NCUR Abstract

Abstract Title:

Ending Dualism at Hogwarts: Reading Harry Potter as Postmodern Apocalyptic Fiction

Name of Author, (Faculty Advisor), Department, Institution and Institutional Address

Ariana Tobias, (Nico Israel and Lee Quinby), English Department, Macaulay Honors College and CUNY Hunter, New York, NY 10065

Abstract:

The Harry Potter series ignited a debate within the American Christian community between fundamentalists, who believe the books are dangerously subversive to Christianity, and more moderate Christians, who emphasize the triumph of Christian values like faith, love, redemption, and the victory of good over evil. Both sides are perceptive, but neither tells the whole story. Apocalyptic morality, as set forth in the Book of Revelation, promotes hierarchy and dualism based on black-and-white absolutes like “good” versus “evil.” Similar binary classifications and accompanying value judgments have evolved to dominate Western perceptions of race, gender, sexuality, and religion.

Morality in Harry Potter, by contrast, isn’t simply about the struggle between good and evil; it’s the struggle to transcend the dualism that promotes conflicts of good versus evil. As Elizabeth Rosen’s work on postmodern apocalyptic fiction shows, some authors have challenged the legitimacy of moral systems based in apocalyptic absolutism. I argue that J.K. Rowling’s fictional metanarrative about prejudice in the wizarding world delivers such a challenge. Rowling offers a combination of the five traditional essential elements of apocalypse, a postmodern rejection of metanarratives of prejudice, and an emphasis on the power of love to create an alternative moral system that is not based on dualistic extremes, but, rather, transcendence of apocalyptic morality. My text-based analysis of the series demonstrates how Rowling achieves this without succumbing to the traditional apocalyptic paradigm–even when the “good guys” win.