Harry Potter and the Moral Issues

  “Harry potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is a novel by JK Rowling that follows a young wizard who gets sent to wizard school with a strong reputation built upon by an evil wizard. Sounds like a typical kids adventure but becomes surprisingly deep through long moral metaphors, character studies and philosophy up the wazoo.

  It all starts with our main character, Harry Potter. Growing up in an almost Roald Dahl like family of obnoxious, cartoony and bratty side family, Harry easily becomes a saint and an easy character to relate to. He’s humble, polite and sweet as can be, open to anything and blind to most of the world’s issues. This is all in relation to his parents who unfortunately were killed by an evil wizard. You see a lot of them in him throughout the story and it’s apparent their presence is still within his conscience.

  Harry quickly becomes the most popular kid in school but somehow this doesn’t affect his ego. His best friends are a clumsy and dorky Ron Weasley and a Snobby Hermione Granger who are a fantastic trio for comedic and serious moments. They have major faults but Harry looks past that, friends are friends and while he easily could’ve become pals with the more popular students, he can’t ignore who his feelings relate to more. It’s more of a don’t judge anyone case which leads me to my next case.

  Draco Malfoy, the school bully that torments poor Harry and everyone in his class. This kid is a giant bugger but it never really goes beyond a casual rivalry to Harry (at least in this first book). Draco will bite back with insults and nastiness but Harry kind of just lets it happen. I think this is a definite theme of not giving judgment, Harry doesn’t really like this kid but he’s not going to stoop to his level and go off on him. It’s more of a “wow what a jerk” and the dichotomy of their feelings create a barrier of innocence to bullying.

  From contrast to judgment to morality, Potter displays its themes with tons of subtlety and thought making it relatable to the reader. If the six other books, film series and spinoffs proved anything, it’s that it did that job well.