harry’s. See what writing can do? Are we lucky to be in on this phenomenon, or what?

BTW, those pictures on “Inside Justine’s mind” of Justine’s daughter Jocelyn reading the HP series all week long–those are priceless.

By: Jody

Jody — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:27:35 +0000

‘ear, ‘ear!

By: so grateful to be mormon!

so grateful to be mormon! — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:01:40 +0000

hi justine: VERY well said girl! i love how you applied this to Gospel principles. great job! ~blessings, kathleen

By: Justine

Justine — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:52:17 +0000

Emily, you rock, too! Way to pull the Old Testament out of HP!

I just think there’s a bunch of really good messages for my kids (and for me) in these scrumptious books. I do really wish there were a few more things in there, but I won’t lay out any more spoilers.

The idea that my kids really latched on to was the principle that we choose who we are, and what part of us we embrace. It’s the ultimate “you get to be in charge of you” statement.

And ok, just one more spoiler, I wept when he so purposefully dropped the resurrection stone, ready to face Voldemort, so completely alone. He embraced his adult self. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

By: Emily M.

Emily M. — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:30:59 +0000

[DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS]. So I absolutely think you can read things into Harry Potter… I was thinking [SPOILERS] Dumbledore/Abraham and Harry/Isaac. Okay, a bit of a stretch, but you can still see it.

Also, I love the way the book emphasizes family relationships. I loved the scene [MORE SPOILERS] with Lupin and Harry arguing over Lupin leaving Tonks. There’s something with practical application right there. I finished the book and felt full of love for my kids (who I had neglected as I read it).

So, let’s read into it! And we don’t have to be embarrassed about it.

And my biggest disappointment with this book is that I was hoping that somehow Neville’s parents would be healed. But I loved that last scene with him and the sorting hat. Go Neville!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:15:10 +0000

Neville Longbottom is the coolest!
I’ve always loved the good conquers evil in these books.
I love the message that things aren’t always what they seem and sometimes, even though we think things or people are working against us, it is really for our good.
We all have things in our lives that we aren’t proud of, but we can over come them and still choose the right.
And yeah – I probably read too much into Harry Potter too

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:56:52 +0000

I completely agree!