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Harry Potter and the Misplaced Terrors

Harry Potter and the Misplaced Terrors

Last updated on: November 21, 2018 at 9:19 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Harry Potter and the Misplaced Terrors 2018-11-21T21:19:00-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

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Narnia and the Lord of the Rings are not little fables meant to teach children moral behavior like The Berenstain Bears. They’re stories, works of fiction and products of their times, and they have content you have to discuss. You have to discuss literature with your kids. I will always remember when I set down The Hobbit and told five-year-old Rosie that it wasn’t exactly nice of Bilbo to make off with Gollum’s ring, but since he was acting in self-defense it was permissible. We also had discussions about what a selfish and pompous pig Thorin is. That’s part of being a parent.

I actually think it’s neat that Harry Potter presents a worldview where the grown-ups in charge are so fallible and make so many mistakes that the children have to go behind their backs to correct. That’s not blurring the lines between good and evil, that’s presenting a portrait of good and evil that is closer to real life than an idealized fable. Grown-ups do bad things in life, and the rule that you ought to obey your teacher is not an absolute rule for that reason. I also think it’s neat that Harry is not a perfect hero, but a bratty kid who cheats and breaks the rules. Because that’s how kids act in real life. I don’t really like Harry’s character and I wish the whole series would have been about Hufflepuffs, but that’s another story.

Yes, there are real witches and pagans who practice things that could be called “magic” in this world. I’ve never heard one of them refer to their religious practice as “witchcraft;” I’ve only ever heard fantasy stories and paranoid Christians who are scared of witches use that term, but maybe I just haven’t met the right witches. People who identify as witches or practice paganism do not worship Satan. Most don’t even believe in Satan. And I disagree with them on that point: I think Satan exists. But they are not crazy demoniacs hell bent on causing destruction, as we were taught to believe during the Satanic Panic and every culture war that followed. They are human beings who follow a different religion than we do– just like Hindus or Unitarians. They follow a religion I don’t share. I also agree with and admire them, on some topics. I admire their respect for nature, for example, which is something required of Catholics but we often forget it. That we don’t practice their religion doesn’t make them dangerous lepers from whom you have to hide your children to avoid contamination. That’s a superstitious lie a la Jack Chick, and it has nothing to do with being a Catholic.

And the magic described in the Harry Potter series is NOTHING like any magic I’ve ever heard of a real-life witch practicing anyway. The magic Harry and his friends learn at Hogwarts is a hodgepodge taken from different fairy tales, urban legends and myths, with a smattering of Latin thrown in to make it sound exciting. It’s not real-life “witchcraft.” It’s not Wicca. It’s fantasy, exactly as made-up and and harmless as Gandalf or Doctor Strange, or that eccentric magician who turns the Dufflepuds into Monopods in the Chronicles of Narnia, or even Spock for that matter. Obviously, I wouldn’t recommend that you try to put the Imperius Curse on somebody in real life, but I just don’t think that’s going to be a moral problem your children will have to face.

I am sorry that Mrs. Uebbing suffered from post-partum nightmares in Steubenville. I’ve had a few myself. And I’m glad she found a way to cope with them. But I do not think that her experience signifies anything about Harry Potter being demonic or dangerous. The Harry Potter series is a harmless, engaging, rather formulaic fantasy story that many children and adults love. If you let your children read it, which I think you should, you might want to have conversations with them about how it is similar to and different from your worldview, because that’s what intelligent people do about literature in the first place and because that’s one of the ways in which parents are supposed to teach their children. Yes, some people really do consider themselves witches, but these people are not dangerous to you and they don’t play Quidditch. There is not a problem here and has not been for twenty years– twenty years ago being the last time it was considered appropriate for a mother to be terrified of J. K. Rowling.

Mothers already have too many things to worry about. After all, these are interesting times. But there’s no need for it to be 1997 again. Sufficient for a year is its own evil. 2018 is bad enough.

(image via Pixabay)

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