Most of the criticism of the Harry Potter books as immoral or teaching immorality comes from the Christian Right. Members of the Christian Right are in fact the source of most attacks on Harry Potter in general, but those attacks tend to be couched in sectarian religious terms. Critiques of the books’ morality have the potential to attract wider support, thereby creating an argument that may be accepted by more people.
Critics of the Harry Potter books point out that the main characters who are supposed to be “good” are consistently and regularly portrayed as breaking all manner of ethical rules like those against lying, cheating, and stealing. They also regularly break school rules against behavior like going out at night, using magic in the Muggle world, and so forth.
Such unethical behavior is almost never punished and it’s rare for the characters to agonize even a little bit over their decisions. If rules stand in the way of what they want, they break the rules and don’t give them a second thought. This, however, is also how the “evil” characters behave. It’s true that the evil characters ignore the rules in order to achieve evil ends (like dominating others), while the “good” characters ignore the rules in order to achieve good ends (like stopping the evil characters), but their behavior in pursuit of those ends marks them as more similar than is appropriate.
A truly “good” person would follow the rules and use “good” to stop evil, not behave the same as the evil characters. Otherwise, the project is corrupted and the “good” people end up just as bad as the evil ones. Evil should not be fought with evil because once you get used to using evil, even for ostensibly “good” ends, it’s hard to stop. Children who read the books are thus being taught the wrong lessons about ethics and ethical behavior.
Background
People should care about the material their children are exposed to. Parents may be the most important influence on a child’s life, but the various books, video games, movies, and television programs a child experiences will play a role in their character development as well. That such media influences children is not seriously questioned; where debates arise is over the extent and nature of that influence.
Because of the incredible growth of the popularity of Harry Potter, it’s only natural that the phenomenon of “Pottermania” would attract some extra attention. Children can experience the Harry Potter characters and stories via video games, movies, toys, and a multitude of other products. The aggressive manner in which major corporations have marketed and even exploited Harry Potter is itself a subject of some concern.
Even if we restrict ourselves to the books alone, there is widespread evidenced that children of all ages have become engrossed by the stories and characters in a manner that is almost unprecedented in modern society. Scholastic, the publisher of the Harry Potter books, also publishes study guides to help teachers use the books for teaching lessons in schools. Children have reported themselves to be mesmerized, fascinated, and even obsessed with the Harry Potter books. Many children can’t get enough of Harry Potter, his friends, and his adventures in the wizarding world.
Harry Potter matters because children’s literature and children’s education matter. The incredible popularity of Harry Potter means that it cannot and should not be ignored. If there is a problem with what the Harry Potter books teach children, parents need to know about it and find ways to deal with it.
