Harry Potter

Creative Writing 325
Cindy Wu
Instructor: Lolita Hernandez

The Popularization of Harry Potter Series
The Harry Potter series, which is written by JK Rowling, is a miracle of literary history that it is well known in countries with various cultural backgrounds all over the world. It has been translated into seventy languages and sold over four hundred million copies in two hundred countries. The success of the Harry Potter series results in a success of its industry, including films, video games, toys, traveling attractions and theme parks. The Chronicles of Narnia is another popular fantasy storybook published in 1950. But why did it fail to achieve the same incredible success as the
Harry Potter series? Part of the reason is because the Harry Potter series is not only a book for children but also a book for adults. The details of the books connect to younger readers’ real lives, while being inspirational enough to generate older readers’ considerations. It is far more than just a fantasy series.
Harry Potter’s magic world is so real to readers because it is very similar to readers’ lives. There are governments, schools, pubs, banks, bookstores, train stations, the
World Cup, prisons and hospitals in Harry Potter’s magic world. These are all things young readers can relate to in their lives. The similarity makes Harry Potter’s magic world real to readers. Besides, by offering detailed examples to connect her characters with readers, JK.Rowling successfully convinces her readers that the magic world is real and they can be part of it if they believe in it. Magic only exists in the hearts of

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people who believe in it. The evidences are everywhere but muggles seldom choose to believe in what they have seen. When seeing owls flying over the sky, they insist owls are only looking for food instead of sending letters.” (Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling, 82) Most readers of Harry Potter are between 7-14 years old and they are naïve and full of imagination. With the strong desire to be part of Harry Potter’s fantasy magic world, readers cannot help believing in Rowling and her magic world. They like Harry Potter because Rowling’s magic world is not only a world for Harry but also a world for themselves. They believe that one day, they can be told that they are welcome to Hogwarts because of their loyalty to the magic world.
JK Rowling also convinces her readers by making Harry Potter an ordinary muggle at the beginning of the story. Harry Potter is a wizard growing up in a muggle family that lives in the same world as the readers do. In his first twelve years, he has not heard about anything from the magic world or expected himself to be a wizard.
That’s the same situation of Harry Potter fans before they read Harry Potter. If Harry
Potter can be a wizard, they might be too! They expect a letter from Hogwarts will be in their mailbox and lead them to the magic world they are always dreaming about.
When readers are able to put themselves into the story, they will be more interested in it. This is the same reason why youth idol movies are so attractive to the youth; the movies are so close to the viewers’ lives that the audiences are able to put themselves in the story. Young viewers, especially girls, always imagine that one day a good looking and popular prince will be attracted by an ordinary girl like them and date them like they see on TV.
The Chronicles of Narnia, written by C.S. Lewis, is another fantasy novel popular among young generations. The reason why it never surpassed Harry Potter is that it is not connected well enough to its readers’ and therefore fails to keep their loyalties. It,
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therefore, fails to stimulate readers’ sense of belonging and expectation. There are not governments or schools in Narnia’s world. The social structure and system is totally different in the world created by The Chronicles of Narnia; there are no government and schools. Readers are more likely to view The Chronicles of Narnia as a normal myth or fairytale rather than a real world they are also able to experience. That makes
The Chronicles of Narnia a replaceble story that readers’ attraction may be taken away from when other magical storybooks appear in public. Narnia then fails to keep readers’ interests and loyalties. The failure of Narnia reminds me of creating a detailed and similar world when working on fantasy writing for children. Well connecting the characters with readers never hurts. A good story should be a convincing one, which never fails to persuade readers that it is real.
Another reason why Harry Porter is so attractive is that it is not just a book for children. It also inspires adults’ deep thought and consideration of problems in real society. For example, Harry Potter reveals the dark side of politics and the greed of the politicians. In the muggle world, the government hides the existence of the magic world from the public in order to affirm that they are safe under the government’s domination. In Harry Potter’s magic world, the ministry of magic hides the fact that
Voldemort is coming back and also takes control over the newspaper as well as schools in order to maintain and consolidate their regime. This sounds similar to what is taking place in the real world. Efforts made by the main characters in the book,
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and all the members of the Order of
Phoenix inspire adult readers to consider political issues in real life.
Take North Korea as an example. The government lies to its people to fool them that they have the best government in the world, and western countries are trying to disrupt North Korea simply because they are bad. It fosters the fetishism toward the
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dictators, President Jin, who allows hereditary a system and passed his president position to his son and grandson, causing North Korea to suffer from human right problems in recent decades. The government in North Korea also blocks its people from the Internet, so they fail to know the truth from social media and therefore fully believe in their government. A small group of North Koreans, who could no longer bear the tyranny of their government, escaped to South Korea. Some of them, who still have family members in North Korea, are considering ways to save North
Koreans from suffering from the government’s lies and dictation. At the premier ceremony of the Harry Potter movie in South Korea, a seven-year-old refugee, who just escaped from North Korea with his family, said to Hong Kong daily, “ I like
Harry Potter, because he kills bad people. I hope people in my country can live as happily as people in South Korea do. But there are some bad people in government that they cheat on their people in order to consolidate their regime. Harry encourages me to save my people from the dictation of our government.” The example of North
Korea is not the only example of the darkness of politics in the world. Tricks of politicians happen everywhere in every country. Adults, who read about Harry Potter fighting against the Ministry of Magic, might generate thoughts of fighting against the dark side of politics. They are impressed and inspired by the Harry and his friends’ courage and efforts to fight for the whole magic world’s well beings. In this case, I am inspired to put social justice into my writing to arouse my readers’ thoughts toward the problems existing in today’s society.
The use of western Christian ideology is also attractive to adults. When the readers see the names of schools and objects, they can always understand the meaning JK
Rowling is trying to portray. For an example, the color for Gryffindor is red and golden, which is the color of fire, while the color for Slytherin is green and silver,

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which is the color of water. In the Bible, fire is symbolic for justice that God will be judging the world with fire at the end. In Genesis, water indicates catastrophe because
God punishes the world via flooding. This little knowledge of western Christian ideology under Slytherin indicates the malignancy of Slytherin. Adults, who are educated enough to understand these western Christian ideology in Harry Potter, will be surprised by JK Rowling’s efforts on the use of classical western philosophy allusion in her children’s book.
The popularization of The Harry Potter series, compared to The Chronicles of
Narnia, is mainly due to the familiarity to its readers and its inspiration as well as its deep thoughts. It has been ten years since the readers first met the slim little boy with a pair of black glasses. Most of the young readers grew up with Harry. When they sat in the cinema and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione accompany their children to the
Platform 9¾ at the end of the last Harry Potter movie, they stood up and gave a warm clap for the movie. The Harry Potter series has given them too many beautiful and incredible memories. Their childhood ends with Harry’s as well. They are no longer the ones who checked their mailboxes everyday after schools to see if there are admission letters from Hogwarts. They do not expect admission letters from
Hogwarts any more. But just the same as Harry, they have learnt that magic is everywhere and love is the greatest magic of all.

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