The controversy of the 1980’s and 90’s surrounding postmodernism has mostly died out. Elizabeth Rosen has convincingly argued, “to claim that postmodernism cannot appropriate the apocalyptic myth is to deny what has already been done. It can and it has” (Rosen 175). The challenge now, issued in the conclusion of Apocalyptic Transformation “is to recognize and understand it” (Rosen 175). Studying the Harry Potter series as postmodern apocalyptic fiction brings together John Granger’s nuanced understanding of the series as a postmodern Christian epic about the end of the doctrine based on schoolyard prejudices that divides the wizarding world (Granger, Bookshelf 105) and Elizabeth Rosen’s analysis of secular authors who challenge the legitimacy of moral systems based on apocalyptic absolutism from within the framework of the traditional apocalyptic narrative (Rosen xx). Recognizing the apocalyptic narrative in Harry Potter, therefore, sheds new light on Granger’s literary criticism and extends Rosen’s definition of postmodern apocalyptic fiction beyond the uniformly secular, even anti-religious, stories she discusses.
J.K. Rowling appropriated the structure of the Book of Revelation to challenge its black-and-white moral reasoning. Using Harry Potter to teach children about morality in a non-dualistic way could have important implications for helping us achieve democratic goals and move forward as a society beyond prejudice and “insistence on absolute morality, theologically justified patriarchy, and pre-ordained history with an (always imminent) End-time” (Quinby, Millennial Seduction 16).
