J. K. Rowling has created an incredible engaging, enchanting fictional world with Harry Potter. Certainly it is on the list of those I would most like to inhabit, and I'm sure that is true for many people. It's easy to read her fantastic descriptions and get swept away in wishing I lived in a land of flying broomsticks, magical transformations and hippogriffs. It all makes the real world seem a little drab in comparison.
Except that Rowling gives us Arthur Weasley. Affable Arthur, doting father and husband, just can't get enough of Muggles. He has spent his whole career investigating their inventions and trying to protect them. His enthusiasm for them is such that it can't help but rub off on readers a little bit. When he gushes about the ingenuity of the devices Muggles create for themselves, suddenly we see ordinary objects in a new light and appreciate how useful and clever they are. We see the beauty of regular people struggling through day-to-day life with no magical assistance, just hard work and determination. It's a helpful way of getting us to see that our own world isn't so bad after all, that it's just as beautiful in its way as any fantastical realm created by a brilliant novelist. Good for Rowling, having Arthur hold a mirror up to us so we can see the worth of our way of life so clearly.
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2 comments:
I love these thoughts. Very profound -- and you're right, what a lovely (and subtle) job JKR has done, getting us to see the different kind of "magic" of our own every day world.
I think it was John Granger (sorry, I know I cite him a lot, but I love his reflections!) :-) who first made me aware of how the phrase "Diagon Alley," besides just being a clever play on words, contained shades of meaning about how Rowling wanted her readers to see. He talked about Rowling looking (and having her characters and thus us also look) "slanted" at the world instead of straight on. In that way we find a new perspective...
I don't mind all the Granger references at all! ;) I really need to read his books one of these days... And I love how Rowling has gotten so many people not only to read, but also to read critically, carefully considering each sentence for deeper meanings...
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