This weekend I finished reading the seventh Harry Potter in French. Cannot get over how good the story is, no matter the language. Different parts always hit me everytime I read it. This reading the themes of power spoke out in conjunction with the parallels to what happened in the First and Second World Wars and/or what is happening/happened in various arab spring states. Grindelwald and Voldemort in their lust for power destroy destroy destroy. The race for a pure blood state is much like the holocaust or what have you massacre of ethnic/religious minorities. Rowling paints very deep and heavy stuff in the background of the story in the midst of the Harry Potter storyline in order to help readers connect to historical and present day issues regarding power and tyranny and evil.
How does that relate to Advent?
Well, I could always connect Grindelwald and Voldemort to Herod who committed similar atrocities after the birth of Christ. Or the fact that Christ came to earth in order for the world to be righted- he came to be the Righteous Ruler who would be Just and rule correctly. No more evil tyrants, no more fear, no more death. And while Christ's fight with death happened in those three days when he descended into hell after his crucifixion, it all had to start with His birth. Just like Harry's journey to conquer Voldemort began with him surviving the killing curse as a baby, Jesus's rise to supremacy over death began in an inauspicious stable with dirty animals and hay. Our journeys to become right with God through Jesus's sacrifice also follow suit: we are said to be born (again) in Christ and we fight evil and temptations of power and pride, learning to sacrifice ourselves like Jesus and Harry Potter. And when we fail, we repent and have remorse and know that Christ is Lord of all and will reign and right all wrongs. In Advent, even when we see examples of injustice and grave misuses of power, we remember and reflect on and yearn for Christ's second coming to Power to Restore Good to the earth. Come, Lord Jesus! Come! May we humbly serve you and not be tempted by power and pride! Keep us lowly, like the ox and the lamb who witnessed!!! your birth. May we look for you in lowly places and be content to find you there.
Also, as a side note, some perks of reading HP in French, besides picking up some vocab and grammar, are reading the "frenchified" names of main characters. Crockdur is fang, hagrid's dog; Terrier is the Burrow (okay, that's a bit literal of a translation); Crackmols are Squibs, Serpentard is Slytherin; Rogue is Snape and the list goes on. I guess you have to be a person that loves words and etymology to get why reading harry potter in two languages is such a feast. Tolkien did the same thing in LOTR which was overkill(anglicizing already sort of anglicaized names, really?)... read the annex at the end of return of the king... He made the names of merry and pippin and frodo super complicated. Oh, how I love morphemes! in english and french!
ALso, i finally logged onto pottermore- oh dear. what a time waster. must resist making potions- seriously, it's target population is 12 year olds... why am I suddenly wanting to earn as many house points as i can doing inane potions and spells? new fast: pottermore!
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