I just finished Breaking Dawn, the final installment in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, and it made me recall the anticipation and pleasure of reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
two years ago. I was exhilarated to finally come to the conclusion of
the saga but depressed that it was all over. One of the ways I kept the
series alive despite its conclusion was writing poems focusing on
various characters. Another was following and participating in online
conversations about the books.
Some of the meatiest
discussions occurred at Hogwarts Professor: Thoughts for the serious
reader of Harry Potter. I visited the site now and again, pondering the
insights of John Granger, who runs the site, and his fellow
Potterphiles, and when last year saw the release of Granger‘s The Deathly Hallows Lectures, I snatched up a copy.
Granger, who has written several books exploring deeper layers of
meaning he believes are embedded in J. K. Rowling’s series, applies some
of the ideas from his earlier volumes to the seventh book. He makes
reference to other Harry Potter books, particularly Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone,
but his primary focus is on this specific book. In the first chapter,
he explains his Five Keys to Unlocking Harry Potter, which include
Narrative Misdirection, Literary Alchemy, Hero’s Journey, Traditional
Symbolism and Postmodern Themes, giving a brief overview as to how each
applies specifically to Deathly Hallows.
The second
chapter has to do with literary alchemy, a subject with which I was
unfamiliar prior to reading Granger’s work. He gives a good primer on
what it’s all about and offers several compelling examples to suggest
that Rowling was using it as a framework. First there’s the alchemical
wedding. Then there’s the nigredo, or black stage, which is characterized by despair and disorder. Albedo, the white stage, has to do with purification, and rubedo,
the red stage, completes the process with its “resolution of
contraries”. Granger’s thoughts on this subject are fascinating, and
it’s fun to go through his lists of tip-offs to the alchemical formula
and contemplate how many of these references were placed there by
Rowling for the very reasons he suggests.
The subject of sight
is extremely prominent in this book, and Granger explores it in
different ways throughout the fourth through seventh chapters. Chapter
four deals with Harry’s mother Lily and the significance of her green
eyes, particularly in light of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Chapter five points out all of the ways in which Rowling incorporates sight-oriented symbols - mirrors and eyes - into Deathly Hallows,
while chapter six addresses the value of “taking Harry seriously,” an
endeavor for which Granger recommends using “triangular vision,” an idea
connected to the novel’s central symbol, which is explored in more
depth in the seventh chapter.
With his first book on the subject, Granger
became a pioneer in the area of studying Harry through a Christian
lens. Given the fierce debate that has raged around the suitability of
these books for a Christian audience, I have found his conclusions
welcome and refreshing, so I was probably most interested in the third
chapter, which has to do with the Christian elements of Deathly Hallows.
These are so numerous and significant that when I finished Rowling’s
epic, I couldn’t help thinking that it ought to put to rest many of
those who would object to the books on religious grounds. Granger picks
up on even more than I did, and I came away more convinced than ever of
Rowling’s rightful place amongst the giants of Christian fantasy like J.
R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.
Each chapter comes with a
series of helpful endnotes, often with websites listed so that readers
can easily delve more deeply into the subject at hand. The chapters are
also broken up with bold-printed section titles, making it easy to flip
through quickly and get a very basic idea of what is being discussed.
Additionally, there’s a lengthy index in the back. My favorite aspect of
the book for quick reference is the FAQ, in which Granger answers 31
questions over the course of 36 pages. Question 21, “How does Deathly Hallows
fit in with or complete the seven book series?”, is especially worth
reading, as he charts all of the similarities between the first and last
book.
Though there are a couple places when Granger goes a
little over my head, in general his writing style is very accessible.
For a book with only seven chapters, it’s a fairly lengthy 300 pages,
and I wouldn’t feel obligated to read it front to back; I skipped
around, reading different sections and chapters as the mood struck. It’s
a book I continue to enjoy flipping through now and then, and I expect
that others who love examining Harry from all angles would feel the same
way.
No comments:
Post a Comment