Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I’m told this is the final Harry Potter mystery. I hope they’re right. Deathly Hallows – that sounds half good and half bad.
I admire the author, don’t get me wrong. I mean, who could sit in a café all day nursing a cup of coffee – writing by hand no less – reams and reams of fantasy, for months at a time? Well, Ms Rawlings obviously did for which I give her credit. She deserves all her billions. Her writer’s cramp alone warrants it.
Wizardry, magic, elves, alakazam, kapow-you’re-a-toad-now and such, hold no interest for me. In order for me to enjoy a story, I have to be able to relate to it. How can you relate to funny hats, magic wands and magic potions? Even as a child, I never fantasized about such things. Cinderella and her horse/mouse-drawn golden/pumpkin-carriage seemed silly to me. Now, I’m supposed to relate to wizardry a la Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows.
When I was young, Nancy Drew was my hero. What a wonderful series of mystery stories. She helps her father solve crimes. Now, Nancy I could relate to.
Wizardry, Wizards, Magic, Magicians
Throughout history, there have always been stories of magic, magicians, wizardry and wizards. Some of the most blatant examples appear in the Bible – both old and new Testaments. For example, and in no particular order – the parting of the Red Sea, turning water to wine, waking the dead, rising from the tomb, feeding multitudes with a loaf of bread and a couple of fish, walking on water, Jonah in the whale, turning to a pillar of salt, walls destroyed by trumpets, burning bushes, angels giving messages from God, virgin birth, stairway to heaven – the list goes on and on. We are told to believe these acts of magic without question. We have them drilled into our heads like they actually happened.
No wonder we will believe other acts of magic and wonder. How about Santa Clause and his flying reindeer, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny? OK, you get my drift. When we don’t like the world we live in, we can escape into a world of possibilities – where beautiful godmothers, kindly old men and heroes like Harry Potter right all wrongs. Where everything is beauty, goodness, smiles and hugs and you live without fear or intimidation. In this world it is easy to discern good from evil. Evil is ugly. Good is beautiful. There, that was easy. In the real world, there is no such formula. Hence, our attraction to stories such as the Harry Potter tales of magic.
So, dear old Harry Potter, I hope you slay the villain. I hope you find closure. I hope you find love and live happily ever after in your world of wizardy and magic.