AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF WHY THE HARRY POTTER NOVEL SERIES BY JK ROWLING APPEALS TO ADULT READERS
By Vickie L. Holt
Most people over the age of thirty can relate to watching Looney Toons as a child, then being amazed at the adult content upon watching those same cartoons again as an adult. For some adults, this realization shocks and appalls. For others, however, it delights. It allows the adult viewer to enjoy a whole new side of an entertainment they enjoyed in a completely different fashion as a child.
When Reading the Harry Potter novels, I somehow managed to skip the first perception and went right to the adult perception. I was able to see things like the myriad adult core plot themes and situations – such as social and political unrest – that hide just beneath the sheen of fantasy sugar coating and whimsical British phrasing. I explore Rowling’s adult-level approach to the writing craft, such as incorporating multiple and complex plot structures, elevated vocabulary, extensive character development and other complex techniques such as writing so the reader experiences the action through the physical sensations of a character, rather than simply narrating the actions and reactions. All elements almost never used by traditional writers of children’s fiction.
I was able to uncover the very serious and adult level elements of psychology, emotion, and other mature concepts. I also explore the adult level approach to violence, sex, humor and even profanity. Uncovering these seemingly controversial elements may seem as though I am trying to condemn the series, but in reality, I am uncovering the elements that made the series one of my favorite literary efforts. I may also be uncovering the secrets that might explain why over half the readership of this series is over the age of twenty-five.
The book will be divided into seven chapters, one for each novel. Each chapter will be divided into ten sections:
Exploring JK Rowling’s Writing Techniques and Methods
Exploring the Adults, the Adult Activities and Adult Situations
Exploring Mature Concepts
Exploring Harry’s Character
Exploring the Mature Approach to Emotional Situations
Exploring the Adult Level Psychologies Addressed in the Series
Exploring Passive and Active Violence, Pain and Hard Hitting Action
Exploring the “S” Word – Boy/Girl Relationships and Interactions
Examining Humor and Horror
Toppling the “G”: Exploring the Use of Profanity
Here is a excerpt from Chapter Three; the chapter analyzing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”:
Previous to “Prisoner of Azkaban”, wands were instruments of magical learning at best and tools of harmless mischief at worst. Even when one Hogwarts student wanted to do harm to another, nothing more dire than a transfiguring curse was used.
In the pages of Rowling’s third novel, however, the wand took on a much more sinister and serious role: that of weapon. Though it is already established that Harry’s parents were killed by Voldemort’s wand, Rowling had yet to portray wand use in this manner. Suddenly, in “Prisoner of Azkaban”, words like “armed” and “disarmed” began appearing with relative frequency. Harry himself aimed his wand at a man’s chest with the intent of firing something from it that would kill.
Because the characters use wands – a culturally distanced concept – a reader might not view such situations as dangerous. A small mental trick, however, might shed an entirely new light on the scenes in which wands are used this way: imagine the characters holding guns instead of wands. Don’t change any other wording on the page. Simply exchange the word wand for the word gun. The intent and application are no different, but suddenly a reader would be able to relate to and empathize with the scenes on a much more “close-to-home” level, and they would find these moments far more suspenseful, sobering and even breathtaking –
Perhaps it was the shock of Harry doing something so stupid, but Black didn’t raise the guns in time – one of Harry’s hands fastened over his wasted wrist, forcing the gun tips away; the knuckles of Harry’s other hand collided with the side of Black’s head and they fell, backward, into the wall.
…
Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his gun pointing straight at Black’s heart.
“Going to kill me, Harry?” he whispered.
Harry stopped right above him, his gun still pointing at Black’s chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black’s left eye and his nose was bleeding.
“You killed my parents,” said Harry, his voice shaking slightly, but his gun hand quite steady.
…
Harry stared down at Black and Crookshanks, his grip tightening on the gun. So what if he had to kill the cat, too? It was in league with Black… If it was prepared to die, trying to protect Black, that wasn’t Harry’s business… If Black wanted to save it, that only proved he cared more for Crookshanks than for Harry’s parents…
Harry raised his gun. Now was the moment to do it. Now was the moment to avenge his mother and father. He was going to kill Black. He had to kill Black. This was his chance…
The seconds lengthened. And still Harry stood frozen there, gun poised, Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest, Ron’s ragged breathing came from near the bed; Hermione was quite silent.
And then came a new sound –
Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor – someone was moving downstairs.
“WE’RE UP HERE!” Hermione screamed suddenly. “WE’RE UP HERE – SIRIUS BLACK – QUICK!”
Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks; Harry gripped his gun convulsively – Do it now! said a voice in his head – but the footsteps were thundering up the stairs and Harry still hadn’t done it.
The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Harry wheeled around as Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his gun raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, to Harry, standing there with his gun covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry’s feet.
“Expelliarmus!” Lupin shouted.
Harry’s gun flew once more out of his hand; so did the two Hermione was holding.
When wands are used in scenes like these, Rowling very firmly treats them as guns, even going as far as to use firearm lingo in association with them. Terms like “wand-hand” and “at wand-point” suddenly appear, along with phrases such as “covering” someone. During Harry’s first assault on Black, Rowling even had Harry perform the classic action-movie maneuver of grabbing the gun hand and twisting the gun barrel away. The mere fact that exchanging wand for gun did not change the meanings of any of these sentences, or indeed, the mood or intent of the scene, should reveal Rowling’s unmistakable intent to indicate that a wand is the wizard equivalent of a gun, with all a gun’s applications and graphic abilities.
It can also be said that by mentally inserting the word gun in this scene, the other elements of the scene can finally be realized as profoundly as they were intended. The depth of Harry’s fury and desire to kill Black can sink in as a sobering reality. The gravity of the entire situation and all its implications can also sink in. A reader can even come to understand the sheer scope of everything that was hanging in the balance: Harry could have killed an innocent man, the truth behind the murder of Harry’s parents could have been lost forever, and all three teen characters could have suffered injuries far worse than they’d already sustained.
In future novels, the gun comparison is not only continued, but appears with much more frequency and force, including a multi-wizard, battlefield-style firefight in “Order of the Phoenix”. Another thought to sober the mind from fantasy to serious action: every eleven-year-old child in the wizarding community is given a wand.