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“And some call me … Harry!”
I borrowed J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone from my
friend Jeff. Cute book and I can see why it would appeal to kids, in that
“These are not my parents there must be some mistake I'm probably a prince or
princess who has been kidnapped or something” way.
But I do have several questions about the underlying themes of the story so
if you don't want possible spoilers about this story, skip this entry.
The first has to do with Hogwarts itself. It consists of four houses, one of
which, Slytherin, is known to produce evil (or not entirely nice) wizards
(the most notorius being Voldemort, the wizard responsible for killing
Harry's parents.
I would think that after the whole Voldemort affair (which took place 11
years prior to the main story) that the Headmaster of Hogwarts would disband
Slytherin, especially since in the main story, most of the kids in that house
are of the most disagreeable sort.
The second has to do with the whole concept of Hogwarts. The wizards and
witches who attend seem for the most part to exist apart from the rest of
society, much like the obscenely rich seem to exist apart from the rest of
society and don't participate much in the affairs of mortal men (or something
to that effect). And the term the magically gifted use to describe those
lacking in the magic arts—Muggles—seems a bit, dare I say, racist? Perhaps
it's just me.
But on the whole, an enjoyable and fast read.
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