6 The theme of Love and Death Harry Potter

6 The theme of Love and Death Harry Potter.

This article focusses on the key theme’s of love, death and friendship in Harry Potter, mainly focussing on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows however it can be used as an overview for the whole series of books. In introducing the article Killinger states:

“After thousands of pages of harry Potter’s story, it is clear now that this has been J. K. Rowling’s theme from the beginning: love, friendship, sacrifice, and eventually life. For it is life that springs out of harry’s gift of him- self: the life of self-sacrifice, the life that defeats death, the life of ongoing friendship.”

Showing that the main aim of this article by John Killinger is the sacrifice of Harry himself and how this reflects on life and defeating death.  Killinger looks at these themes in the Harry Potter series from a Christian perspective as he is an Executive Minister as well as a Theologian at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York. However the article itself is rather informal as Killinger opens the article by saying “Friends. Amigos. Chums. Companions. Mates. Buddies.” If this article was written for educational purposes and for the use of scholars at the Marble Collegiate Church, terms such as “chums” and “buddies” wouldn’t be used to address the readership. The use of these informal terms would suggest that the article was written with a more informal purpose, possibly to inform those attending the Church of the connections between Christianity and Harry Potter, therefore making Christianity more accessible to those of a younger generation.

Killinger then reinforces his belief that the Harry Potter books relate greatly to the sacrifice of Christ by comparing quotes and scenes from the children’s books to those of events in the Bible. For example the article displays how Harry Potter is ‘the chosen one’, Killinger states:

“If there was any doubt about Harry’s being created in the image of Christ, it is surely dispelled in The DeaThly hallows volume, where he is repeatedly called ‘the Chosen one’.”

The article also uses references to Jesus’ disciples via Ron Weasley, Hermione Grainger and Neville Longbottom. Killinger also likens Dumbledore and Professor McCongial to God and Sophia, God’s female counterpart. However for my research the most relevant part of the article occurs when Killinger suggests:

“Harry would eventually die like Christ. And indeed, in the final novel, he does. He dies voluntarily, as Christ did, literally presenting himself to Voldemort for execution. And then, as Christ did, he returns from death, this time to deal a mortal blow to the prince of darkness himself.”

Here is where Killinger makes his article relevant to the theme which I am researching, the theme of death. It is stated that Harry’s death at the end of the series is based upon the sacrifice Jesus made in order to save his friends, and the rest of humanity from sin. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry presents himself to Voldemort as a sacrifice in order to save his friends, students and teachers of Hogwarts and once again the rest of humanity from the dark ways of Voldemort. Death becomes the ultimate sacrifice.

The audience of this article is clearly Christians and those interested in how Christianity is relatable to contemporary art such as literature. However the easy access to the writing makes it accessible to anyone interested in the links between Harry Potter and the sacrifice, as I found this piece of writing by searching “Harry Potter and the theme of death”. No academic login or identification is required, therefore making the audience to be anyone who is interested, however, as said earlier, I do believe the main readership would be those who are interested in Christianity.

I believe this article to be useful during my research into how the theme of death is represented in the Potter books, as said before many links are made between scripture and the series of books. However in comparison to a literary criticism it is not as useful, no theories or theorists are explored in relation to Harry Potter and Christianity/the theme of death. Although outside of literary criticism this article could help the Christian readership deal with the idea that death is inevitable and that the main focusses in life, and the main focusses in the Harry Potter series, are those of love, life and friendship.