Author Archives: Mary

#6

Posted by Mary in Uncategorized

In her essay “Harry and Hierarchy: Book Banning as a Reaction to the Subversion of Authority,” Rebecca Stephens explores the Christian outcry surrounding the Harry Potter series. In America, many Christian fundamentalists advocate for the banning of J. K. Rowling’s fantasy series, claiming that it corrupts young readers with its focus on magic and wizardry. In other countries, however, religious organizations interpret the stories differently. According to Bishop Stephen Sykes, “… Children who are capable of reading Harry Potter could be told not to take witchcraft seriously, or might even realize that for themselves” (52). Despite Harry Potter’s global popularity, the United States is unique in its widespread outcry against the novels. Roberta Harrington calls the United States “a violent culture that is home to millions of fundamentalist Christians” (52). Therefore, it should come as no surprise that these fundamentalists reject the story of a young wizard from a nontraditional family.

Stephens compares and contrasts the Harry Potter series with another fantasy series, C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Despite also featuring a significant amount of magic and pagan creatures, such as witches, dwarves, and fauns, Christians seem to have little to say about the series in terms of bashing it. This could be because of Lewis’s focus on the Christian perspective (52). Many aspects of the Narnia series have religious connotations. Aslan’s sacrifice and resurrection, for example, are a direct reference to Jesus Christ’s death and revival. Despite its inclusion of Christian components, however, the Narnia books are not directly religious allegories. This perspective comes from interpretation, rather than direct reference. While Aslan can be interpreted as a Christlike figure, omniscient and self-sacrificing, he is only a lion. Lewis himself recommended not explaining the Christian symbolism in his series to children because “they should simply be enjoyed as stories” until the children are older.

I think that part of the reason that banning Harry Potter is a mainly American fight is because of the difference in American stories. Instead of exploring whimsy, magic, and the supernatural, like British children’s stories do, American tales hold Puritan values close. They focus on realistic settings and establishing morals like work ethics and humility. Unlike British children’s stories, they do not encourage imagination and magic. American stories, like the tall tales of John Henry, Paul Bunyan, and Johnny Appleseed, teach kids to work hard and follow the right path while instilling a moral. If one gets too proud, such as John Henry does, bad things happen. American tales work more to scare kids straight than to instill a sense of wonder in them. They feature realistic characters who use their brains or brawn to get by. Even the Pevensies, despite being in a magical world, are ordinary. They are not handed a wand and taught to cast spells, but rather learn to shoot a bow or to sword fight. Once they leave Narnia, they are regular kids again. Harry does not have the same experience. Once he enters the Wizarding World, his sphere is permanently changed. He cannot cross the threshold back into a normal life. He gets to keep his power even in our non-magical world. What scares Christians more than a blurred divide between Us and Them?

Re-Mix Ideas

Posted by Mary in Remix Ideas

I’ve read that Rowling originally intended to kill Arthur Weasley during the battle in the Ministry of Magic in Order of the Phoenix. As we know, she instead killed Sirius. I think that I want to write a piece of flash fiction about how things would have been different had Arthur died instead, and the aftermath of that. I would also like to use a prompt generator that gave me the first sentence, “He awoke from a nightmare about garden gnomes and shuddered.” I think this would go along well with the Arthur storyline.

Journal #3

Posted by Mary in Reading Journal Three

Journal #3 – On Real World Magic

In her essay Magic for Daily Use and Profit, Birgit Wiedl discusses the forms of magic in the Muggle world. She mainly focuses on the use of magic before the Statute of Secrecy was signed in the late 17th century, examining the real medieval crafts and pagan rituals that many people regarded as witchcraft. Harry Potter may not be allowed to cast spells around Muggles, but the use of magic is deeply rooted in the Muggle world and continues today.

Bezoars, for example, seem like figments of J.K. Rowling’s imagination. A stone that cures poisoned people sounds incredible. They are, however, very real objects that even Muggles prized. Wealthy individuals kept bezoars for their healing properties, as well as for the status associated with them (Wiedl, 20). They were not cheap, as they came from the stomachs of ungulates and were praised as the exemplar of all antidotes. If someone tried to spike an aristocrat’s food with poison, having a bezoar nearby came in handy. Although we do not hear much about bezoars in the age of modern medicine, its historical popularity was widespread.

When it comes to casting spells, Professors Flitwick and Lupin would probably disagree about the importance of incantations. The Christian church, when squashing pagan rituals, tried to make clear the distinction between prayers and incantations (Wiedl, 22). Spells, however, were more similar to religion than the church probably would have cared to admit. Even exorcisms, highly religiously-charged rituals, rely on a kind of verbal magic. Spells and charms often use words or phrases to charge the magic, making them more powerful and effective. Sigils use letters and symbols to cast their magic, and are charged through intent as well as by physically writing or drawing the desired sigil.

Astrology, as taught to Harry Potter and friends by the centaur Firenze, did not exist in the form it does now. Although Firenze tells his students that fortune is written in the stars, medieval astrology was a far cry from the newspaper horoscopes we read today (Wiedl, 27). Little difference separated astronomy from astrology. The craft included observation, interpretation, and theory, and many famous stargazers (Galileo Galilei, for example) engaged in astrological thought because it was not perceived to be superstitious (Wiedl, 28). The rise of Christianity pushed the “magic” from the craft, but still relied on the positioning of the stars to set dates. Nowadays, astrologists are not as praised. Just as Hermione and Professor McGonagall disliked Professor Trelawney’s imprecise magic, many people believe that astrologists (and others who practice magic such as soothsaying, scrying, and palm-reading) are frauds.

Modern witches are often snubbed for practicing magic. In our see-it-to-believe-it world, people turn up their noses at spells and charms. Witches are mocked for believing in something that “isn’t real.” I think that magic, along with almost everything else intangible in the world, works if one wants it to work. Religious individuals use verbal magic through prayer and blessings. They also rely on the power of symbols, communion, and intent. To me, drinking the blood of Christ and praying to a higher power is comparable to brewing a potion and paying tribute to the earth. If their beliefs are legitimate, why aren’t those of a Wiccan? The use of magic as a spiritual outlet has been prevalent throughout history, and I think that its ridicule in modern society is misplaced.

 

Works Cited

Wiedl, Birgit. “Magic for Daily Use and Profit.” Harry Potter and History. Ed. Nancy R. Reagin. N.p.: Wiley, 2011. 9-37. Print.

Reading Journal 1 – second attempt at posting

Posted by Mary in Reading Journal One

Reading Journal #1

In her essay “Was Voldemort a Nazi?” Nancy Reagin drew parallels between the ideology of Voldemort and his followers and that of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. She argued that the “‘racial state’” that Hitler tried to establish in Germany is comparable to the vision that the Dark Lord saw for the wizarding world (129). The slaughter of innocents, the reinstatement of hierarchy, and the broken communities found in both situations revealed the similarities between the two dictators. Bringing Voldemort’s mission to a contemporary setting, one politician has risen to power on a platform of hate and hierarchy. President Trump has made his objective clear: “make America great again.” His means of doing so includes demonizing minorities, particularly Muslims. The Dark Lord of 2017 is U.S. President Donald Trump.

Reagin’s essay draws attention to the decrees issued by the Ministry of Magic in Deathly Hallows, placing steep restrictions on Muggle-born witches and wizards. The legal limitations began on a small scale: requiring Muggle-borns to register with the Ministry and to interview with the Muggle-born Registration Committee (133). In the beginning of Hitler’s reign, Jews and other “undesirables” were forced under a number of discriminatory rules. Donald Trump, although he ran on creating a national database of Muslims in America, so far has not held that promise. Instead, he recently signed an executive order banning immigration from multiple Muslim states. In doing so, he has created a trap for Muslim Americans. Those who leave the United States, even temporarily, are not allowed back home under any circumstances. With the threat of familial separation hanging overhead, Muslim Americans are now sitting ducks in the tense political climate of the U.S.

The Muggle-born witches and wizards who could not flee in time were dehumanized by Voldemort’s party and other purebloods who held his ideals. They ended up wandless in the streets of Diagon Alley, begging passing wizards for sympathy. Reagin points out that their lack of wands (and therefore lack of ties to the wizarding world) have marked them “completely dishonored in the eyes of Voldemort’s supporters” (143). Hermione, in the role of Bellatrix LeStrange, dehumanizes a Muggle-born woman by referring to her as “it.” By taking away her pronouns, Hermione widened the gap considerably, further distancing “proper wizards” from “Mudbloods.”

The extreme othering between pureblood wizards and Muggle-borns creates an environment of “us vs. them” that is comparable to the attitude many conservative Americans hold toward Muslims. Islamophobia is so prevalent in the U.S. that it affects non-Muslims as well. Sikhs, Hindus, and other Middle Easterners fall into the category of “terrorist” for many Americans. Ironically, it is one of the only times that difference in religion/ethnicity does not matter to conservative Americans. Voldemort blamed his poor quality of life on his Muggle father, fueling his hate for non-wizards. Despite their lack of involvement, he targeted all Muggle-borns and wizards who supported them. Donald Trump and other Americans hold a vendetta against Muslims and blame them for terrorism in the U.S., regardless of the fact that the vast majority of Muslims do not support the terrorist organizations. They have become scapegoats for frustrated Americans.

If Donald Trump keeps his promises, soon enough Muslims may receive the same treatment that Muggle-borns faced under Voldemort’s government. Instead of wandless wizards begging on the streets, we may see women in hijabs sitting on city corners, stripped of their humanity.

Works Cited

Reagin, Nancy Ruth. “Was Voldemort a Nazi? Death Eater Ideology and National Socialism.” Harry Potter and History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. 127-52. Print.

Reading Journal #1

Posted by Mary in Reading Journal One

In her essay “Was Voldemort a Nazi?” Nancy Reagin drew parallels between the ideology of Voldemort and his followers and that of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. She argued that the “‘racial state’” that Hitler tried to establish in Germany is comparable to the vision that the Dark Lord saw for the wizarding world (129). The slaughter of innocents, the reinstatement of hierarchy, and the broken communities found in both situations revealed the similarities between the two dictators. Bringing Voldemort’s mission to a contemporary setting, one politician has risen to power on a platform of hate and hierarchy. President Trump has made his objective clear: “make America great again.” His means of doing so includes demonizing minorities, particularly Muslims. The Dark Lord of 2017 is U.S. President Donald Trump.

Reagin’s essay draws attention to the decrees issued by the Ministry of Magic in Deathly Hallows, placing steep restrictions on Muggle-born witches and wizards. The legal limitations began on a small scale: requiring Muggle-borns to register with the Ministry and to interview with the Muggle-born Registration Committee (133). In the beginning of Hitler’s reign, Jews and other “undesirables” were forced under a number of discriminatory rules. Donald Trump, although he ran on creating a national database of Muslims in America, so far has not held that promise. Instead, he recently signed an executive order banning immigration from multiple Muslim states. In doing so, he has created a trap for Muslim Americans. Those who leave the United States, even temporarily, are not allowed back home under any circumstances. With the threat of familial separation hanging overhead, Muslim Americans are now sitting ducks in the tense political climate of the U.S.

The Muggle-born witches and wizards who could not flee in time were dehumanized by Voldemort’s party and other purebloods who held his ideals. They ended up wandless in the streets of Diagon Alley, begging passing wizards for sympathy. Reagin points out that their lack of wands (and therefore lack of ties to the wizarding world) have marked them “completely dishonored in the eyes of Voldemort’s supporters” (143). Hermione, in the role of Bellatrix LeStrange, dehumanizes a Muggle-born woman by referring to her as “it.” By taking away her pronouns, Hermione widened the gap considerably, further distancing “proper wizards” from “Mudbloods.”

The extreme othering between pureblood wizards and Muggle-borns creates an environment of “us vs. them” that is comparable to the attitude many conservative Americans hold toward Muslims. Islamophobia is so prevalent in the U.S. that it affects non-Muslims as well. Sikhs, Hindus, and other Middle Easterners fall into the category of “terrorist” for many Americans. Ironically, it is one of the only times that difference in religion/ethnicity does not matter to conservative Americans. Voldemort blamed his poor quality of life on his Muggle father, fueling his hate for non-wizards. Despite their lack of involvement, he targeted all Muggle-borns and wizards who supported them. Donald Trump and other Americans hold a vendetta against Muslims and blame them for terrorism in the U.S., regardless of the fact that the vast majority of Muslims do not support the terrorist organizations. They have become scapegoats for frustrated Americans.

If Donald Trump keeps his promises, soon enough Muslims may receive the same treatment that Muggle-borns faced under Voldemort’s government. Instead of wandless wizards begging on the streets, we may see women in hijabs sitting on city corners, stripped of their humanity.

Works Cited

Reagin, Nancy Ruth. “Was Voldemort a Nazi? Death Eater Ideology and National Socialism.” Harry Potter and History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. 127-52. Print.