I disagree, but then I'm really critical of Rowling's work, so I may be biased.
I think there are some good values represented in the books, and that the character's seven years worth of growing up is as good a representation of one cycle of growth as any - but as far as a metaphor for initiation, I find it lacking quite a bit.
Harry overcomes personal demons, faces his fears and his adversary, finds his own strength and follows his heart, inspires his friends and draws strength from their support, and comes to understand himself and his relationship to his 'darkside' as it were. And that's all good and well. Harry never, however, turns his face to the higher order in his life - never seeks his inner self, never acknowledges a greater power beyond his magic (no K, Harry...), and never seeks transcendence or even begin to be led there. Either literally or metaphorically. Though the populace of the books ultimately (spoiler alert!)................................................. band together to collectively face the 'darkness' within their own ranks after stages of denial, disillusionment, fear, and righteous anger, they never acknowledge the problem itself, never turn their eyes towards the place of the darkness in their lives or the long term understanding of what they should be doing to understand how all of this happened in the first place.
The magic of harry potter is the setting, the background, the stage and props which are lent to the plot itself. It's given no great significance to harry himself, it's just an aspect of the culture in which he resides.
Beyond that, Rowling's writing style is juvenile and imprecise, her plot relies too much on coincidence and shock, sudden unforeshadowed turns of events, and too many adverbs. Being an aspiring fiction writer I've made quite a study of her work because of it's sheer success - it's largely a matter of clever marketing, she wasn't even the first to write this story. Good for her, work smart not hard, but as a writer she's not talented, just successful. They aren't the same thing. And in the end, she copped out, the mark of someone who never wanted to be a writer, just hit the right chord on the public nerve.
peace
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The world is complicated - that which makes it up is elegantly simplistic, but infinitely versatile.
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