J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that much social controversy has arisen within the religious community which considers J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" to introduce impressionable young minds to the art and practice of magic, witchcraft, sorcery and the occult. The author points out that, when read by normal, intelligent young adults, the psychological affects are very low, especially when read as an enjoyable experience, which transports the reader to other worlds and forces them to utilize their imaginations, not to mention that it is often an enjoyable thing to be frightened. The paper concludes that (1) Rowling is only trying to tell an enjoyable story despite being heavily linked to the supernatural and, (2) if young adult readers really wanted to become a witch or a sorcerer, it would suit them far better to read the Holy Bible, which also contains images and suggestions of witchcraft and sorcery.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Fantastic Literature
Critical Theories on Young Adult Literature
Harry Potter and the Supernatural
Censorship and Harry Potter
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Any person who picks up a Harry Potter novel will surely come to realize that J.K. Rowling must have spent a great amount of time conducting research into the occult and the supernatural in order to produce such powerful and influential literary characters and situations. Obviously, Rowling has borrowed heavily from much older sources concerning the supernatural, sorcery and witchcraft, some dating back to medieval times. As one of the world's oldest religions, witchcraft is a pagan faith, non-Christian rather than anti-Christian, and is based upon the belief that nature and the universe can be controlled and manipulated via magic and the invocation of divine spirits."

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