What Harry Potter Means To Me

We grew up alongside the world of Harry Potter so it would be wrong to say it wasn’t a significant part of our childhood fantasies which we carried in our hearts for a long time. It may be because it is so easy to see what happened in harry potter happen in real life.

Not the blue sparks from wands and flying on broomsticks, but a horrifying racist terrorist rising to power gathering men, an authoritarian government at its last straw to retain power, censored government controlled newspapers and frequent change in position of power owing to its inability to control the aforementioned terrorist.

The parallels between Voldemort and Adolf Hitler can easily be drawn through their similar war strategy and needing to protect the so called ‘pure blood’. The books mimic the political scenario of the Second World War blended with the taste of the post-colonial world and its States. Just like the magical world the real world is filled with prejudice and hatred and people hungry for power.

There is something indeed vividly captivating in the way Rowling wins our heart with brilliant magical world. The myriad of ways that the book displays us in simple language a concept that was ground-breaking for the young adult and children’s literature genres itself. It opened a door for newer type of literature.

Harry Potter teaches us to value of friendship and family. It teaches us love and sacrifice, and how far you can go for them. There is nothing to be said about the good things regarding Harry Potter. We learn that people can change for the better, and everyone has hardships. It teaches us to stand up for what is right and to not to budge from our morals. It teaches us courage fruits victories. It teaches us to be brave is not the same for everyone, and everyone can be brave.

Harry potter has increased the number of readers to tenfold. It is a book that touches hearts. The number of people I have met who grew to be great readers after they read harry potter is astronomical. So though Rowling herself remains quite problematic as an author, the series by themselves are loveable. It can be said the start of the books were from the heart. But it is impossible to ignore certain blatant stereotyping and a number of other problematic things in her books. But in spite it all it remains a series loved by many.

Even if there is no ‘boy who lived’ in reality we too are waiting for a saviour. A Saviour who will vanquish the evil and end the darkness so similar to those of the magical world.