FREE ESSAY ON HARRY POTTER: GOOD OR EVIL

HARRY POTTER: GOOD OR EVIL

Harry Potter: Good or Evil?
Throughout adolescents, a child is taught to use his or her imagination. A child is read
stories of a talking cat or a silly old bear while still young and naive. The child is
read such stories to encourage use of his or her creativity. The ideas of such characters
are for pure amusement and are obviously fictional. Unfortunately, today there are issues
of censorship that stifle a person's creativity. The most recent book being criticized by
censors is J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Censors claim that the reading of such
novels encourages witchcraft, and therefore should be banned. Although critics of the
Harry Potter series are well intentioned in their ideas of banning this novel in schools,
the actual banning of the novel is far more destructive. What these critics fail to
recognize is that the reading of such an imaginative novel allows for children's
creativity to flourish, rather than allowing them to turn to negative forms of
entertainment. The banning of certain novels in schools is extremely important in today's
society, but only when the novel is destructive to a child's upbringing.
In past history, such classics as Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Harper
Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, and J.D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye have been banned.
Critics justified their actions by stating that such novels are inappropriate for school
age children. Critics have now targeted the highly creative Harry Potter series. At the
beginning of the school term the American Library Association was bombarded with
complaints from parents about potentially harmful content in the series. Unfortunately,
opinions vary and there is no simple answer. Although citizens of the United States are
given the right to Freedom of Press under the First Amendment, this does not allow
schools to incorporate every piece of literature within the curriculum. Schools are torn
because as Linda Harvey states in "USA Today", "No school includes everything. Few public
schools would accept books advocating drunken driving, bulimia or rape. And it's rare to
find novels in school libraries about teens who proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ"
(Harvey). Reading material that encourages such horrendous acts as drunk driving and rape
should be the focus of the countries problems, rather then a child's fantasy series that
only encourages use of ones imagination. 
With larger issues such as racism and violence still in existence, it is ridiculous to
think that parents are more concerned with a book that encourages a child's imagination
and desire to read. Dominic Schmidt, a father writes:
The manipulation, lying, violence and rebellion in Harry Potter books are without a doubt
unfit for young minds that don't have a strong safety net at home. This book series has
the same sugarcoating used by the alcohol and tobacco industries and, for that matter,
your local drug pusher, as well as the clever marketing that the publishing companies use
to lure us into thoughtless choices—many with lifelong consequences (Schmidt). 
Rather than the Harry Potter books being "unfit," it is one of the best influences a
child without "a strong safety net at home" can have. When a child is engulfed in a
fantasy story, he or she uses their imagination to travel to another word, where all
troubles are left behind. The Harry Potter series uses descriptive writing to tell a
story of pictures that move, the enchanted castle of Hogwarts, and a wonderful sport
called Quidditch.
Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He
wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard and
mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore…Harry turned the
card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.
'He's gone!' 'Well you can't expect him to hang around all day,' said Ron. 'He'll be
back…' 'But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos.' 'Do
they? What, they don't move at all?' Ron sounded amazed. 'Weird.' (Rowling Harry Potter
And the Sorcerer's Stone 102-103)
Unfortunately because of the opinions of a few parents and religious right groups, many
schools are conceding to the group's demands. Renowned author Judy Blume had this to say
about the recent banning of Harry Potter books:
The real danger is not in the books, but in laughing off those who would ban them. The
protests against Harry Potter follow a tradition that has been growing since the early
1980's and often leaves school principals trembling with fear that is then passed down to
teachers and librarians. What began with the religious right has spread to the
politically correct…And now the gate is open so wide that some parents believe they
have the right to demand immediate removal of any book for any reason from school or
classroom libraries. The list of gifted teachers and librarians who find their jobs in
jeopardy for defending their students' right to read, to imagine, to question, grows
every year (Blume). 
Judy Bloom, author of such titles as Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, and Forever,
knows what it feels like to have a book banned. Not shocked by the recent uproar by
censors, Blume stated that, "I knew this was coming. The only surprise is that it took so
long - as long as it took for the zealots who claim they're protecting children 
from evil (and evil can be found lurking everywhere these days) to discover that children
actually like these books. If children are excited about a book, it must be a suspect."
The main reason that the Harry Potter series is objectionable to the religious right
groups is that it poses the idea of situational ethics. There is no room for this
newfound idea of situation ethics in Christian society. The Harry Potter series has,
"roots in a devilish invention called situational ethics, the idea that values can be
relative. The religious right, firmly believing in absolutes, does not want anyone
discovering alternatives. Situational ethics has hit the schools like an epidemic, they
feel it must be wiped out" (Cain 601). The group's literal interpretation of that Bible
calls for the idea that anything related to wizards, devils, and demons is real and
dangerous, and they should have nothing to do with them. 
Although the censors think that their efforts are benefiting children, in the long run it
is destroying them. Plato makes the point that, "The beginning, as you know, is always
the most important part, especially in dealing with anything young and tender" (Plato
587). Although Plato's views are the same as the religious right groups, this quote does
make sense (although I am not taking the quote the way Pluto had intended). Though it is
important how a young child is brought up, I think that to place them in a utopian
society is even more harmful. If all children's books had to be "approved," each child
would be a mindless character. There would be no unique qualities to distinguish one from
another, all children being of the same mold. Each child would only know what was
"approved," and nothing else, not allowing them to flourish into individuals.
Why should the idea's of few, restrict the rights of so many? Although the Harry Potter
series is fantasy, "It's the very real forces of self-appointed censors who want to tell
other people's children what they can read" (USA Today "Harry Potter faces biggest foe
yet in book censors"). If a child's knowledge were restricted, each child would grow into
a mindless adult, leaving the world mind numbing and meaningless. The Harry Potter series
is encouraging the growth of a child's imagination, allowing our children to grow into
fully functioning, creative adults. If these ludicrous ideas of book banning continue,
Judy Blume feels that next years headline will read: "' Goodnight Moon banned for
encouraging children to communicate with furniture.' And we all know where that can lead,
don't we" (Blume)?
Bibliography
Blume, Judy. "Is Harry Potter Evil?" The New York Times. 22 Oct. 1999. 17 Nov. 
2000 http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
Cain, Michael Scott. "Crazies At The Gate." Portals Reading, Writing, and Critical 
Thinking. Eds. Mary T. Segall and William R. Brown. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace
College Publishers, 1999. 599-608.
Harvey, Linda. "Protect our Kids." USA Today. 6 Sept. 2000. 17 Nov. 2000
http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
Plato. "On Censorship of Literature for School Use." Portals Reading, Writing and 
Critical Thinking. Eds. Mary T. Segall and William R. Brown. Fort Worth, 
Texas: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. 586-589.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1998.
Schmidt, Dominic. "Choice, Not Censorship, Is the Issue Over 'Harry Potter' in School." 
Los Angeles Times. 7 Nov. 1999. 17 Nov. 2000 http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
"Harry Potter faces biggest foe yet in book censors." USA Today. 6 Sept. 2000. 17 
Nov. 2000 http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.