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The Harry Potter novels are certainly formula fiction, and I wish sometimes J.K. Rowling would break free of that. Why not have Harry get kicked out of Hogwarts or venture out on his own? The novels are also sloppy on a lot of details, like most fantasy and science fiction literature these days. But deeper problems trouble me too. No character ever shows up who even dislikes this stodgy boarding school, with all its mindless rules and slovenly devotion to the way things have always been done, let alone asks any hard questions about the place. Why does Hogwarts exist? Is there any philosophy behind the school, or is it just a trade school for wizards? Why is Hogwarts so serenely bigoted and hypocritical, and why doesn’t anyone ever challenge that? I also can’t find any evidence of a wizardly moral code or any standards or values that would govern how wizards make decisions. Why shouldn’t an ambitious wizard follow the evil wizard Voldemort? No character even wonders out loud about the competence and integrity of the faculty. So one value in reading the series, I guess, is that it gives me a chance to talk to my boys about thinking critically beyond what an author provides.
Mark Dawson
