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The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us about Moral Choices

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This book is the most carefully studied, in-depth look at Harry Potter that I've found. It not only discusses the books' morality, but relates it to Rowling's use of history, legend and myth. It is a must for Harry Potter fanatics, but if you haven't read them yet and still want to, save this one for last.
I would recommend it to anyone who prefers to read books with substance and without platitude. It's clear, concise style would make it a useful tool for any teacher whose students are reading the Harry Potter books. "The Wisdom of Harry Potter" has a wonderful way of showing how philosophy can be interwoven with literature.
Any parents who've had doubts about their children reading Harry Potter will find this an excellent resource. And I would go so far as to challenge any of those people who want to ban these books from their children's libraries to find fault with the logic of this book.

"Harry Potter" is a popular, but very controversial series. From accusations of encouraging witchcraft to complaints about the book's social themes, there has been much criticism of the series, despite its massive appeal. In "The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us about Moral Choices," Edmund M. Kern presents a defense against the criticisms and succeeds brilliantly. His defense is comphrensive, thoughtful, detailed and well-organized. He even goes further, providing background on the series and offering his own analysis of the books' themes. Although his references to the books occasionally contain small errors in detail, it is obvious that he has read them and it helps that he is also a parent. (Although he stresses that his book is not just for parents, but anyone who's interested in a thorough analysis of the series' themes.) He has also held discussions of the series on the radio.

Edmund M. Kern posits to great effect that the themes of the books are an example of modern-day Stoicism. He develops this theory nicely in the first three chapters, while also touching on other themes and other critical analysis of the books. The fourth and fifth chapters tackle both the religious and social criticisms of the books. Kern exposes many flaws in arguments against the series. uses examples from the books along with intelligent commentary to reassure those who don't know what to make of the idea that the series corrupts readers or demonizes them somehow.

Kern shows that imagination is the key to this series greatness. While it may not present a perfect society, it is very real in many ways, and readers can relate to it. I recommend this book for any "Harry Potter" fan interested in a well-written defense of the series.


I hope this book is someday updated, because right now, it has only a brief analysis of "Phoenix" and, of course, nothing on "Prince."

Kern's easy-to-read, educated analysis allows us to relive the stories while seeing how they build confidence and self-understanding through Harry's choices, based on values rather than outside pressure. 50-some years old, left brained and typically interested in non-fiction, I started reading the Harry Potter books because I admired so that they made kids interested in reading. I believe reading is the key to a child's futures and I wanted to understand the motivation these books were giving young people. So far, I've loved 5 of the Potter books and the 6th one is on order. I also gave the Potter fever to my 74-year-old Dad and brother, a tough 34-year-old in prison who read and then passed them around to other inmates! He said, "Now I see why Mom loved to read." Then I found and read the Wisdom of Harry Potter by Edmund Kern, drawn by the great art on the cover, subtitle and Table of Contents - not to mention Kern's credentials and Introduction. The Wisdom of Harry Potter made me feel great for "choosing" to delve into Rowling's stories. Mr. Kern deserves 10 stars for sharing his brilliance so delightfully!

I thouroughly enjoyed this book by Edmund Kern. He does a great job of encapsulating the morality of Harry Potter. Excellent use of resources and summarizing other books written on Harry Potter. The book is written in easy to read sections and is understandable to those who have not taken philosophy courses. Great for parents who enjoy the stories and want to explain to their children what moral decisions Harry must make and the morality of the decisions he does make. Though one hasn't had to have read the HP books before buying this one since Kern's book summaries of books 1-5 are excellent. This is a great starting point for any parent who has wondered, "Should my child read Harry Potter?"

The author points out that the HP books have no overt religious or political messages, a factor certainly contributing to their tremendous success. A book explicitly endorsing a certain viewpoint would not have as many readers. HP is akin to most of the great works of western literature, for adult and child, whether Shakespeare or Dickens, Tolkien or Lewis (many references to them). Such books have a moral center, without being preachy. And their moral center is conventional western liberal morality, as developed in the last two centuries.

The book contains a synopsis of each book up to Order of the Phoenix, just released in time for the author to include it. The last two books are not included.

The author finds that HP is based on the Athenian virtue of stoicism, imaginatively updated by Rowling. A stoic chooses good over evil, avoiding extremes of emotion, and reconciles him/herself to inescapable circumstances, even if bad, without lamenting what cannot be. The stoics rejected compassion, according to the author, because compassion prevents the administration of justice. The stoical ideal was an even balanced view of everything. A stoic had to cultivate neutrality in the service of justice. The author writes that the HP books contain this normative stoicism by stressing the acceptance of death, steady moral character, endurance in the face of difficulty and threat, ability to deal with frustration, self discipline, self sacrifice, perseverance. HP departs from traditional stoicism in stressing empathy and compassion, and activity, even when it seems pointless. Our hero continues to fight despite overwhelming odds.

The books give children the age-old satisfactions of folklore and fairytale - reconciling the existence of evil and good, addressing the need to be simultaneously independent of and cared for by adults. In the stories, the children take monumental actions on their own, but adults hover to help or sometimes hinder. The author refers to Bruno Bettelheim's theory that fairy tales help children deal with fear and evil and autonomy. The hero's parents are long dead. The HP hero has surrogates, good and bad, Dumbledore, the Weasleys, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, the Dursleys, Sirius Black. There are two kinds of evil in the books, evil by nature, evil by choice. We are not told the source of the evil (or the goodness), but we see its effects and various ways to respond to it, as in Tolkien and Lewis.

Like many readers, the author asks why Slytherin is a Hogwarts house (As readers know, the members were not trusted to oppose Voldemort in the final battle). The author answers that the problem of living with evil cannot be entirely avoided, since it is a permanent part of the human condition. The author discusses other themes as well: rule following versus rule breaking, emotion v. reason, inherited predisposition v. acquired adaptability. As in life, a thing tends to be consistent to itself, but not always. So, centaurs tend to be aloof from human problems but Firenze is not. Giants tend to be violent, but Hagrid is not. Harry is an ordinary boy, but he is a great wizard.

The author cites to Joseph Campbell's and Otto Rank's writings on the hero. The hero must mature and learn many lessons, but a large part of his abilities are inborn and inherited. Harry is a great wizard naturally. He inherits wealth (probably from his father's side). But he comes to Hogwarts totally ignorant of the wizarding world. His talents and his natural goodness require cultivation. (Though abused and unwanted by those who rear him, Harry is good; though treated kindly at the orphanage and Hogwarts, Voldemort is bad).

Rowling has written an updated fairy or folk tale. The books are placed in world of bourgeois England. Each character lives in a present that is the consequence of past events. Rowling poses real life ethical problems and the eternal struggle of good and evil. At the same time, Rowling employs elements of history, legend, and myth to create her magical world.

Chapter 4 looks at critics. One group of critics finds the series not imaginative enough, another too imaginative. The former is the liberal group, the latter the religious group. (I was already familiar with religious objections, but not as to the other, so the discussion was very interesting.) The liberal critics find the books not revolutionary or reflective of alternative progressive value systems. Nuclear families and marriage are presented as the desirable norm. Rowling does not critique the (supposedly) elitist culture of boarding school. The characters shop too much, and there is no call for political action, for radical changes of the status quo. (Ron utterly rejects S.P.E.W.; Harry has more sympathy with Hermione, but does not explicitly endorse freeing all the house elves.) Critics charge that Rowling promotes cultural hegemony in that her values are consistent with the western political, social, and economic mainstream, re hierarchy, gender relations, and diversity. The books pretend to be accepting of diversity but are really exclusionary and conservative. Thatcher and Blair are invoked.

Re the gender issue, Kern points out that there are good and bad males and females. Hermione, Ginny and McGonagall are smart and brave, Draco Malfoy and his father are cruel, Lockhart is a vain fool. Yet, the author must admit that the liberal critics are mostly correct. The series does not advocate revolutionary action. Social problems of injustice and inequality are addressed but not in ways overtly related to particular ideologies except in being rooted in what we regard as normal and middle of the road, that is, western European political philosophy. The HP morality is personal not political or religious, it is a moral system based on cultivation of the individual, instead of sweeping political change or religious affirmation. The values are basically what we call old fashioned, kindness, generosity, bravery, endurance, tolerance, but not utopian. Hogwarts is diverse racially (and one of the referees at the Quidditch match is Egyptian). But like Britain at the time the books were written, Hogwarts is mainly "white"(and nominally Christian. The characters celebrate Christmas and Easter and carols are sung. Harry imagines his parents in the Godric Hollow church. Thus HP is solidly representative of most western literature).

Other critics decry from a Christian religious viewpoint. HP is too strange and eerie, it promotes magic, the good characters break rules and lie, there is no God or divinely sanctioned moral order, no call for faith. The author says that Rowling wrote a moral tale, not a moral treatise. Magic in HP is not bad or good; it can be used for either end. The characters must make moral choices between what is good and what is easy. Like many secular works, the HP books nonetheless contain themes related to or born out of religion: alienation and reunion, fall and redemption, birth and death, afterlife. Any attention to morality and the problem of evil implicitly summons comparisons to religious issues, because religion is concerned with ethical problems. Then there are those who see the books as Christian allegories. The author has no problem with this, but points out that the stories need not be read that way to be meaningful and enjoyable. Harry is a classic fantasy hero, on a heroic quest in a story type that is thousands of years old. The story is not dependent on religion but is consistent with religious values.

Chapter 5 (fascinating) is about the extensive use of western myth, legend and history. The author congratulates Rowling on her naming facility: Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Cornelius Fudge (for a government minister), Crabbe and Goyle, Draco Malfoy, Nearly Headless Nick, and of course the English ordinariness of Harry Potter.

Historical figures include Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle, who actually lived, and Paracelsus. Characters named after the historical/mythical include Minerva McGonagall, Sybil Trelawney, Remus Lupin, Hedwig, Ron, which is the name of King Arthur's spear. Mrs Norris is the name of the mean aunt in Persuasion.

The magical categories are taken from "real" magic: horoscopes, divination, dream interpretation, transfiguration, arithmancy, herbology, potions. Legendary/mythical characters populate the series: (veelas,) elves, fairies, gnomes, goblins, pixies, boggarts, grindylows, kappas, red caps, dragons, basilisks, giants, centaurs, griffins, mermaids, sphinxes, the three headed dog (Cerberus), the phoenix. Real creatures like owls and snakes are used for their mythological associations. (To the reader, it is obvious that Rowling engaged in extensive research and she has said that she spent many hours in the library).

This is a wonderful work, well researched and fascinating...