Upon Reading the Last Installment of Harry Potter

3 February 2008

Within last week, I was reading two books at the same time. The first one is The Lord of The Rings. I have been reading the book for over than 2 years. I began reading it in 2006 but then decided to stop in the middle since I lacked interest and I did not have enough time to read. After working in the Embassy and living in such a close proximity to my office, I had the time to read again, so in early 2008 I began reading it again. That is why it has been taking me two years to read the book and I haven’t finished yet.
The second book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It took only four nights to read the book although the length of the two books is nearly the same. Definitely, Harry Potter charms me more than The Lord of the Rings.
I don’t know whether I have been getting older or something, but it was certainly difficult to remember the exact details of the previous installment of the Potter series and I got lost several times while reading the seventh volume.
There are some parts of the plot that make me ponder. The first one is the striking resemblance of Mr. Potter and Christ. I don’t know what you think, but I certainly see a strong similarity in the way both died and defeated death. How could Ms Rowling made a character that is ‘predestined’ to die and then decides to follow that path in total obedience only to find that death does not conquer him and then is gloriously resurrected from death to defeat his arch foe. This is just way too Christian for me. It reminds me of a friend at Randwick Presbyterian Church who is doing her PhD dissertation in film studies to investigate the representation and imagery of Christ in modern movies. I bet if this last installment of Harry Potter goes to the wide screen, she is going to include that in her dissertation.
The second one and the last one is the conversation between Mr. Potter and Prof Dumbledore. It is in what Prof Dumbledore says about himself that makes me ponder. A high-achieving student, Dumbledore was sad to find himself trapped to take care of her ill sister upon the death of his mother. He dreamt of higher things, of greater things and finally got the change because his sister accidentally died (despite the fact he might have had a share in her death). He also said that he, despite being an exemplary person and an awesome academic, did not want power. Power tends to corrupt. This fact he knows too well so he decided to be happy as a Principal of Hogwarts rather than venturing into politics and became the Minister of Magic.
To a large extent, I suddenly felt a strong resemblance with Mr. Dumbledore. As a high achieving-student in my entire academic career, upon finishing my master degree I also feel trapped now. I am not trapped because I need to take care of anyone. In fact, I have always avoided the responsibility of caring for someone else. This is why I am wifeless at the moment. I feel trapped because of my routine activities. I have lost pride in anything that I do lately. All activities feel empty and just repetitions. This is what happens when somebody lost a reason for being and a goal for achieving. Sounds rather depressing? Well, don’t be depressed. I think I will come to that stage when I say I have had enough of trying to achieve anything further and would probably settle for something that will not make me crazy about power and money—something that will just keep me content of what I have. This probably also means accepting routines and rather empty activities. Probably, adult life is just like that—being content with what we have and grateful that we have gone so far and achieved so much and lacking that enthusiasm that was in youth and teenage years.
My Christ and Mr. Potter obeyed the path prepared for them. I should probably also follow the path that is meant for me and hopefully that path will also lead to conquering death and being resurrected with all the saints.