Salman Rushdie / The Satanic Verses 1
Salman Rushdie – The Satanic Verses
Date written:
1988
Synopsis:
Arguably the most controversial novel of the late twentieth century, The Satanic Verses
was banned in India within a week of its publication, and within six months had given
rise to a virulent international controversy over the proper limits on ‘freedom of speech’
and the true place and function of literature in society. The Satanic Verses is the story of
two men, Gibreel Fasishta and Saladin Chamcha, who have survived the fall from an
exploding plane and started to develop distinctly inhuman characteristics as a result.
Rushdie’s narrative weaves as easily through modern Bombay and London as through
ancient cities of sand, taking the reader into shared dreams, mad pilgrimages, and the
violent birth of a new religion with keen insight and sharp irreverence that earned
Rushdie international notoriety, and far worse.
Notable figures:
Gibreel Farishta – A vain, mentally unbalanced Indian film star who takes on many
roles portraying gods. Adored by his fans and tensely tolerated by his industry colleagues,
Gibreel is finally thrown off balance by surviving the fall from the Bostan and, in his
dreamlike metamorphosis into his angelic namesake, wanders the streets as a
schizophrenic. Gibreel is arrogant, jealous, and sometimes dishonest, but his candor
about his own problems, even during dreams and fits of insanity, makes him a more
sympathetic character than he might otherwise be.
Saladin Chamcha – A voiceover artist and ardent anglophile, Chamcha’s transformation
turns him into a devilish, goatlike creature to match his shortened temper and anguished
disillusion with the western world and former Indian domestic life he believed to be
invaluable.
Pamela Lovelace – Saladin’s estranged wife, Pamela is a progressive activist and a
bombshell westerner whose growing dissatisfaction with Chamcha becomes clear to her
only after his reported death. When he returns, in his new goatish body, to find her
having an extended affair with his best friend, Jumpy Joshi, Pamela is unfazed and
unrepentant.
Zeeny Vakil – Saladin’s lover, a doctor and a political activist.
Mimi Mamoulian – Saladin’s partner/co-star in many of his voice
impersonation/voiceover gigs, Mimi is practical, vulgar and kindhearted.
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. New York: Picador, 2000. Salman Rushdie / The Satanic Verses 2
Rekha Merchant – Gibreel’s former (married) lover, who commits suicide with her
children when he leaves her. Rekha’s avenging spirit haunts Gibreel at intervals
throughout the remainder of the novel.
Alleluia Cone – A flat-footed mountain climber, Alleluia was once Gibreel’s lover but
ends up repeatedly saving his life when he winds up at her doorstep in increasingly worse
condition over the course of the story. Unfounded and explosive jealousy finally moves
Gibreel to murder Alleluia and his old film industry supporter, S. S. Sisoda, in the
gathering climax of the novel.
Mahound – The prophet representing Muhammed in Rushdie’s text, whose name is
taken from an old European slur on the Prophet’s name. Mahound is not portrayed as an
entirely unworthy character, but his human character flaws and growing lust for power at
any cost eventually overshadow his better traits. Mahound keeps a harem of twelve wives
with him, who through a brothel of women who appropriate their names, become
unexpectedly prominent characters in the text.
Salman – A lapsed believer and Mahound’s former scribe, he lost his faith in the Prophet
once he began deliberately changing the record of revelation, simply to see if Mahound
was enough of a prophet to notice the difference. When Mahound let the changes slip by,
Salman became disgusted and finally deserted the camp, coming to an uneasy alliance
with the satirical poet Baal of Jahilia.
Ayesha (I): the Prophet’s youngest and favorite wife.
Ayesha (II): A young concubine who takes on Ayesha’s name and gains the affections of
the disgraced poet Baal, posing as a guard in the brothel while in hiding from Mahound’s
forces.
Ayesha (III): A village girl and epileptic prophetess who led the people of her town on a
grueling foot-hike to Mecca, taking them straight into the sea she believed she could part.
Ayesha (IV): A cruel modern tyrant in Desh who has set herself against a powerful
Imam (representing the deposed Shah of Iran).
Bilal I: A former slave and faithful follower of Mahound
Bilal II: A fanatical acolyte of the modern Imam
Hind (I): The powerful, wrathful wife of Abu Simbel and longtime opponent of
Mahound, she converts once she realizes that Mahound has gained control of her city.
Having personally murdered Mahound’s uncle (ripping open his chest and eating his liver)
in revenge for slaying her brothers, Hind acts to save her own life and remains a follower
of the powerful sect until her death.
Hind (II): The avaricious, coldhearted wife of Muhammed Sufyan, who grudgingly
gives Chamcha shelter in her home.
Mishal Akhtar: Mirza’s wife, slowly dying of breast cancer, who forms an attachment to
the young prophetess Ayesha and insists on joining the march to Mecca over her
husband’s furious protests.
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. New York: Picador, 2000. Salman Rushdie / The Satanic Verses 3
Mishal Sufyan: Hind and Muhammed Sufyan’s oldest daughter, she supports the angry,
goatlike Chamcha through a painful time of coming to terms with his new body.
Some Minor Characters:
Karim Abu Simbel, Jumpy Joshi, Mirza Saeed Akhtar, Muhammed Sufyan, Khalid I,
Khalid II, Hanif Johnson
Book notes (Points of controversy):
On Saladin, the would-be Indian expat:
“Salahuddin Chamchawala had understood by his thirteenth year that he
was destined for that cool Vilayet full of the crisp promises of pounds
sterling at which the magic billfold had hinted, and he grew increasingly
impatient of that Bombay of dust, vulgarity, policemen in shorts,
transvestites, movie fanzines, pavement sleepers and the rumored singing
whores of Grant Road…” (37)
“ ‘Best place for you is here,’ [Sufyan] said, speaking as if to a simpleton
or small child. ‘Where else would you go to heal your disfigurements and
recover your normal health? Where else but here, with us, among your
own people, your own kind?’
Only when Saladin Chamcha was alone in the attic room at the very end
of his strength did he answer Sufyan’s rhetorical question. ‘I’m not your
kind,’ he said distinctly into the night. ‘You’re not my people. I’ve spent
half my life trying to get away from you.’ (261-262)
Sacrilegious portrayal of the Prophet’s revelation:
“It happens: revelation. Like this: Mahound, still in his notsleep, becomes
rigid, veins bulge in his neck, he clutches at his centre. No, no, nothing
like an epileptic fit, it can’t be explained away that easily; what epileptic
fit ever caused day to turn to night, cause clouds to mass overhead, caused
the air to thicken into soup while an angel hung, scared silly, in the sky
above the sufferer, held up like a kite on a golden thread…Gibreel begins
to feel that strength that force, here it is at my own jaw working it, opening
shutting, and the power, starting within Mahound, reaching up to my vocal
chords and the voice comes.
Not my voice I’d never know such words I’m no classy speaker never
was never will be but this isn’t my voice it’s a Voice.
…
Being God’s postman is no fun.
Butbutbut: God isn’t in this picture.
God knows whose postman I’ve been.” (114)
“Baal asked: ‘Why are you sure he will kill you?’
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. New York: Picador, 2000. Salman Rushdie / The Satanic Verses 4
Salman the Persian answered: ‘It’s his Word against mine.’ ” (381)
Whores taking on the name of the Prophet’s wives:
“How many wives? Twelve, and one old lady, long dead. How many whores behind the
Curtain? Twelve again; and, secret on her black-tented throne, the ancient Madam, still
defying death. Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy. Baal told the Madam of
his idea; she settled matters in her voice of a laryngitic frog: ‘It is very dangerous,’ she
pronounced, ‘but it could be damn good for business. We will go carefully; but we will
go.’ ” (392-393)
Gibreel’s lack of faith despite being the angel of the Prophet:
“Mr. Gibreel Farishta on the railway train to London was once again seized as who would
not be by the fear that God had decided to punish him for the loss of faith by driving him
insane. (195)
Immediately after this reflection he becomes involved in conversation with Mr.
Maslama, a pompous passenger seated next to him, who ends up knocking off G’s
hat, noticing a halo and affirming that if Gibreel is insane, the rest of the world has
gone insane right along with him:
“ ‘It’s a straight choice,’ he trembled silently. ‘It’s A, I’m off my head, or
B, baba, somebody went and changed the rules.’” (195)
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. New York: Picador, 2000. Netton / Text and Trauma 1
Critical notes: Ian Netton – Text and Trauma: An East-West Primer
“The Satanic Verses may be likened to a bubbling cauldron whose principal ingredients are
two people and three places.” (22)
On weighted names:
Gibreel Farishta / Jibrīl + Firishta / Gabriel + angel (22)
Saladin Chamcha / Salāh al-Dīn + chamcha / Medieval Islamic war hero + spoon/humble (23)
Azraeel / ‘Izrā’īl / Islamic angel of Death (23)
Jahilia / Jāhiliyya / “a state of ignorance; pre-Islamic paganism, pre-Islamic times” (23)
Bostan / Bustān / the garden (of Paradise) (25)
Mahound / Muhammed / Demonic European slur on the Prophet’s name (26)
Comparisons between the text and Islamic mythology:
“In conversation with Baal, a disillusioned Salman admits to altering the
revelations deliberately as he recorded what Mahound dictated.” (34)
“With the death of his father, Saladin is compared by Rushdie to the orphaned
founder of Islam, Muhammad, thus subtly linking him to previous chapters.
The difference, of course is that the Prophet of Islam was orphaned at a very
early age, whereas Saladin’s own orphaning is a product of middle age.” (38)
“Rushdie’s Gibreel in The Satanic Verses is a highly ambiguous figure. Very
much a ‘sacred link’, he is also portrayed as a flawed link, sometimes
seeming to merge with, or at least be reflected by, his very human namesake
Gibreel Farishta who is, in any case, ‘a symbolic angel.’ (123)
Opening revelation and miracles of some quality to all:
“Finally all the pilgrims reach the Arabian Sea and they enter it behind
Ayesha, wasing out of their depth. Ayesha, Mishal and the credulous villagers
appear to be dromed. However, those few who have survived the
expedition—like sarpanch, Osman, Sri Srinivas—give testimony afterwards
that at the very last moment the Sea did indeed part for the pilgrims.” (37)
On the legend of the Satanic verses:
“There are a number of variant traditions, but they do not alter the import of
what al-Tabarī narrated. And some scholars have accepted his version of
events. Watt, for example, notes that ‘at one time Muhammad must have
publicly recided the satanic verses as part of the Qur’ān.’ He finds it
‘unthinkable that the story could have been invented later by Muslims or
foisted upon them by non-Muslims.’…Elsewhere, Watts says: ‘The story is
so strange that it must be true in essentials.’” (85)
Netton, Ian. Text and Trauma: An East-West Primer. Oxford: Routledge/Curzon, 1995. Ramadan / Western Muslims and the Future of Islam 1
Critical notes: Tariq Ramadan – Western Muslims and the Future of
Islam
Points on scholarly and modern Islam:
On Sharia:
“If the idea of ‘establishing rules’ is indeed contained in the notion of
Sharia…this translation does not convey the fullness of the way it is
understood, unless its more general and fundamental meaning is referred to:
‘the path that leads to the spring.’ …We have seen that this corpus of
reference is, for the Muslim consciousness, where the universal is formulated:
God, human nature, which makes itself human by turning on itself and
recognizing the ‘need of Him,’ reason, active and fed by humility, and, finally,
Revelation, which confirms, corrects, and exerts a guiding influence.” (31)
On ‘an ethic of citizenship’:
“The concept of citizenship is fashionable. People want to vindicate it, defend
it, promote it, and extend it. It is the banner of the progressives and the badge
of ‘integrated’ people. To be honest, the concept of citizens is used to speak
of everything and nothing with the understanding that, in the end, there must
come into being a European/American-born Muslim citizen.” (165)
On inter-religious dialogue and difference:
“Difference might naturally lead to conflict; therefore, the responsibility of
humankind is to make use of difference by establishing a relationship based
on excelling one another in doing good. It is vital that the balance of power is
based not on a tension born of rejection or mutual ignorance but
fundamentally on knowledge: ‘O people, we have created you from a male
and a female, we have divided you into nations and tribes so that you might
know one another.’ Knowing the other is a process that is unavoidable if fear
or difference is to be overcome and mutual respect is to be attained.” (203)
Ramadan, Tariq. Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. LaHaye, Jenkins / Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days 1
Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins – Left Behind: A Novel of the
Earth’s Last Days
Date written:
1995
Synopsis:
For the protagonists of Left Behind, the Rapture is only the beginning of their troubles.
International conspiracies, supernatural interventions and murder mysteries bring
together an unlikely team of a star journalist, an airline pilot, a college student and a
formerly faithless pastor in their newfound faith and the sudden, pressing need to fight an
Adversary they never imagined possible.
Notable figures:
Cameron “Buck” Williams – A young superstar journalist, privy to international scoops
and cosmic miracles before reaching his mid-thirties. Buck is intelligent, aggressive and
skeptical, and is the most involved in the high-level politics of the novel.
Rayford Steele – A middle-aged airline pilot whose growing dissatisfaction with his
home life—including his newly religious wife—has driven Rayford into a mire of selfindulgent moodiness that is rudely shaken off when his wife and youngest son vanish in
the Rapture.
Chloe Steele – Rayford’s daughter flees Stanford after millions disappear into thin air.
Skeptical and candid but ultimately “feminine” and domestic, Chloe eventually follows
her father into accepting Christ.
Bruce Barnes – A lay pastor with all the requisite education but, before the Rapture, no
real faith. Now truly repentant, faithful and evangelical, Bruce is making efforts to win
converts to the church and combat the rising forces of evil that he suspects are now rising
in the world.
Hattie Durham – A flirtatious, somewhat vapid blonde airline assistant with whom
Rayford has been considering having an affair, Hattie is not an “immoral” character so
much as a confused and insecure one. She listens patiently to Rayford’s apology for his
conduct and explanation of his faith, but ultimately rejects his approach, finishing the
novel as Nicolae Carpathia’s personal assistant.
Nicolae Carpathia – A dashing young Romanian diplomat with a knack for sudden leaps
of power—from low-level representative to President of his country to leader of the UN,
Carpathia is eloquent, handsome, intelligent, and, in case it wasn’t glaringly obvious by
now, the Antichrist. Whatever dark designs he has for the world are easily masked behind
a confident, amiable façade rooted in deep-seated mind control abilities.
LaHaye, Tim and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers, 1996. LaHaye, Jenkins / Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days 2
Chaim Rosenzweig – A Pulitzer-prize winning scientist famous for a ‘miracle’ fertilizer
that helps almost all of Israel’s arid land to become incredibly productive and fertile,
Chaim is an old friend of Buck’s and a new fan of Carpathia’s.
Minor Characters:
Steve Plank, Todd-Cothran, Jonathan Stonagal, Eric Miller, Dirk Burton, Alan Tompkins,
Ken Ritz, Stanton Baliey, Lucinda Washington, Irene Steele, Ray Steele Jr.,
Book notes (political/Christian Zionist overtones to content):
- Disappearance of unborn – God recognizes the unborn as full human beings,
regardless of stage of pregnancy.
o NC as the only one in the book to distinguish the vanished unborn as “fetal
material” (255)
- NC’s one-world-govt. agenda, down to all the details:
o “this guy is real hot on getting the whole world onto one currency.” (82)
o Predictions for NC’s involvement in a world religion: “Remember my
telling you about the 144,000 Jewish witnesses who try to evangelize the
world for Christ. May of their converts, perhaps millions, will be martyred
by the world leader and the harlot, which is the name for the one world
religion that denies Christ.” (Bruce / 312)
- Distinguishing between “good”/moral young boys and “effeminate”
behaviors: “He wasn’t effeminate, but Rayford had worried that he might be
mama’s boy –too compassionate, too sensitive, too caring. He was always looking
out for someone else when Rayford thought he should be looking out for number
one.” (103)
- NC’s dubious, un-democratic (un-American) election style masking an
aggressive power grab: “Democratic elections became passé when, with the
seeming unanimous consensus of the people and both the upper and lower houses
of government, a popular young businessman/politician assumed the role of
president of the country.” (113)
- Very subtle praise of the Reagan administration:
o NC’s tongue-in-cheek criticism of the admin. for a diminished focus
on UN activities
o Chloe after hearing NC’s speech: “What a guy! ...I haven’t heard a
politician with anything to say since I was a little girl, and I didn’t
understand half of it then.” (Chloe, in her early 20s in the mid-1990s,
would have been a “little girl” during the Carter/Reagan years and likely
would only have remember Reagan’s speeches.
- Admitting unpopular labels (“Christian fanatic”) to oneself, then moderating
the outward face to keep an audience:
“ Hattie was dead silent for a long moment. ‘You haven’t become some kind of a
fanatic, have you?’
Rayford had to think about that one. The answer was yes, he most certainly had,
but he wasn’t going to say that. ‘You know me better than that.’ ” (281)
LaHaye, Tim and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers, 1996. LaHaye, Jenkins / Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days 3
- Portraying a media overtly hostile to sincere religion: “Israeli police and
military personnel have always been loath to enter this area, leaving religious
zealots here to handle their own problems.” (302)
- Idealized style of Buck’s conversion, not only to the faith but to the
political and social identity of a “born again Christian” all at once:
o ”Was it possible? Could he be on the cusp of become a born-again
Christina….Buck had read and even written about ‘those kinds’ of
people, but even at his level of worldly wisdom he had never quite
understood the phrase. He had always considered the ‘born-again’
label akin to ultraright-winger’ or ‘fundamentalist.’ Now, if he
chose to take a step he had never dreamed of taking, if he could not
someone talk himself out of this truth he could no longer
intellectually ignore, he would also take upon himself a task:
educating the world on what that confusing little term really
meant.” (396)
LaHaye, Tim and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers, 1996. Hendershot / Shaking the World for Jesus 1
Critical notes: Heather Hendershot – Shaking the World for Jesus:
Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture
Notes and examples:
Hendershot argues that “most evangelical media are not propaganda designed to induce
a political or spiritual conversion…more often, consumers are assumed to already be
saved.” (3)
On fundamentalist/evangelical history over the 20
th
century:
“…fundamentalist culture changed in response to the scopes trial in 1925
[and] went into hiding (all the while building separatist institutions of
education and culture), reemerged via the ‘new evangelical’ movement of the
late 40s, and reentered the wider public consciousness in the 70s.” (11)
Hendershot identifies a notable generation gap between different attitudes toward
Christian versions of secular media outlets:
“From the adult perspective, CCM [Contemporary Christian Music] works
either as a placebo for secular pop culture (according to Focus on the Family)
or as a wolf in sheep’s clothing (according to Swaggart).” (37)
On Left Behind (book and film versions):
“Both the book and the film focus on the adventures of journalist Buck
Williams and airline pilot Rayford Steele, but the book also includes
classic conspiracy theories about international bankers controlling the
world. In keeping with the Lindsey tradition, the Russians are evil. When
they want access to a miracle fertilizer, it is naturally assumed that they
should not have it: better they starve than eat and gain the strength to
resurrect their evil empire…Nicolae Carpathia (the Antichrist) speaks of
world peace, which fools the world into thinking he is good….Authors
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins write that Carpathia ‘displayed such an
intimate knowledge of the United Nations that it was as if he had invented
and developed the organization itself.’…Any reader familiar with the
political applications of prophecy theology will know right away that
Carpathia is the Antichrist…this is conspiracy theory lite.” (189-190)
Hendershot, Heather. Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2004. J.K. Rowling / Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 1
J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Date written:
1997
Synopsis:
The first installment in what was to become an unprecedented children’s publishing
phenomenon, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone chronicles the unlikely life of Harry
Potter, a British orphan raised by unfriendly relatives in a maddeningly ordinary suburb,
until a flurry of letters delivered by owls shakes up everything Harry thought he knew
about his life up to that point. Soon a half-giant named Hagrid has entered his life and
informed him that he’ll be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the
remainder of his formal education. At Hogwarts, Harry is introduced to a new life and
new friends, but is also compelled to face a dark past and a menacing new threat that has
come up at Hogwarts to loom over his future.
Notable figures:
Harry Potter – The brave, honest, but sometimes rash young protagonist of the book,
Harry’s parents were killed by the evil wizard Voldemort when he was very young. Harry
survived the attack and Voldemort subsequently vanished, earning him legendary status
in the magical community as “the boy who lived.”
Ron Weasley – Harry’s tall, gangly, red-headed best friend, Ron feels overshadowed by
his five older brothers (all high performers in one capacity or another), but doesn’t let his
insecurities get in the way of a healthy sense of fun. Ron is sometimes jittery and other
times hotheaded, but his honest good nature and comfortable familiarity with the
wizarding world make him a choice companion for the Muggle-raised Harry at Hogwarts.
Hermione Granger – A somewhat snooty bookworm, Hermione provides a sane, stable
counterbalance to the rash, rule-breaking male duo. Hermione was raised in a Muggle
family but her magical talents and learning abilities are formidable, and can help the
children get out of tight scrapes when they need to.
Draco Malfoy – Archenemy to the Potter/Weasley/Granger trio, Draco is a self-centered,
spoiled bully who schemes to get the protagonists into trouble with the authorities or even
physical danger when he can.
Albus Dumbledore – Hogwarts’ eccentric headmaster, Dumbledore plays a subtle
mentor role to Harry in direct and indirect ways. Dumbledore, although good-natured and
kind, is one of the most powerful wizards in the world and was the only wizard
Voldemort, at the height of his power, still feared.
Lord Voldemort – Once an evil overlord with tyrannical ambition in the magical world,
Voldemort vanished on the night that Harry Potter’s parents were killed. He is generally
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. First American edition. New York: Scholastic, 1997. J.K. Rowling / Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 2
hoped to be dead and assumed to be alive among the wizard community. Certain signs of
his resurgence overshadow the novel, and he reappears in order to attack Harry and
acquire the powerful, much-coveted Sorcerer’s Stone at the climax of the book.
Professor Severus Snape – A Potions teacher at Hogwarts, Snape has kept his old
enmity toward Harry Potter’s father, James, alive in the form of hating Harry Potter and
antagonizing him throughout his class. James Potter once saved Snape’s life, however,
and so Snape cannot bring himself to allow Harry to be harmed. Snape is brooding and
dislikable, but remains one of the most complicated characters in the series.
Professor Minerva McGonagall – Professor of Transfiguration and head of the
Gryffindor house, McGonagall is tough but fair, and tries to keep the often wayward
protagonists out of trouble.
Rubeus Hagrid – A kindly half-giant, Hogwarts gamekeeper and instant friend and
confidante to the protagonists. Hagrid is good-natured but blustery and careless, and can
let his immediate desires block out his overarching responsibilities or even his common
sense.
Professor Quirrell – Nervous and stuttering, Professor Quirrell seems an unlikely
candidate for Hogwarts’ Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but his harmless
disguise masks a predatory, calculative mind. Quirrell is later discovered to be hosting a
weakened, parasitic version of Lord Voldemort on his own body until Voldemort has the
power, throughthe Sorcerer’s Stone, to acquire a new one.
Some Minor Characters:
Crabbe, Goyle, Vernon Dursley, Dudley Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Neville Longbottom,
Fred & George Weasley, Percy Weasley, Peeves the Poltregeist, Nearly-Headless-Nick,
The Friar, The Bloody Baron, Professor Flitwick, Nicholas Flamel, Filch, Mrs. Norris.
Book notes (Points of controversy):
Name calling/ Insensitivity:
“Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very
fat and hated exercise—unless of course it involved punching somebody.” (20)
*
“ ‘Neville,’ Ron exploded, ‘get away from that hole and don’t be an idiot—’
‘Don’t you call me an idiot!’ said Neville. ‘I don’t think you should be breaking any
more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!’
‘Yes, but not to us,’ said Ron in exasperation. ‘Neville, you don’t know what you’re
doing.’ ” (272-273)
Profanity: “No post on Sunday…no damn letters today—” (41)
Promoting the impression that non-magical/ordinary is inferior:
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. First American edition. New York: Scholastic, 1997. J.K. Rowling / Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 3
“A Muggle,” said Hagrid, “it’s what we call nonmagic folk like them. An’ it’s your bad
luck you grew up in a family o’ the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on.” (53)
“I think Mom’s got a second cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him.”
(Ron, 99)
Gore and frightening images:
“ ‘Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?’
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn’t going at all the way he
wanted.
‘Like this,’ he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off
his neck and fell onto his shoulder and if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried
to behead him, but not done it properly.” (124)
Insubordination:
“Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch ‘that old git.’
‘an’ as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I’d like ter introduce her to Fang sometime.’ ” (141)
Rule-breaking:
“ ‘And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?’
‘Throw it away and punch him on the nose,’ Ron suggested.
‘Excuse me.’
They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger.
‘Can’t a person eat in peace in this place?’ said Ron.
Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry.
‘I couldn’t help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying—’
‘Bet you could,’ Ron muttered.
‘—and you mustn’t go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you’ll
lose Gryffindor if you’re caught, and you’re bound to be. It’s really very selfish of you.’
‘And it’s really none of your business,’ said Harry.
‘Good-bye,’ said Ron. “ (154)
*
“Do now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Hagrid if anyone
found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.” (233)
Real-live/historical occult references:
“Nicholas Flamel…is the only known maker of the Sorcerer’s Stone!” (219)
*Nicholas Flamel, the historical alchemist of the mid-fourteenth century, would
have been roughly the same age as Rowling’s character upon publication of the
book.
Dangerous flippant attitude toward death:
“Dumbledore smile dat the look of amazement on Harry’s face.
‘To one as young as you, I’m sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Rernelle, it
really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized
mind, death is but the next great adventure.’” (297)
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. First American edition. New York: Scholastic, 1997. Barthes /Mythologies 1
Critical notes: Roland Barthes – Mythologies
Notes and examples:
On the language and abuses of myth:
“The starting point of these reflections was usually a feeling of impatience at
the sight of the ‘naturalness’ with which newspapers, art and common sense
constantly dreeess up a reality which, even though it is the one we live in, is
undoubtedly determined by history. In short, in the account given of our
contemporary circumstances, I resented seeing Nature and History confused
at every turn, and I wanted to track down, in the decorative display of whatgoes-without-saying, the ideological abuse which, in my view, is hidden there.
Right from the start, the notion of myth seemed to me to explain these
examples of the falsely obvious. At that time, I still used the word ‘myth’ in
its tradition sense. But I was already certain of a fact from which I later tried
to draw all the consequences: myth is a language.” (intro / 11)
The assumptions that build the mythological landscape of America are not as common
as might be assumed. Powerful, media-driven subcultures have developed a language
and systems of thought that can vary radically from one to another—a partial culprit,
possibly, for the vehemence of the debates among religious and secular factions over
works of popular literature.
On modern criticism:
“To be a critic by profession and to proclaim that one understands nothing
about existentialism or Marxism…is to elevate one’s blindness or dumbness
to a universal rule of perception, and to reject from the world Marxism and
existentialism: ‘I don’t understand, therefore you are idiots.’
But if one fears or despises so much the philosophical foundations of a
book, and if one demands so insistently the right to understand nothing about
them and to say nothing on the subject, why become a critic? (35 / “Blind and
Dumb Criticism”)
A problem that clearly has not been solves since the mid twentieth century, pretending
to in-depth analysis of a text one has already declaimed as worthless is at the heart of
secular critical attacks on the Left Behind series just as much as religious attacks on HP
and TSV.
Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Trans. Annette Lavers. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972. Neal / What’s a Christian to do with Harry Potter? 1
Critical notes: Connie Neal – What’s a Christian to do with Harry Potter?
Notes and examples:
Introduction to the controversy:
Christianity Today editorial: “the literary witchcraft of the Harry Potter series has almost
no resemblance to the I-am-God mumbo-jumbo of Wiccan circles.”
From CT letter-to-the-editor responses: “It amazes me every time I read an article that
blatantly ignores God’s Word on the subject and would rather make decisions based on the
so-called gray areas of influence around us. The books by JK Rowling I find to be offensive
as they influence our children…I know from personal experience that it is not okay to
continue to allow our children to be influenced by the evil one and say that it’s okay as long
as they don’t overdo it. Moderation is the devil’s latest disguise for evil. Wake up!” (27)
One of Neal’s first examples of Christian concern over HP is the real ‘significance’ of
the character Dobby in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
“Those who had filed Harry Potter under children’s literature and had read
this book would probably be incredulous that Dobby was called demonic.
Dobby the House Elf is one of the funniest characters—if you are reading the
book out of the mental file marked ‘children’s lit’!” (54)
Neal goes on to examine “the significance of how we define terms within a story” and
gives examples of commentators who take certain elements of the HP story and
transpose them into the context of ‘real-life’ occult terms and practices, effective and
persuasive to anyone willing to accept the frame of reference they have imposed on the
books as appropriate.
CN differentiates between legitimate discourse over the potential harm or good that
may come from the books and unhelpful, counterproductive smear campaigns by those
caught up in the anti-Potter mania by citing a chain letter using a satirical article from
the Onion as a serious reference on HP’s influence among children:
“ ‘And here is dear Ashley, a – year old, the typical average age reader of
Harry Potter: “I used to believe in what they taught us at Sunday School,”
said Ashley, conjuring up an ancient spell to summon Cerebus, the threeheaded hound of hell. “But the Harry Potter Books showed me that magic is
real, something I can learn and use right now, and that the Bible is nothing
but boring lies.’
DOES THIS GET YOUR ATTENTION!!...It makes me physically ill,
people!” (104)
CN lists ways to deal with the dangers of using faulty or blatantly false arguments:
‘seek truth’, ‘use common sense and check the source,’ and ‘don’t rely solely on
someone else’s summary of these complex issues’ (108)—All common-sense advice that
Neal seems to find lacking in a significant portion of the Christian HP debate. She even
refuses to rebuke Rowling for her tongue-in-cheek response (during an interview with
Katie Couric) to overzealous Christian critics:
“A very famous writer once said, ‘A book is like a mirror. If a fool looks in, you can’t
expect a genius to look out.” (111)
Neal, Connie. What's a Christian to do with Harry Potter. New York: WaterBrook Press, 2001. Neal / What’s a Christian to do with Harry Potter? 2
CN lists a few of the inaccuracies and problems that arise when trying to compare C.S.
Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “good” fantasy to the secular “evils” of HP:
“Some may assume that because Lewis and Tolkien were Christian, their
faith curbed that which critics of Harry Potter object to today. However, this
is not the case. Some opponents extract tightly edited quotes from Rowling’s
books to prove their point. The same faulty tactics would likewise discredit
Narnia and other works of fantasy by Christians.” (120)
Later points: In order to realistically keep to a strong Christian faith while not stooping
to “talking like the devil” to discredit HP, it is important to take real steps to avoid
actual occult practices, and give children “armor” (don’t “build a wall”) to protect
them from a potentially harmful social environment while allowing them to interact
with the world on their own terms. Learn how to set boundaries and when to make
exceptions, and teach children how to understand the difference (as the characters in
HP learn throughout the course of the series). This way, children will have a strong
social education compatible with their faith, and they can learn to take healthy lessons
from the literature that they enjoy.
Neal, Connie. What's a Christian to do with Harry Potter. New York: WaterBrook Press, 2001.