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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
Elizabeth Gardner wrote:
This is where it would help if you'd actually read the books. There's a very clear delineation in HP, as in Narnia, between good magic and bad magic. If you doubt good magic in Narnia, consider the chapter in the first book titled "Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time" and the magical properties of the gifts given to the children by Santa Claus, as well as the apple in "The Magician's Nephew" whose tree confers protective properties against the bad magic of the White Witch, just to name a couple of instances. In the latter case, the magic of the apple was only good if it was used for unselfish purposes; it became perverted into evil if someone tried to use it for himself. I do think a major difference between the books is that most (not all of Narnia) is set in another workd, not our world and many of the charcteres are not human. It may seem minor, but from a theological point of view, I can see where it makes a difference. Harry Potter s set in our world and it' snot really clear whther magicains are human or not. Having said that, as a Christian, I find nothing offensive about them. |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
In article ,
illecebra wrote: I know the Christmas tree was once the Yule log/ Yule tree and easter baskets were once Beltaine baskets... not sure where the bunny came from as my tradition doesn't have a bunny holiday. Susan The goddess Eoster had her feast day in the spring; she was often shown with eggs and rabbits (as signs of fertility). According to the website http://www.fionabroome.com/craft/ostara1.htm: Ostara has become a popular name for the Equinox festival. Some historians believe that the name comes from the Teutonic-Anglo-Saxon goddess of dawn, Eostre. The Equinox itself has sometimes been called Eostar. And although we can find similar names in other traditions, many of them come from cultures far removed from the Celtic tradition. These include "superwomen" such as the Babylonian Astarte, the Assyrian Ishtar, and Queen Esther from the Purim celebration. meh who loves to trace the origins of all kinds of traditions and symbols -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
A lot of books that appeal to kids deal with overcoming scary
challenges - its about trying on ideas in your imagination. Being independent and alone is quite scary for most kids. My kids (12, 9 and 5) have often expressed worry about having to grow up and deal with all the details of adult life and taking care of themselves. Reading stories about kids learning to take charge of their lives, figure out what kind of person they want to be, stand up for what they believe in even if it means taking a risk - I think this is a very safe, healthy way to start a kid thinking about those issues. One of the things I really like about the Harry Potter books is that not all adults are good, not every thing is fair, lots of things about the adult world and the culture of the magic world either make limited moral sense or are outright wrong, there is prejudice (i.e. against mudbloods and house elves). Harry (and its a particular theme of book 5) has to decide what kind of person he wants to be and recognize that even people he looks up to have flaws. I also like the premise that evil can exist in a society with the complicity of people who we might not think of as bad - and that because of cultural blinders we may not immediately see it, or may not want to admit it exists. A lot of what goes on in Harry Potter that is bad occurs with the support of the goverment, legal and social systems of the magic world (i.e.which have corruption in them, leading people to deny the truth, get jailed unfairly, the press to spin doctor to the popular opinion etc.). So, Harry has to be willing to see past authority figures and majority opinions and decide for himself what is really right. I really like that coming of age kind of theme. Mary G. |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
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