For my part, I think the overt absence of “god” isn’t much of anything. Hollywood has been presenting secular, godless stories for ages because, well, why clutter the story with metaphysics? Similarly, I just think it’s not germane to Rowling’s story whether there’s a god or not. I don’t believe it’s some sort of secular/humanist statement.

Heather
audio book downloads

Of course I could be completely wrong, and for all I know Rowling goes to the C of E every day.

And I obviously misread that essay by Grossman. It sure cam across as a slam on the books.

Meanwhile, now that you’ve finished HP7, I really urge you to read the clever and extensive parody at http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com/2007/07/potterdammerung-mega-spoilers.html. It reveals some weak points in the plot but also manages to retell the entire story in a very funny way.

The fact that Dumbledore turned out to be a rather grey character I thought was masterful. I was hoping for a bit more of Snape because I found that character fascinating, but the books were about Harry.

I too was looking for the Scouring of the Shire. Like Olbermann I had thought that Harry would have to lose his powers in order to defeat Voldemort. Then we would have had the Frodo moment — I have saved all I love, but I can no longer be part of it.

But overall I was satisfied because I’m not sure I could have pulled it off.

I can absolutely see why the books are so popular, but children heros that won’t grow up beyond the teenage stage don’t interest me, so I never really got into the books. I can stand kid MCs at the beginning of a series only if I know they will grow up into adults soon.

I read the first HP, skimmed the second, got a verbal summary of book 3 and 4 from my nephew, learned Dumbledore died in book 6, but I got all the twists in that retelling of book 7. At least I won’t feel left out now.

What I am about to say includes spoilers, so people who are still reading it might want to stop here.

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It seems to me that the whole ending of the book is a metaphor about Jesus. I am not a religious person myself and was rather enjoying the fact that this series was not about religion. I did enjoy the ending and found it satisfying. But the whole thing was about Christian beliefs.

Harry is a Christ-like figure. First, he undergoes the temptation of the Hallows (parallel to Christ’s temptation in the desert). If Harry can seize all of the hallows, he becomes the most powerful wizard on Earth. (If Jesus decides to come out of the closet and be a god, he becomes the most powerful being on earth.) But both of them decide to go through with the original plan, which involves them DYING so that others may live.

Harry decides to die without resisting, and it is that sacrifice that saves everyone else. HE IS THEN RESURRECTED. After he comes back, he informs Voldemort that the fact that he sacrificed himself extended a protection over all his followers. Very much a Christian idea.

Voldemort is all about fear of death. It is because he fears death that he wants to split his soul into seven parts. He figures he will be harder (or impossible) to kill.

It is only by not fearing death that Harry can overcome him.

This disturbs me, because I basically believe that people invent religions because they fear death and they need some mythology of eternal life to counteract that fear. They counteract the fear by pretending that they are immortal. Harry had a chance to stand up to the fear of death, and all he did was stand for Resurrection, perpetuating the mythology.

There was a hint of things to come earlier in the story, when Harry and Hermione see some kind of Christmas display which morphs into a statue of Harry and his family. Father, mother and son. A Holy Family.

So while I enjoyed the series, I am rather disappointed with what I see as the underlying metaphor.

Best,
Kathy H.

It doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a secular humanist.

–Kathy H.

I was also disappointed that the entire relationship between wizards and the other creatures — house elves, centaurs, etc., wasn’t actually resolved. She promised me that.

I think you may be on to something with the Christ metaphor (and that weakens it for me too). After all you were the person who nailed the RAB initials from book six. You and I both were right that Snape loved Lily and he’d transferred that love to Harry though he had a really nasty way of showing it. You had thought that Snape was trying to fail Harry in Potions so he could never become an Auror. I think you may have been right about that too.