Harry Potter and Navigating Morality

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While it is generally agreed that the height of Harry Potter’s popularity has long ceased, many people in my generation have still grown up and cherished these books. For many young readers, such as myself, it’s our first act of rebellion. Despite my mom loving the Harry Potter series and reading it to me as a child, going to Catholic school means that fantasy books are not looked well upon by much of the staff. At my school, reading the series was like an initiation. You had to know what house you were in so that at recess you could play pretend as the right character. I think one of the most important things the books taught little me was gray morality. Harry Potter’s target audience was the perfect age range for its content; both the reader and Harry Potter grow up at the same time. Harry’s perception of the world is very black and white in the early books, focusing on the wonder Harry has with the wizarding world and the problems of a British kid at a boarding school (something I would come to understand a little better later when I attended a former boarding school).

However, later in the series, we begin to see how complex the issues and people Harry faces really are. As we grow older and begin to gain an awareness of perspectives outside of our own, we start to realize that nothing is ever truly black and white. The character of Dumbledore is a perfect example of this, as the reader learns how flawed he truly is as a character. For me, this greatly reflected my own surroundings. I began to realize that a lot of people I thought could do know wrong were incredibly flawed people, to the point of resentment even. Harry and his friends were people I could look to for dealing with these emotions, and made that lesson just a little more bearable to learn. Many of Harry Potter’s female characters also proved to be strong role models, Hermione and Ginny I especially clung to as a child (and oh was I disappointed with the treatment of their characters in the movies). For a turbulent time in everyone’s childhood, these books were definitely a source of comfort for many and provided a compass in a new and scary world.

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