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she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says:... more she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says: "Yes. I do-I do struggle with it. I couldn"t pretend that I"m not doubt ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them. But I would say yes" (Runcie). When Runcie asks: "Do you think there"s life beyond this of some kind?" Rowling quickly replies: "Yes, I think I do" (Runcie). Rowling is obviously not the text, yet we observe that her personal views and experiences affirm the morality found in the Harry Potter universe. However, for an author in our universe, whose seven volume work has been translated into sixty-seven different languages and whose last book, The Deathly Hallows, sold twentyone million copies within the first twenty-four hours of its release, success is an understatement. The fan circus and media craze surrounding Rowling is nothing short of other-worldly in the realm of children"s literature, fantasy literature and even the broader arena of novels. This phenomenal popularity and large audience has produced a number of critical voices: literary critics judging the novels as artistically weak and other critics praising their ingenuity and quality, worried Christians viewing them as occult and excited Christians, seeing them as wonderful tales of love, sacrifice and salvation, feminists arguing that the books are hopelessly chauvinistic and other feminists embracing them for their strong portrayal of female characters. These polarized critical voices have little in common. However, they share one thing, a strong opinion of the Harry Potter books. Thus the question arises: why such strong opinions of a series of novels? Two possible reasons immediately come to mind. First, the enormous popularity propels people to investigate its popularity, examine the content and determine if the popularity is well deserved. In other words, people feel compelled to search for rationalizations to explain the bombshell success. Second, the fact that the novels targeted children and youth, make people, seemingly by instinct, concerned about the content of the books. To varying degrees, the unspoken consensus seems to be that children are more susceptible to influence by literature than adults (or that the influence extended to children has more important societal consequences). Thus, examining the Harry Potter books, to determine whether the series advocate good or bad values, and whether they encourage good and proper tastes in literature, seems the right thing to do. My own interest in the books has similar rationalizations. I am intrigued by Rowling"s success and the populous readership. Considering the popularity of the novels, they must, by default, on some level, reflect something that the audience likes. It seems impossible that they should only contain literary elements, attitudes and values that are repulsive and disgusting to the readers. The popularity, in combination with a fascination with the many strong reactions the books have provoked, and a love of the, to me, enjoyable entertainment the Harry Potter books provide, sparked my interest in the moral universe of Harry Potter. No story is morally neutral, just like no story is void of ideology. In his essay,

she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says:... more she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says: "Yes. I do-I do struggle with it. I couldn"t pretend that I"m not doubt ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them. But I would say yes" (Runcie). When Runcie asks: "Do you think there"s life beyond this of some kind?" Rowling quickly replies: "Yes, I think I do" (Runcie). Rowling is obviously not the text, yet we observe that her personal views and experiences affirm the morality found in the Harry Potter universe. However, for an author in our universe, whose seven volume work has been translated into sixty-seven different languages and whose last book, The Deathly Hallows, sold twentyone million copies within the first twenty-four hours of its release, success is an understatement. The fan circus and media craze surrounding Rowling is nothing short of other-worldly in the realm of children"s literature, fantasy literature and even the broader arena of novels. This phenomenal popularity and large audience has produced a number of critical voices: literary critics judging the novels as artistically weak and other critics praising their ingenuity and quality, worried Christians viewing them as occult and excited Christians, seeing them as wonderful tales of love, sacrifice and salvation, feminists arguing that the books are hopelessly chauvinistic and other feminists embracing them for their strong portrayal of female characters. These polarized critical voices have little in common. However, they share one thing, a strong opinion of the Harry Potter books. Thus the question arises: why such strong opinions of a series of novels? Two possible reasons immediately come to mind. First, the enormous popularity propels people to investigate its popularity, examine the content and determine if the popularity is well deserved. In other words, people feel compelled to search for rationalizations to explain the bombshell success. Second, the fact that the novels targeted children and youth, make people, seemingly by instinct, concerned about the content of the books. To varying degrees, the unspoken consensus seems to be that children are more susceptible to influence by literature than adults (or that the influence extended to children has more important societal consequences). Thus, examining the Harry Potter books, to determine whether the series advocate good or bad values, and whether they encourage good and proper tastes in literature, seems the right thing to do. My own interest in the books has similar rationalizations. I am intrigued by Rowling"s success and the populous readership. Considering the popularity of the novels, they must, by default, on some level, reflect something that the audience likes. It seems impossible that they should only contain literary elements, attitudes and values that are repulsive and disgusting to the readers. The popularity, in combination with a fascination with the many strong reactions the books have provoked, and a love of the, to me, enjoyable entertainment the Harry Potter books provide, sparked my interest in the moral universe of Harry Potter. No story is morally neutral, just like no story is void of ideology. In his essay,

she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says:... more she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says: "Yes. I do-I do struggle with it. I couldn"t pretend that I"m not doubt ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them. But I would say yes" (Runcie). When Runcie asks: "Do you think there"s life beyond this of some kind?" Rowling quickly replies: "Yes, I think I do" (Runcie). Rowling is obviously not the text, yet we observe that her personal views and experiences affirm the morality found in the Harry Potter universe. However, for an author in our universe, whose seven volume work has been translated into sixty-seven different languages and whose last book, The Deathly Hallows, sold twentyone million copies within the first twenty-four hours of its release, success is an understatement. The fan circus and media craze surrounding Rowling is nothing short of other-worldly in the realm of children"s literature, fantasy literature and even the broader arena of novels. This phenomenal popularity and large audience has produced a number of critical voices: literary critics judging the novels as artistically weak and other critics praising their ingenuity and quality, worried Christians viewing them as occult and excited Christians, seeing them as wonderful tales of love, sacrifice and salvation, feminists arguing that the books are hopelessly chauvinistic and other feminists embracing them for their strong portrayal of female characters. These polarized critical voices have little in common. However, they share one thing, a strong opinion of the Harry Potter books. Thus the question arises: why such strong opinions of a series of novels? Two possible reasons immediately come to mind. First, the enormous popularity propels people to investigate its popularity, examine the content and determine if the popularity is well deserved. In other words, people feel compelled to search for rationalizations to explain the bombshell success. Second, the fact that the novels targeted children and youth, make people, seemingly by instinct, concerned about the content of the books. To varying degrees, the unspoken consensus seems to be that children are more susceptible to influence by literature than adults (or that the influence extended to children has more important societal consequences). Thus, examining the Harry Potter books, to determine whether the series advocate good or bad values, and whether they encourage good and proper tastes in literature, seems the right thing to do. My own interest in the books has similar rationalizations. I am intrigued by Rowling"s success and the populous readership. Considering the popularity of the novels, they must, by default, on some level, reflect something that the audience likes. It seems impossible that they should only contain literary elements, attitudes and values that are repulsive and disgusting to the readers. The popularity, in combination with a fascination with the many strong reactions the books have provoked, and a love of the, to me, enjoyable entertainment the Harry Potter books provide, sparked my interest in the moral universe of Harry Potter. No story is morally neutral, just like no story is void of ideology. In his essay,

she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says:... more she believes in both God and an afterlife. When asked by Runcie if she believes in God, she says: "Yes. I do-I do struggle with it. I couldn"t pretend that I"m not doubt ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them. But I would say yes" (Runcie). When Runcie asks: "Do you think there"s life beyond this of some kind?" Rowling quickly replies: "Yes, I think I do" (Runcie). Rowling is obviously not the text, yet we observe that her personal views and experiences affirm the morality found in the Harry Potter universe. However, for an author in our universe, whose seven volume work has been translated into sixty-seven different languages and whose last book, The Deathly Hallows, sold twentyone million copies within the first twenty-four hours of its release, success is an understatement. The fan circus and media craze surrounding Rowling is nothing short of other-worldly in the realm of children"s literature, fantasy literature and even the broader arena of novels. This phenomenal popularity and large audience has produced a number of critical voices: literary critics judging the novels as artistically weak and other critics praising their ingenuity and quality, worried Christians viewing them as occult and excited Christians, seeing them as wonderful tales of love, sacrifice and salvation, feminists arguing that the books are hopelessly chauvinistic and other feminists embracing them for their strong portrayal of female characters. These polarized critical voices have little in common. However, they share one thing, a strong opinion of the Harry Potter books. Thus the question arises: why such strong opinions of a series of novels? Two possible reasons immediately come to mind. First, the enormous popularity propels people to investigate its popularity, examine the content and determine if the popularity is well deserved. In other words, people feel compelled to search for rationalizations to explain the bombshell success. Second, the fact that the novels targeted children and youth, make people, seemingly by instinct, concerned about the content of the books. To varying degrees, the unspoken consensus seems to be that children are more susceptible to influence by literature than adults (or that the influence extended to children has more important societal consequences). Thus, examining the Harry Potter books, to determine whether the series advocate good or bad values, and whether they encourage good and proper tastes in literature, seems the right thing to do. My own interest in the books has similar rationalizations. I am intrigued by Rowling"s success and the populous readership. Considering the popularity of the novels, they must, by default, on some level, reflect something that the audience likes. It seems impossible that they should only contain literary elements, attitudes and values that are repulsive and disgusting to the readers. The popularity, in combination with a fascination with the many strong reactions the books have provoked, and a love of the, to me, enjoyable entertainment the Harry Potter books provide, sparked my interest in the moral universe of Harry Potter. No story is morally neutral, just like no story is void of ideology. In his essay,