Coming Second in a Fat Man Race

So when Christmas break came rolling around this year I decided I probably ought to plan something so I dont just sit and waste away the three precious weeks that I have of relative freedom. I needed to do two things 1. Finish City of God 2 Stay on top of latin over the break so I dont forget everything I was supposed o have learned already. I finished City of God really quickly and since Latin doesn't take all day I planned to use the next week for pleasure reading. I felt I had earned a little break after City of God and so I decided to read the Harry Potter series, something I've wanted to do for awhile but because of the frivolous nature of its subject I never took the time to read it. Anyhow, thanks to Mandie Morris and the Simsbury Library I was able to borrow all seven books and finished them in just over a week. Fastest 4000 pages I've ever read, although It doesn't really mean anything important because their are still people who read them faster. Hence the reason for the title of this blog, I raced to read the Harry Potter books which is really easy and so equivalant to a fat man race but i still lost because I didn't even win the race....oh well.

I promised myself while I reading that after i was done I'd write up an opinion of the series. I'll try not to reveal too much of the stories for those who havn't read them yet or are in process of reading. So let us begin.

Worst Characters: Harry Potter
I hated that he was the hero, he was an arrogant, haughty, selfish, greedy little squirt. Never once and I actually looked for this as I read, did he say "I'm sorry" for any of the life threatening situations he dragged his friends into or for any of the problems that he caused. He always tried to justify what he had done or what happened to him by blaming something else, never or very rarely did he ever acknowledge that he was ever at fault. He had no thought for the thoughts or emotions of the girls he dated, he merely wanted them for his own emotional gratification. Lastly he never cared about the rules, his morals were the ends justify the means which obviously doesn't make sense.

Favorite Charcter: Professor Snape
He was the only one who saw Potter for what he was, a little tyke with an ego big enough to match his legend but not his actual personality. Snape was the only one who trusted Dumbelodre to the last even though Dumbeldore didn't tell him everything and even though Snape knew Harry had to be the hero of the story. Snape was in my opinion the real hero of the story.

Other Favotire Character: Luna Lovegood because she was the only girl who didn't need a boy to kiss, she was confident in who she was regardless of what other people thought of her.

Neville Longbottom because when Harry had seemingly died and all hope was lost Voldermot asked him in person to change sides and Neville replied "I'll join you when all Hell freezes over" and proceeded to cut off the snakes head.

The good and bad elements of the book: When I started the series I was warned by a few people that the books were something evil. When one reads fiction he must understand that a good fictional author is one who can totally divorce their work from reality. So while in reality, witches, wizards, werewolves, vampires, warlocks are undeniably evil in this false reality that the author created these beings are good or bad depending on the choices of that individual. When one is willing to make that jump and acknowledge that in the books witches are not evil simply because they are called witches, their is very little that makes the books evil. The code at one point to get into the ministry of magic is 6,4,2,2,4 which is assumed to relate to the satanic number 666 however that is really the only thing I found that one could say is evil. For Christians seeking justification in reading the books I actually found many Christian themes. The idea that love is more powerful then hatred, that blood must be paid to regain life, that loyalty is more important the glory. One could even draw a comparison from Harry Potter to Jesus if one is willing to make a few stretches. Harry Potter the boy who lived the one who would succumb to death to conquer death and returned from what he thought was death to save the world from the evil Voldermort closely resembles the story of Jesus who came to earth and lived to die and then return from the dead to defeat death and conquer Satan.

Ultimatlly I think the books were neither evil nor good. its just like a wand its not the wand that is good or bad its the one who carries it, such is it with books. The series was undoubtlay a waste of time and so I'd only advise reading it if you feel your able to abandon reality for a week or however long it takes you to read it because its a very good story when the reader is not distracted by the cares of reality. Much like an elongated movie, when your done with it you feel like you just woke up from a long nap and have to pick up the threads of life where you left them.