What Critics Have to Say 

Many critics have stated important views on the Harry Potter series. For example, John Granger thought the series was religious because one of the main focuses in the stories is death. Other Christian critics diminish the stories for supporting witchcraft. Lily and James Potter were the first sacrifice of these novels, and since then Rowling continuously features death within the story. Throughout the novels, many characters die like an important figure in the novels, Albus Dumbledore. Maria Nikolajeva says death “is a very common narrative hook.” In the Rowling books, she perceives death differently than we think of in common life. She implies that the dead aren't gone forever.  On another note, Rowling uses Voldemort to display murder as a safe thing. Voldemort uses Horcruxes to remain immortal which consist of dark magic and murder. “ The more murders are committed, the more Horcruxes there are,” which makes Voldemort safe from death and remains immortal.  It is clear Rowling uses death in these novels to interpret many different meanings. Rowling enhances character relationships with death by displaying the fear of death, the character development after the death of loved ones, and the dead is never gone forever. 

 Furthermore, Bruno Bettelheim views the series as a fairy tale due to the evil characters and good characters. Bettelheim talks about the themes and characteristics of fairy tales and their effects on children. Fairy tales contain characteristics such as “magic, optimism, distance in time” and themes including “duality of human nature, comprising both of animal-spiritual and the good-evil dichotomies, movement toward autonomy, and even birth and death.”  Bettelheim declares that children that read fairy tales receive a better understanding of their parents and themselves, and a better conception of good and evil. Children do not see gray areas. They only notice the good and the bad. “Albus Dumbledore versus Voldemort; Harry Potter versus Draco Malfoy, the sacrificial James and Lily Potter versus the selfish Vernon and Petunia Dursley” display character relationships that are considered good versus evil. Children can represent their mother and father as fairy tales characters. For example, the evil stepmother is the parent that encourages discipline and limits freedom while the fairy godmother is the parent that provides protection. In the books, many people serve as Harry Potter’s evil stepmother and fairy godmother. The Dursley’s would be considered the evil stepmothers in Harry’s life while Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore serve as the fairy godmothers.  Children can cope with their need for independence and their attitudes for their parents with the help of fairy tales. 

Nicholas Tucker says that books have the kind of structure from video games. Harry Potter has the structure of video games with the quests, magical creatures, and a plotline. The structure of Harry Potter creates questions based on the cross media that children receive information from. Literacy comes from many other places other than culture. Books have grown to develop into movies, games, comics, and the internet. The author thinks we need to consider how different literacies interact and how they connect. Cross-media has become more popular with video-games, novels, and movies. For example, The Lord of the Rings has developed through many media. Harry Potter has become pleasurable for children through many media as well. We have to take in consideration how the image of the work has developed through different medias. For example, how does Harry Potter’s loss of parental figures and  feelings of betrayal and abandonment affect children? The aspect of a werewolf has been developed through many different shows, comics, and novels. The image of a werewolf is different in every media. Rowling portrays the werewolf as an animal that loses control while turning into a wolf, but a helpful human. Remus Lupin was an authority figure to Harry, but turned out to be a werewolf. Many aspects of Harry Potter have been translated through cross-media.