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To: Gophack
I guess it depends on who you read "Who's OK, Harry or the Hobbits?"

This is just not something I lose sleep over. Then you have the Vatican saying Harry Potter fans, relax. The Vatican says the kid is all right.

All in all, I'd rather kids read "Lives of the Saints."

18 posted on 02/04/2003 11:37:10 AM PST by american colleen (Christe Eleison!)
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To: american colleen

ok I understand the findings of sacrilegious imagery in the hp books. I understand how children under, say, 14, cannot discern for themselves the wrongful actions of a hero figure setting a poor example at different times. I get how man’s reliance on the higher power is upheld in LOTR and Narnia, and it is wrongful when man trusts/pursues magical powers. But I just don’t get how it can be said that the Harry Potter books are all about power, when, despite the setting in a magical world, no matter how deeply one peels off the layers, it is still basically about how the central character is forced to defend himself against evil. How he is pursued, victimized, finds himself in all sorts of situations he doesn’t quite know how to handle, but ultimately is always trying just to stay alive, defend defenseless others, and never succumb to ultimate evil. He is even abused, victimized as a defenseless child, you would expect his humanization to have depraved considerably through his treatment and familial example, yet most of his main choices are on the side of compassion, gut instinct to defend, help, and sacrifice himself to protect others. Yes,he finds himself in situations he doesn’t handle perfectly, but without evil intent (where I can see how an adult’s perception of this character would be accurate vs. that of an impressionable child). But, where is this quest for power?—Harry never went looking for trouble—it found him.


96 posted on 12/19/2007 9:41:53 AM PST by hurriedMom (j)
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