Posted on 01/02/2006 8:20:04 AM PST by anhonestchild
First of all I would like to add that I am a 13 year old girl and am not a parent. I have read all of the Harry Potter Books. With two parents that are devoted Christians I understand partially your view on the Harry Potter books but I respectfully disagree. To a young child the Harry Potter books are comforting. These people although portrayed as witches and wizards are well rounded people and little kids respect that. For instance if any of you have read the Harry Potter Books Hermoine Granger is a girl very dedicated to her school work and loyal to her friends. Why wouldn’t you want your children to follow in her foot steps. And dreaming of flying or casting of a spell isn’t a crime. Dreams are part of life. Also these books have very little to do with worshiping Satan. Just as in the movies “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Matrix” Harry Potter is a fight between good and evil. To a readers point of view especially a young readers point of view they dream of fighting the enemy not being the enemy which is what Jesus is “the hero” “the leader” and “the savior”. In these books Harry is “the hero” of the wizarding world. I understand it is better for a child to read about Jesus but honestly have you ever seen a child read the bible. The Harry Potter books relate to us and can portray good and evil at a young age. These characters can help guide your children’s point of view on how to act Harry Potter- a boy struggling to do the right thing and safe anybody he can. He is very dedicated to his friends and he is determinded to help any and all who need him. That isn’t a problem if I were a parent I would want my children to act like that Hermonie Granger- a girl dedicated to her school work and her friends. She is very level headed and always tries to help push both of her friends in the right direction. Hermonie is much like me and as I read these I wanted to be like her.
Ron Weasley- a boy who may stand in the shadow of his friends but is always loyal, helpful, and true to his friends and even his enemies. This is a good person you want you kids to read about good people and not people that are robbing stores and drinking like most books do. These are a few of the characters in Harry Potter and I believe that all of them are the same with the exception of Voldemort. I understand that you are protective of your children as my mom didn’t let me read these books until last year but don’t debate a great series. These are good and wholesome books and I have taken a lot of time to defend them. I hope that as I have seen your point of view you will see mine and consider it. Thanks for your time
And I would be remiss if I didn't put in a plug for Dragonraid, the Narnia-esque role-playing game.
Rowling makes some withering observations on government. She also has some fascinating commentary on the nature of evil, and the willingness of many to form a treaty with evil in exchange for momentary comfort.
I'm also pretty young. I've read the Hobbit, LOTR, C.S. Lewis, War and Peace, most of the classics, etc. I still like her style. It's somewhat like Roald Dal. It's also like C.S. Lewis. LOTR is an epic and HP is a story. Also the books progressivly get higher levels. SS is a lot more simple than HBP.
I can theoretically understand why many Christians don't like it. But I see the wizardry as a template for the story and morals in it.
Another thing that you need to do here at FR. When you post a topic, you need to stick around and discuss it with us. Many of us have brought up points and ideas and yet you're not around. That has the smell of troll about it.
You gave your age as being 13. IMO, that takes you out of the "child" category and into the young adult category.
"There is a reason you're taught spelling (or should be taught) spelling".
If you're going to post this type of criticism, you should at least draft a perfect post!!! ;-o
SORRY! I was accidentally on the wrong account (Dad's).
BTW- The movies are nothing on the books. The first and last movies were only decent and I didn't like the middle ones.
Welcome to FR! I agree that the Harry Potter books are good, we have a number of FReepers on the HP ping list.
You're right. I'm wrong.
And I am a devout Christian.
A bit...
Your biggest error is not knowing your audience. Many people here like the Harry Potter books for one reason or another. Myself, I am rather neutral on them. I think the earlier books were better, but her last book HBP was an editing nightmare. I came close to not finishing it because it was a convoluted MESS. She has done a good job of character development, but then she's had 6 full books in which to do this.
I do notice though that you "posted and ran" and haven't replied to any posts to you. That does get my "kitten meter" twitching. Come back and let's have a good honest discussion.
Uh, maybe, aside from punctuation.
There is a BIG problem with Harry, the hero of the series.
Harry uses the "ends justifies the means" method of living. Harry thinks rules are for everyone else, except himself. Harry rarely gets in trouble for disobeying rules and direct orders because of his level of heroism. This is a bad precedent for teenagers in today's world.
Hermione complains about Harry breaking the rules and the LAW, but she eventually joins forces with Harry after he talks her into each of his escapades. The group almost never trusts the adults in charge to solve the problems.
As a group, Ron, Hermione and Harry have committed the following crimes/sins/acts:
They break curfew regularly and continuously.
Trespass and enter forbidden areas.
Make illegal potions.
Breaks rules in games.
Steal to make potions. (Hermione.)
Sneak around/spy with the invisibility cloak.
Mine too, but I always have to remind myself that most message board / forum sites move pretty slow in comparison to FR. I can imagine a newbie unfamiliar with the site posting a new thread & planning to come back in a few hours to see if anyone responded, then being shocked to see 300+ replies.
Please ping the usual suspects...
Really? I haven't read any of them so I don't know if their boring or not.
Correct spelling is nice, too.
Yeah, you're write.
Exactly. Clear as day and knight.
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