J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter series are arguably the most prevalent books ever in children’s fiction literature, but also one of the most controversial due to its themes included throughout the seven books, especially “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. Repeated challenges have led some primary academic institutions to remove the book. While the ban of the book suggests that it is a fallacious approach to children, and the book itself should be deterred from children’s literature, it is debated that instead of banning the book it should be recommended and educated children to understand and concern about the value of the literary work. In the novel, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K.Rowling, several comments and press have been made about the book which cause schools and libraries to ban it because of its following themes: magic and the supernatural, challenging authority, good vs evil, identity and self-discovery, inclusivity and nonconformity.
Suppose there are magical and supernatural details throughout the book in particular and the series in general; however, the main purpose of the themes is not to promote witchcraft or the occult to children’s world. As a piece of literature, created for children, the book not only needs proper content and themes, but it is demanded to be engaging. Evidentlt, because of this challenge most schools and libraries have decided to ban the book, giving the reason that “They sympathize with some parent’s concerns about the ‘witchy’ props in the stories: the spells, the potions, and the pointy black hat.” (Knapp 2). Controversially, rather than being accused of promoting witchcraft to children, there are opinions suggesting that it is a subdetail of the novel in order to create an engaging sense of reading to young readers. A comment of doctor Knapp, in defense of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, supports this idea “In fact, The Harry Potter books exemplify three qualities I see as essential to great children’s literature: they are intensely engaging; they have significant literary worth, and they raise questions of deep significant to children’s social and ethical development” (Knapp 2). Furthermore, there are themes included in the book that help compensate for the accusations of witchcraft. Friendship and loyalty: In the novel, Harry’s bond with Ron and Hermione demonstrate the importance of friendship, loyalty, and trust throughout their adventure. Nowadays, children are able to have seamless access to the technological world which not only makes it easier to be affiliated with fallacious content like violence, drugs, etc. Ironically, people are more worried about their children getting promoted with witchcraft which we all acknowledge is unreal over those content on the internet. Therefore, the idea of banning the book due to witchcraft “subdetail” should be reconsidered.
Additionally, challenging authority is one of the reasons leading to the ban of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. In the novel, there are chapters where Harry, Ron, and Hermione often break rules to go on adventures, to do what they believe is morally right. Speaking upon this theme, several commenters evaluate this to be rebellious, fostering a sense of disobedience because it celebrates moral independence. Suppose this theme has too much to offer children, the circumstances which include challenging authority themes in the novel, however, do not present any moral failure. Firstly, to justify the reason which encourages Harry and his friends to manipulate the rules is they found out a potential threat of “Dark Magic” dwelling in the school. They took the responsibility to identify and address the threat for the sake of others in the school, not because of their rebellious character. This idea promotes the themes: The value of Bravery and Courage. As written in the novel, Harry and his friends were 11 years old, but they were able to recognize and encounter the threat. This particular idea should be introduced and educated to children in order to help them identify the good vs the evil and stand up for the right. Vikebo Thea brings support to the idea; “At no point in the story does the text imply that Harry’s young age hinders him in making right decisions. She has created a character that despite abuse and neglect has developed a good sense of right and wrong. Rowling also shows a will to trust that the readers have the capacity to make moral and ethical choices. The students stated that they appreciated the opportunity to discuss these topics.” (Thea 86). Therefore, we can not just refer to this theme and neglect those moral values to ban the book.
In conclusion, Although there are several comments and press have been made about the Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K.Rowling which cause schools and libraries to ban it because of its themes, there should be a further consideration being taken and studied in order to remove the novel. The book itself holds lots of literary and moral values to children; instead of removing it, recommending and educating children about the meaning of each theme in the book is encouraged for the sake of the future generations.