Spiritual Education

Harry Potter Moral Issues

This week I watched the film and reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. I think the question posed for this week's reading is extremely intriguing. When i first read Harry Potter I was immediately hooked. It combined all of my favorite elements, adventure, friendship, ect. However Harry Potter contained something that other books of this genre (LOTR, ECT.) did not. This was the perspective of someone my age, doing very much what I was doing at that time in my life... school. It also contained the perspective of someone experiencing the same "coming-of-age" experiences i was. When you take out the magic, Voldemort, house elves, (the list goes on) you really just have an extremely long story about three friends who solidify their bond through adventure and love. There are some very complex moral issues presented in these novels.


The first one I'd like to point out is the issue of racism. Hermione Granger is a "muggle born." This means she does not have a pure bloodline. Many wizards want to keep the bloodline pure and not accept "muggle born" wizards and witches into their world. This relates greatly to issues of racism we face everyday here in the real world. Another strong moral issue is the decision is stand up for you friends and bullies. Malfoy is a bully and Harry is constantly standing up for Ron and Hermione through Malfoy's endless torments. Another strong theme is the occasional demand to rebel. Hogwarts is an immaculately smoothly run school with a lot of rules. Harry is constantly breaking these rules, only when important. Because of this Harry typically overcomes whatever struggle he is enduring and his rebellion is overlooked, as it was for the greater good. As a young adult reading Harry Potter I found a lot of inspiration in the books. I related greatly with the character. If i took any message from the book though, it would be that friendship and family are extremely important. Without friends Harry could have never accomplished anything.