Well, for the past month or so, Jon and I have been obsessed with Harry Potter. After years and years of ignoring the series (for some now incomprehensible-to-me reason), we have been taken over by the craze. We are buzzing with excitement, “Have you read them??? Have you read them??!!” as though we had discovered a new phenomenon, as though we weren’t the last people in the world to read them.
Why did it take us so long? We’re both wondering that. I think we felt a latent defensiveness against them because of our love for Lord of the Rings. Now, after reading Harry Potter, I have no idea why LOTR and HP were compared to each other. Nonetheless, Jon and I previously felt that people pit them against each other and so, of course, we would side with Lord of the Rings and turn our nose up on Harry Potter.
We have clearly repented and have realized that we can love them both because they are both wonderful in their different ways. Harry Potter is ridiculously fun to read. Of course, if I am really needing a glimpse into the battle between good and evil and need to weep at the beauty of goodness and the destructiveness of evil, I will always go to LOTR. The good is more good and the evil is more evil. And of course, it just demands more of you.
But all of those considerations certainly cannot null the fantastic world of Harry Potter. (Look at me, I am falling into the very same comparisons I rejected at the beginning of this post.) It’s taken me a while to stop pining for the world and missing the characters and wishing I hadn’t finished. But I do still miss all of them—Harry, Hermione, all of the endearing Weasley family, Luna, Neville, Dumbledore, Hagrid.
The character development was wonderful, the relationships resounded with the realities of growing up, and the overarching plot quite simply echoed the Gospel. How ironic that the Gospel is right under our noses in a rampantly bestselling series that Christians boycott because there is magic and “bad things” in it. How that makes me squirm.
Well, anyway. It’s just fun. Spells are a common part of our everyday life now. I text my husband, “Accio Jonathan” when I want him to come home. Jon decided one of our chopsticks would suffice as his wand at the Harry Potter party we’re going to. And now, we’re just brainstorming on our costumes.
So glad you could join this fun world with me. :) It's a nice way to spend the summer. I felt the same way regarding your comment "How ironic that the Gospel is right under our noses in a rampantly bestselling series that Christians boycott because there is magic and “bad things” in it. How that makes me squirm."
ReplyDeleteI really do intend to read LOTR as soon as I get a break from this school thing. It's definitely time.