Teaching Life Lessons
with Witches and Vampires
August
3rd 2003[ii].
Men, women, and children gather together around a burn barrel behind the local
Jesus Non-Denominational Church. A man walks up to the fire with something in
his hand and casually throws it into the flames. Harry Potter is followed by a Book
of Mormon, a non-King James version
of the Bible, the movie Coneheads,
and other books, movies, and CD’s. As the flames consume these books one has to
wonder what their chant was.
Book burnings are
neither new nor uncommon. Many examples in history show us that book burnings
were done since fire and the written word existed by those in power as well as
those who disagreed with certain works of literature. When books are not being
burned they are being criticized and put down for their content and presumed
messages. For the 21st Century the accused evil doers are the young
adult literary works of Harry Potter
and Twilight. These works have been
challenged by both Christians and parents for being pagan and desensitizing our
youth when in fact the positive effects of these two books have outweighed any
“bad”.
Thanks to overly
analytical parents like the author of “Defanged: once upon a time, the living
dead were scary” John Miller, books like Twilight
have been given a bad reputation of desensitizing our youth. He states in the
above essay, “A society that has trouble recognizing monsters in its art
probably will have difficulty identifying terrorists at its airports”(Miller).
I guess if that terrorist is pale, has fangs, is drop dead gorgeous and
sparkles in the sunlight my fifteen year old daughter might not realize who or
what he is. Other more realistic opinions such as those of the highly respected
Roman Catholic writer Michael O’Brien have also attempted to tarnish the
teenage love story. In “Twilight of the West”, O’Brien suggests that by giving
an “archetype of evil” morally neutral qualities our society is becoming
tolerant of the intolerable and accepting evil as an “alternative lifestyle”.
As a Christian also I agree with O’Brien that society has accepted too many
excuses for inexcusable behavior and that many intolerable things have become
tolerable but a YA book full of puppy dog love and silly girls like Twilight does not deserve that much
credit. What Harry Potter and Twilight do deserve however is credit
for getting the computer generation reading books again.
With the
introduction of home computers and their affordability in the 90’s children
began spending more time in front of a monitor than in a book. A study done by
The National Endowment of the Arts released in 2007 entitled “To Read or Not to
Read” states, “Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers” and “the
percentage of 17-year-olds who read nothing at all for pleasure has doubled
over a 20-year period”(To Read or Not to Read
7). The report complied of information from U.S. Department of Education,
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and The Higher Education Research Institute
of the University of California also showed that the nine year old reader’s
statistics really hadn’t changed over the 20-year period. In 1984 53% of 9-year
olds claimed to be daily readers, in 1999 54% were, and in 2004 the number
remained at 54%. The biggest change in numbers for the 9-year old category was
in 1999 when 10% of those interviewed who never read for pleasure dropped to 8%
by 2004. The first book in the Harry
Potter series was published in 1997 and became big in 1999. There was a 2%
drop in the never read for pleasure section during the time HP became a
superstar. I am not suggesting that it was Harry
Potter alone that got the kids reading again but he certainly had a
profound effect on the numbers. According to Maria Tatar, a Harvard University
Professor who teaches a course on the culture of childhood, “For a generation
of children schooled in computerized role-playing games and technical wizardry,
J.K. Rowling has conjured a rich world that is as dense in its elaboration and
as vast in its scope as any Web site…” (Tatar). Computers were turned off and
books had noses in them like the days before technology.
As for the
diminishing pleasure readers in the 13 and 17-year old categories Twilight had come just in time to curb
the steep decline. The National Endowment of the Arts released another literacy
study in January 2009 this time titled, “Reading on the Rise a New Chapter in
American Literacy” that showed an increase in pleasure readers “(ages 18-24)
[had] undergone a particularly inspiring transformation from a 20 percent
decline in 2002 to a 21 percent increase in 2008”(Reading on The Rise 1). The first Twilight
book was published in 2005 and became extremely popular by 2006. When the “Reading on the Rise” study was done
in 2008 Twilight had already sold 350
million copies and sparked dozens of other vampire books and movies (Bethune). Again, I am not suggesting that Twilight is solely responsible for the
jump in pleasure reading among young adults but it certainly had a big part in
causing interest in the printed word once more.
For some parents
and Christians however blaming Harry
Potter and Twilight for the breakdown of society is a little much. Instead
they choose to accuse the two literary giants of teaching today’s youth anti-family
messages. In “Muggles vs. the wizards” written for U.S. News & World Report by Angie Cannon and Adam Cataldo the
authors report of an angry mother of two who claims, “Harry Potter teaches you
it’s OK to get back at people” (qtd. in Cannon and Cataldo n.pag). Cannon’s
article also reports that The American Library Association had 52 challenges in
27 states to the book about the young wizard for reasons from depiction of
witchcraft to being anti-family. Twilight
too suffers from accusations of being anti-family with Bella being the
daughter of divorced parents who is shuffled from mom to dad because of mommy’s
new boyfriend (Just). In a day when divorce is no longer taboo or hard to have
done the definition of family has changed quite a bit. To call either story anti-family
is actually unfair. Harry may be an orphan who is being raised by an awful aunt
and uncle but the love, kinship, and sacrifices shared by Harry and his friends
at Hogwarts define the real “family”. As the mother of a Twilight junkie I can attest to the fact that Bella is told time
and time again that she is loved by both mom and dad constantly.
Reinforcement of
family values is not just a perk for the fictional characters of these stories
but for the real humans that read them. Both books have given opportunity to
create or strengthen the child-parent bond. Soon to be MLA President Michael Bérubé
gives his reader’s a peek into just such a child-parent bond with son Jamie in
his essay, “Harry Potter and the Power of Narrative.” Bérubé acknowledges that Rowling’s terrain is
not quite so rich and her “descriptive powers” don’t match that of some
literary greats but this means little when it is in fact her books that taught
his son what narrative is. He then introduces us to Jamie—his Down syndrome son. Bérubé explains that it is because he read Harry
Potter to his son that he began asking questions about innocence and
justice as well as understanding to a point false consciousness. Both of these
events are not typical Down’s syndrome behavior (Bérubé). Fathers reading to
their sons. Sons learning positive things about the world. Sounds pretty
constructive to me.
Father and sons
are not the only ones who are experiencing positive effects of wizards and
vampires in young adult literature. Mothers
and daughters too have found a common bond. In an article by Victoria
Advocate’s April Brandon entitled, “Twilight’-mania highlights society’s
continuing fascination with vampires” a mother and daughter duo explain to
Brandon that Twilight brought them closer together. Brandon claims that
in a stage in life when mothers and daughters don’t usually see eye to eye
there is now something they can agree on(Brandon). After taking my daughter
Emily to the midnight premier of Twilight back in November 2008 I read
all four books myself. Like Bérubé I have used character’s actions, thoughts,
and motives to explain life lessons to my teenager. Discussions of healthy love
and unhealthy obsession have taken place. The idea of a perfect boy or man has been
argued. Many of the gray areas of life have been laid out. Emily understands me
I think for the most part when I explain life’s little questions to her but
every now and then I draw on Bella, Edward, or Jacob to help translate adult
into teenager which gives me ethos as an understanding mom and our child-parent
bond superglue.
Perhaps the
loudest objection and the greatest evil that these two young adult books lend
to a good many parents and Christians as ammunition is the argument that they
portray witchcraft and monsters in such a favorable light that our youth will
be introduced to the occult or seek out more
information on vampirism. The August 3rd 2003 book burning
was the result of Christians believing Harry
Potter is evil. According to a Forbes.com
article by David Serchuk titled “Harry Potter and the Ministry of Fire” one of
the pastors of the Jesus Non-Denominational Church “. . . says that while he
hadn’t read the book, the cover alone showed him it promoted wizardry, adding
that Potter-related Web sites were gateways to harder stuff”( Serchuk). He hadn’t even read the book before he
decided it was burnable. Michael O’Brien however has read both the Harry Potter and the Twilight series and has come to the
conclusion that they were most likely influences of evil. O’Brien states in
“Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children’s Literature” that the portrayal
of “good occult powers” is really only blurring the lines between good and
evil. A loss of discernment is what O’Brien believes is the result of books
like Harry Potter and Twilight (O’Brien). I have to admit that reading Michael O’Brien’s essays on these
two books was enlightening in many ways. I found myself agreeing with him on
many different ideas one of which is, “The inevitable outcome is that with each
passing generation the exigency of God’s laws continues to fade in our minds as
the power of a Mammon-driven culture increases” (O’Brien). Amen my Christian
brother. However, God created the imagination. The imagination when used for
the greater good is a powerful tool to teach lessons that might not ever be
understood any other way.
The real world is scary. Scary for adults. Really scary for children.
The use of fantasy and monsters in literature gives young adults the tools
needed to deal with the real world monsters. Fantasy and monsters are after all
works of the God-given imagination. In the essay, “Mythic Stories and Inner
Growth” Jonathan Young states, “Some of the most valuable learning comes from
stories” (Young). Jonathan Young is a psychologist who created and chaired the
Mythological Studies Department at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and who has
written many essays and books on story and symbol. He also insists that, “The
things we learn from stories and dreams are very real in the sense that we find
important knowledge about ourselves, and how to get along with other people,
and how to make our lives meaningful”(Young). The authors of these two young adult books may
or may not realize they are teaching our youth valuable life lessons through
the use of their God-given imaginations, but they are. The Christian Research
Institute printed an article by a Christian couple, Mark and Carole Ryan,
titled “Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings: Good Stories or Fantasies That
Fail?” takes a Christian’s view of the above books and their movies, “The first
Harry Potter movie, like the books,
is not so much about wizardry as it is about friendship and courage to do the
right thing.”(Ryan and Ryan). As a Christian parent I know these are two
attributes I want my children to have.
Good characters
are not the only teachers in stories. The bad guys or dark situations have
their positive outcomes too. In commentary given by Jonathan Young on an
article for ABC News, “Worthy Adversaries: Villains Take Center Stage” by Sona
Charaipotra, Young explains, “We are drawn to movies that mirror this inner
tension out of a hidden need to face our demons”, vampires who choose to be
vegetarian can still be a threat but we all have inner demons that can be a
threat. Young continues this thought with “So, Watching a fierce enemy in a
movie can be an exercise in confronting the threats within”(Young). Watching or
reading about a vampire who is traditionally a fierce enemy who battles his
inner demons so that he can love a human girl more than himself speaks to many
teenagers. I watch my daughter and her friend’s struggle every day with
figuring out who they are. Where do they belong? What is their purpose in this life?
Edward choosing to love instead of to kill is a powerful lesson to those teens
that have no other options for explanation of this inner demon battle but by
Stephanie Meyer’s imagination.
May 10th
1933. Young men and women are gathered around bonfires at universities across
Germany. Every horrific event starts small. Hitler didn’t come into power over
night and Germany’s youth were not brainwashed in a matter of days. Fear,
ignorance and the right conditions all played a part in May 10th
1933. Fear, ignorance and the right conditions all played a part in the August
3rd 2003 burning—just on a smaller scale. Harry Potter and Twilight
have been challenged by Christians and parents for being pagan and blamed for
desensitizing our youth. While conducting these witch hunts and burnings the
positive outcomes of getting our kids to read again, child-parent bonds being
strengthened, and young adults learning to deal with real world monsters are
being disregarded. As a Christian parent I too have fears of what the world is
teaching my children. As a Christian parent I too disagree with most worldly
ways. But I will not accept ignorance for fact nor will I believe every Tom,
Dick and Harry who claims to be Christian to be telling the gospel truth. Life
is what you make it and if you want to accuse young adult literature books for
the sins in your life or the mistakes you make then I guess the books are of
the devil for he is the great deceiver. I choose to use the imagination of
others to reinforce the life lessons my children face every day. I think the
Christian couple who wrote a positive review for Harry Potter summed it up best, “…but such worldview is not
necessarily contradicted by the stories and can be coupled with the stories if
Christian parents discuss it within a Christian context.” (Ryan and Ryan) Amen.
Works
Cited
Bérubé,
Michael. “"Harry Potter and the Power of Narrative.” The
Common Review: The Magazine of the Great Books Foundation.14 June 2007.
Web. May 2010.
http://www.thecommonreview.org/fileadmin/template/tcr/pdf/berube61.pdf
Bethune,
Brian. “Love at first bite: a series about a romance with a tall, dark, handsome
and deadly stranger is a hit with sexually curious adolescents.” Maclean’s.
121.29 (28 Jul 2008): 53(3) Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 28
April 2008.
"Book Burning." Holocaust Encyclopdia.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 01 Apr
2010. Web. 21 May 2010.
Brandon,
April. “Twilight’-mania highlights society’s continuing fascination with
vampires.” Victoria Advocate. 19 Nov 2009:
n.page. Opposing Viewpoints Resource
Center. Web. 24 Apr 2010.
Cannon,
Angie, and Adam L. Cataldo. “Muggles vs. the wizards (the popular Harry Potter
books continue to have their detractors and defenders).” U.S News & World Report 130.20 (21 May 2001): 28.Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 29 Apr 2010.
Just, Julie. "The Parent Problem in Young
Adult Lit." The New York Times 04 Apr 2010: n. pag. Web. 21
Apr 2010.
Miller, John
J. “Defanged: once upon a time, the living dead were scary.” National
Review. 62.2 (8 Feb 2010): 27.Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.
Web. 29 Apr 2010.
National Endowment for the Arts, Office of Research
& Analysis. Reading
on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy. 2009.Web. 22 May 2010.
National Endowment for the Arts, Office of Research
& Analysis. To
Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence. 2007.Web. 22 May 2010.
O'Brien, Michael. "Harry Potter and the
Paganization of Children’s Culture." Catholic World Report. April 2001: n. pag. Web. 21 Apr 2010
O'Brien, Michael. "Twilight of the West."
studiObrien. studiObrien, 17 Dec 2009. Web. 21 Apr
2010. <http://www.studiobrien.com/writings_on_fantasy/twilight.html>.
Ryan, Mark & Carole Hausmann Ryan. "Harry
Potter and the Lord of the Rings: Good Stories or Fantasies That Fail?" Christian
Research Institute. n. pag. Web. 21 Apr 2010.
Serchuk, David. "Harry Potter and the Ministry
of Fire." Forbes.com 01 Dec 2006: n. pag. Web. 21 May
2010.
Tartar, Maria. "Reading magic(regardless of
what adults think of the books, children’s reading experience of the Harry
Potter books is valuable for them, and a positive phenomenon overall)." The
New York Times 06 Nov 2001: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 29 Apr 2010.
Young, Jonathan. "PerSpectives: Mythic Stories
and Inner Growth." The Center for Story and Symbol. folkstory.com,
Nov 2005. Web. 23 May 2010.
Young, Jonathan. Afterward. "Worthy
Adversaries: Villains Take Center Stage." By Sona Charaiporta. The
Center for Story and Symbol. folkstory.com, 27 Aug 2008. Web. 23 May 2010.
[i] The date and the event of Nazi youth burning books are
true according to "Book Burning." Holocaust
Encyclopdia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 01 Apr 2010. Web. 21
May 2010. Details of the event are added by the author for dramatic effect.
[ii] The date and event of the Jesus Non-Denomimational
Church burning Harry Potter books are
true according to Serchuk, David. "Harry Potter and the Ministry of
Fire." Forbes.com 01 Dec 2006:
n. pag. Web. 21 May 2010. Details of the event are added by the author for
dramatic effect.
