Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education

When I saw we were watching Harry Potter during class, I got very excited. Like a lot of people, I read all the books religiously, and watched the movies so many times I pretty much have each and every line memorized. I still have a tradition of reading these books every single year without fail, and will probably do so until I die. It would be funny I just died reading these books, because that might actually happen?

In Harry Potter, the values learned and presented connected with not just me, but with almost everyone who read it. One of the values I personally connected with is that friends are extremely important. The author, J.K Rowling, stresses that interacting and being part of a community is basically the definition of humanity.

Another part of Harry Potter that is stressed, even over stressed in my opinion, is the value of sacrifice. Harry's mom, Lily, sacrifices herself for Harry in the beginning, resulting in Harry having a protective charm over himself, shielding himself from Voldemort until he turns 18. I believe that sacrifice for the greater good is important, but I think self protection is more important. The will to survive is more important than sacrifice for another.

Okay its very tempting to keep talking about Harry Potter, but believe it or not, I've also read other fantasy books! I've read The Chronicles of Narnia multiple times. I fell in love with the first book, the Magician's Nephew, because he literally brings a new world to life in a book. He establishes a world in which many more books can preside in. I went through The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader really quickly, but I kind of struggled with the Horse and His Boy and the rest of the books, because the original characters (Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy Pevensie) weren't "invited" back to Narnia after the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

In addition to The Chronicles of Narnia, I've also read the Spiderwick Chronicles. These series successfully merge the real world and a fantasy world into a hybrid world of the characters and the readers second guessing what's real, and what's not.