Missing from 'Harry Potter" – a real moral struggle,

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 07.25.2007 | By Jenny Sawyer

[AnotherUnixGeek]

By that argument the Simpson are great tv, is that the model you want for your kids?

Depends on what seasons. The writing quality in The Simpsons has fallen off badly in the last 5 years or so.

More seriously, I think you do kids and their parents a disservice if you assume that they will automatically take on TV shows and books as models, instead of entertainment.

[discostu]

Every now and then one just must square off against one these dorks and poke them in the eye. The trick is hit and ignore, getting into a running discussion with them is less fun than going to the dentist, but they should be told at least once that they’re a complete moron and waste of oxygen.

[antiRepublicrat]

I can’t understand all this hatred of Harry Potter. Maybe it’s the standard leftist hatred of success, as Rowling went from having nothing to being a self-made billionaire in under a decade. The left by definition must hate her.

[TexasAg1996]

Good trick since I was under the impression that Rowlings has made no statement to being a Christian and has tacitly denied it knowing that a admission would kill book sales. Regardless it is frown upon by churches for its message.

Having not read the book, you're hardly in a position to judge whether goodwithagun's statement is correct. He/she is, by the way, in case you're interested. There were quite a few Christian themes/issues in book 7, more so than in prior books.

[TChris]

???

Since when must there be Moral Conflict in entertaining works of fiction?

It's amusing how so many whip up their own standards by which J.K. Rowling's work should be judged and, of course, condemned.

Here are a couple of clues for the morally superior:

1. The Harry Potter series was never intended to be some sort of moral declaration. Please stop judging it as though it were.
2. Ms. Rowling is not calling on anyone to follow her lead, nor is she condemning anyone else's morality.
3. Get a grip. It's fiction.

[Abathar]

Simple, it’s the HTT crowd. A preacher somewhere got all excited about this, also never having read them, and have banned them from ever being read because they don’t want kids to read anything other than the bible. Expanding ones mind without guidance is still a big no-no to most of the people criticizing these books.

[JenB]

Trying to figure out what version of Harry Potter this author read. No inner conflict? What'cha smoking, lady? Harry has to decide to walk to his own death. Willingly. Consciously. It's not spelled out in letters ninety feet high, maybe, but the conflict is there! Would she have preferred something as idiotic as this?

Harry looked up from the Pensieve. He knew what he was being asked to do as though Dumbledore were standing there in the room. He knew, too, what his friends would say. "There's another way, Harry, there always is, let me check my notes," would be Hermione's answer, and "Dumbledore was off his rocker, mate, don't even think about it" would be Ron's. He could picture Snape, too, watching him, with one side of his mouth curled up in a sneer. "Mother's son, Potter, or father's? Your mother gave her life. Who's the coward now?"

Harry's heart pounded as he crossed the room, backward and forward. He didn't want to die! And yet he must. If not, the world would fall to Voldemort. The pain in his heart increased. More than anything he wished for someone to make his choice for him, to tell him what to do. He knew what he must do. Yet he was afraid - deathly afraid - that he did not have the strength to do it.

And so on, ad nauseum, for six hundred pages? Rowling doesn't need choppy stupid maudlin scenes like that, we know Harry so well by this time we can interpolate what went on in his mind. She doesn't have to spell out his inner struggle in the last book because we struggled with him.

PS that was my writing in those italics, not JK's, I'm just trying to illustrate my point.

[w1andsodidwe]

I have never seen such promotion of a book series by the press. It really bothers me that this particular author was so pushed by the press. Maybe the books were entertaining, but why more so than other authors?

[goodwithagun]

It does not matter what Rowling has claimed. When I read, I make decisions for myself. I found moral and Christian values in the series. Again, I had to read into that myself. I make judgments based on my own interpretation, not what someone else, or the author, says the interpretation is. When I have children I will read these books to them and help them draw those conclusions also. Perhaps you could do the same.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

When some stiff is trying to eat your brains out, I'll be in my bunker eating pork n' beans....and then will see who will be laughing.

Depends on whether it plays out like "Doom" on my desktop PC with the lights out and headphones on, or "Sean Of The Dead" on cable on a Sunday afternoon.

[goodwithagun]

It is a she, and thanks a lot for the backup!

[Positive]

"I saw no reference to islam."

While I agree with your comparison, it is important to know that "christian science" has killed far more Americans than has islam...

[discostu]

Whoever gave you that impression lied to you. She’s said she is a Christian and that she felt that fact made the ending of the series completely obvious. And the only books that came out after she said this didn’t suffer in sales at all. And actually it isn’t frowned upon the books are run by morons like you that didn’t actually read the books and get all their information from people who lied to them. Stop spreading the lies, that makes you worse than anything you claim JKR is.

[WWTD]

Good God, am I the only sane person on FR? This woman writes a series of highly entertaining books, and all over the world, the kids are putting down their Nintendos and actually reading!

Does every literary work have to be about an inner struggle? These are childrens’ books, first and foremost. Fairy tales, for example, are also about magic, not God. Were the Brothers Grimm also hacks?

In seven books about teenagers, there was not a single act of sex - just a few kisses. No swearing whatsoever - in the last book, the kids said “effing” a few times.

Incidentally, there is a moral lesson from these books that this Jenny the critic did not glean. What saved Harry’s life at the beginning was an act of sacrifice by his mother - selfless love. And what redeemed Snape was also love. (Hey - Snape is sort of a St. Paul type, if you really want to cram Christian symbolism into this)

Anyway, if you really think that the Harry Potter books are somehow corrupting the youth, you are delusional. Television, the movies, popular music, popular fashions, tattoos, piercings, drugs, sex - they’re all out there corrupting kids all the time. Harry Potter books are a most welcome escape. And like I said before, kids are actually reading these books!

[TalonDJ]

Anyone that misses the inter moral conflicts in the series has some serious reading comprehension problems. Dang near ever character in the show undergoes some level of inner struggle. The only one I think does not is the main bad guy who is clearly pure evil. The author even points on the missing traits of conscience and capacity for love that make him evil. You could easily write whole dissertations about the inner struggles of the top 10 or 12 characters, all of whose struggles are unique and personal and review aspects of the human condition. The article is garbage.

[LS]

“She’s no hack” is an understatement. I long for the days ALL of my books together sell 1/10 of what she has sold. (Not to mention the action figures!)

[null and void]

RIMMER So, you're saying the future's the future and, like your underpants, the chances of change are remote? Well, I'm sorry, I don't accept it.

LISTER Hey, I'm not happy about it, man.

CAT None of us are. You dying is the last think we want, especially me. Hell, I'd probably have to help dig the hole.

RIMMER Right, so to summarise: six years of space adventuring, six years of experience and knowledge, has led you to the conclusion that I'm totally stuffed?

KRYTEN Mister Rimmer has a point, sir. Your greater knowledge is making you pessimistic, while his ignorance and almost doe-like naivety is keeping his mind receptive to a possible solution.

LISTER Shut your stupid, flat head, you.

[KRYTEN shrinks under LISTER's admonition, but KOCHANSKI has picked up on something, and sounds intrigued]

KOCHANSKI So, you're saying, when you don't know enough... to *know* that you don't know enough, there's no fear holding you back? You can achieve things which people with more brains can't?

KRYTEN Precisely. [KOCHANSKI smirks in RIMMER's direction]

KOCHANSKI He's got the 'power of ignorance'...

KRYTEN And with ignorance that he's got, that makes him one of the most powerful men that's ever lived! Harness your stupidity, sir; employ your witlessness, use your empty-headed, simplistic moron-mind and find a solution. [RIMMER's face hardens defiantly]

RIMMER Okay! I've got an idea...

[Corin Stormhands]

Good trick since I was under the impression that Rowlings has made no statement to being a Christian and has tacitly denied it knowing that a admission would kill book sales. Regardless it is frown upon by churches for its message.

You are incorrect:

When asked the question "Are you a Christian?" Rowling said:

''Yes, I am,'' she says. ''Which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books.''

Source

[lovecraft]

Have you played FEAR? That game scared the crap outta me at night with my speakers.

[squarebarb]

Yes Frodo did. That’s what makes the Lord of the Rings so gripping.

He falls in love with powere and at the end succumbs to the seduction of power and would have kept the ring had not Gollum bit it off his finger.\

Throughout the book Frodo changes and becomes a much darker character. When he returns to Bag End he is not the same.