Blog #1: Mysteries and Escapism

I have grown up with the Harry Potter series. Watching the last movie was entirely upsetting for me, but I still read the books every summer. Not many people that I know do this. I sat at home, reading Harry Potter and waiting for my Hogwart's letter. Sometimes I wonder if it's still possible to get a letter, and I'm still disappointed. I was so young when I first started the series that my mom actually tried to read The Sorcerer's Stone to me as a bedtime story, but I couldn't understand what Hagrid was saying, so I told her to stop until I wanted to try reading the book again. I have always read books for escapism, and even as an English major, I've still held onto that. Not every English major can say that, but I can say that I've also had problems reading for pure analyzing because I still read for the sole purpose of escapism.

The adventures that Harry, Ron, and Hermione partake in never seemed to be impossible to me. I wanted to take those adventures with them, and I was glad that I was at least able to read about them and pretend that I was there with them. It never occurred to me that they were too small and too young for such scary adventures. I never had any doubt that the three of them would be able to solve each and every mystery that comes to their attention. I went along for the ride that Rowling gave me. I did think that Professor Snape was the one trying to kill Harry and steal the stone in the first book. But that is part of the red herring, which is a very big part of a mystery genre. Without it, the book wouldn't be as interesting - not many mysteries are written without the reader being led onto the wrong suspect. Us readers think that we are making our own assumptions about the story and figuring out who it is, but it's not until the end of the story that we ever find out that the information we were told is exactly what the author wanted us to gather and what we thought was right is wrong. Even though we know that this is a part of any mystery, we still think that we have the right answer, but we are actually put into the hands and thoughts of the author, just like Iser thought.

Harry Potter may be mainly a mystery series, but the fact that sorcery and magic is a big part of the world that Rowling builds is a reason why some parents would not let their children read the books. My step-niece was told that because there was magic inside the series she was not allowed to read the Harry Potter novels how ever much she wanted to. For years she wasn't allowed to read them, but I know now that she has been able to read them (or at least watch the movies). I always found it weird that when she did finally get into the Harry Potter series, Professor Snape is her favorite character, no matter how much evidence is stacked against him in the first two books. Despite how mean he is, he still did try to save Harry from that bucking broomstick, so I have to give her credit for believing in someone who always seemed to make Harry's life hard from the moment they met. But that's what you get when you judge people before you get to really know them.