YAWN.
Good post - does put Harry in another light.
Yeah, it was, AMAZING. 
I’ve never heard this comparison before about literature and insanity, not even a dozen times, by intellectual frauds who think they’ve stumbled across something new. I’m waiting for the Harry Potter conspiracy theory next, and that Hogwarts is real Illumanti, Grand Wizard, real magic stuff. THAT will be an even better read.
I quite like shallow and pointless. 
It’s the mass-media version of ‘deep’ I can’t abide.
i dunno
the fact that she is involved in that lunar program does say something. but that type of new, magical world (possibly just imagination) is everywhere
I think its extremely unlikely that the book was intended by the author a to be about mental illnesses, and the evidence presented kinda sucked. For a start, care homes for the mentally ill are not normally ‘crazy, dangerous places’ - they tend to be reasonably mundane places with very heavy regular routines. Nor do mental care homes “pit students against each other in contests that are openly life-threatening”. And altogether, the books are several thousand pages long - the evidence presented simply isn’t nearly enough to conclude that the whole series was intended to be about mental illness.
If the books have a sub-aim, it is promoting tolerance of people and ideas that are different. There is a lot of stuff about this - the mudblood vs pureblood race debate, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, the Weasley family, S.P.E.W etc. A lot of time seems to be dedicated to making the reader identify with the outsider so that they in some way feel the effects of the bullying that goes on constantly in the books in one form or another. I think some of the ‘evidence’ for the book being about mental illness can better be put in to this category - for example: Luna Lovegood, the persecution of Harry after he saw the dementors etc.
There are a lot of ‘insane’ characters in the books - but again I think that is a part of the general aim to promote the idea that the extent to which people are normal and the extent to which they are good are not correlative. I think Rowling aimed to have a variety of characters, some from seemingly normal people from normal backgrounds (Malfoy, Hermione), some clearly insane (Beatrix de la strange, Mad Eye Moody), some from notciably ‘alternative’ backgrounds (Neville, Luna) and show that these things aren’t necessarily what we should judge people by. There is also a big message about not ‘going with the crowds’ -such as the stuff about the newspapers, persecution of Harry on several occasions for lying (when really he was telling the truth).
The main message is thus an anti-bullying moral - woven in to the story. I would describe most of the issues with insanity as being a part of the conveyence of this message.
If you want to tell me the books can act as a metaphor for mental illness - I’d agree but I think you need a more detailed discussion than the one given to really illustrate the point. But as the argument seems to be that Rowling wrote the books intending them to be about mental illness, I’m going to have to say that the case is too slim.
I always thought the 'shallow/deep distinction to be somewhat self effacing - as nothing is more “shallow” than the distinction itself.
Harry Potter is a good story. Stories are far from pointless - they are enjoyable, and they can expose you to new thoughts, feelings and ideas. They are something shared (people talk about them). We all tell stories to each other when we are communicating (in emails, down the pub, etc) - reading well told stories can help improve our ability to tell stories. In turn, this has a spectacuarly positive social function. Generally, we also use stories to teach kids (because they understand them) - be it a favourite story book or a tale about ‘that girl down the road who gave up school when she was 14’.
Obviously, being a ‘good story’ is a subjective thing - not everyone will like the same stories. But I don’t think you can call it ‘shallow’ or ‘pointless’ when its a story that so many people enjoy (the global scale of harry potter is unprecedented) and get a lot out of.
gunna have to agree with bravel
check this out
wolfgnards.com/index.php/200 … -s-day-off
same type of thing (most likely same type of real answer) but still interesting
The person who wrote this has not convinced me that she really has any more than a cursory knowledge of the series.
Clearly the Harry Potter series is in at least some sense a metaphor for mental insanity and successive institutionalized progression into self-destructive fantasy, whether the author intended it thus or not… seen in this light it does indeed reveal a new and very interesting perspective.
I can second the sentiment that the series just got a whole lot more interesting…
This theory has a lot of merit. I would like to add a few things to it, and make a correction.
Correction: The “perfect boy who is murdered” is named Cedric Diggory. Not Derek or Derk.
I would like to add to the theory presented to us, a few pieces of anecdotal evidence that I believe support this theory, and serve as a kind of “admit-all” by JK Rowling.
In the last book, Harry is repeatedly asked to face Voldemort on his on volition. He is taunted by Voldemort, has his most treasured possessions (those he loves, the school, etc) threatened repeatedly and told that if he doesnt face Voldemort, he will lose everything.
Following the theory that Voldemort is Harry’s alter ego that manifests itself from Harry’s rage and violence, the only way to truly destroy him would be to admit that he is real, to face him, on his, Harry’s, own accord, without someone else thrusting Harry on to Voldemort as is done in every other book.
The last book serves as the end of Harry’s insanity. The only time in the entire series that neither Ron, Harry, Hermione, or anyone really, is unable to say Voldemorts name at all without some consequence. This is Harry’s doing, of course. When people are on the verge of a breakthrough, they lash out at any and all attempts to associate themselves with their own insanity (i.e., Leo Di Caprio’s character in Shutter Island). Harry decides that no one can say Voldemorts name without his cronies showing up and “snatching” them. Harry is so close to a breakthrough that he is threatening even his closest personalities (Ron, Hermione) with violence should they even mention V’s name.
The Deathly Hallows represent Harry’s tools needed to stay within his own insanity.
1.) The Wand- The ability to destroy and and all things that counter him. The ultimate weapon to win any battle with for his own sanity.
2.) The Stone- The ability for Harry to constantly, at any time, recall all of those personalities or imaginary friends that his violent rage has killed.
3.) The Cloak- The ability to hide from the truth. The truth that he is insane, locked in a mental institution, trying desperately to cope with his past, and his more abhorrent present.
The story-line that Harry must either choose these “hallows” or instead to search and kill the Horcruxes, is one narrated, and furthered, by Dumbledore, Harry’s wise and omnimpotent alter ego. This is the part of Harry trying to “wake him up” to reality by killing each part of Voldemort so that Harry can then kill the final piece of Voldemorts soul. DD asks Harry to search for these pieces of Voldemorts soul. In order to expel V from Harry’s world, he must do this. And in the final book, Harry’s tormented and delusional psyche develops one last ditch effort to hold on to this reality: The creation of the Hallows. Supposedly one of the most famous stories in all of the wizarding world, yet no one other than a few crazies has ever heard of it? And certainly the existence is never revealed to Harry until the final book?
So basically the plot-line of the last book is really Harry’s back-and-forth with himself as to whether or not he should find the Hallows (the tools needed to stay in this alternate reality developed by his own Insanity) or to find the Horcruxes (The tools needed to finally destroy this alternate reality).
DD is the one who first realizes that Harry and V are the same person, and this news nearly destroys Harry when he is told by Snape at the end of the last book. It is at this point that Harry realizes that his alter-ego is the reason for all of this pain, suffering, and horror. And that to defeat it, he must face Voldemort own his own volition at the end for the final showdown.
IN order to do this, Harry must shed the hallows (remember these are used to keep Harry in his own insanity), by shedding his cloak and dropping the ring (V still owns the ultimate weapon, the Deathstick, because what is more appropriate than the worst part of your personality, the one keeping you in this insanity, to hold the last and final key needed to escape it?).
After Harry goes to face Voldemort, and is subsequently “killed”, he goes to a place that is white, timeless, super clean, and sees Dumbledore. He then asks him: Is this all in my head? Or is this not real?
To which Dumbledore replies: “OF course this is all in your head, but why should that mean that it isn’t real?”
It is at this point that Harry is faced with the truth he has denied for so long; that Voldemort is Harry’s alter ego, all steps to realize this have been taken, and it is now time to face him once and for all, with Harry’s sanity, and insanity, each hanging in the balance.
Harry goes back into Hogwarts and faces Voldemort. He destroys him, and in doing so gains the last and final weapon needed to destroy this alternate universe (the Elder Wand), and then destroys the wand, this last relic to his own insanity.
Never watched the movies. As a kid, my family banned me from reading the books or watching the movies because it was witchcraft. As an adult I saw the first movie which was dull and boring and didn’t see the second.
i dont buy the mental hospital theory either, insane patients have some connect to reality, most have glimpses of reality and would have some minor awareness they are in a mental hospital, such as in Sucker Punch. in harry potter, there is no such glimpse or schism. If anything it is just plain reality , or dreamlike.