HogPro Mailbag: Correspondence with Augustana Students

I get a lot of mail from readers and from folks who have heard my talks. I delight in that and its the reason I beg readers at the end of every book’s introduction to write and pass out my business card at lectures I give. Correspondence means a continued conversation and, inevitably, I learn more from those who write me than they get from me.

Tomorrow I will post a selection of letters I have received in the last month or so to give you a taste of what pops up in my inbox. It’s a full range — from the occasional nutter who thinks I’m not fit to kiss Ms. Rowling’s feet to the graduate student who thinks I am insensitive to the mentally handicapped. Today, though, I want to share the questions from one class of students at Augustana College. I was privileged to speak at their retreat held in the castle of Stronghold Conference Center (foto above) in Oregon, Illinois, earlier this month.

Their questions were not about my talk but the papers they had to write. I volunteered my help in this cause at our group farewell and a bunch of them — one the night before the draft was due! — took me up on this offer. What follows is our written “question and answer” session — we had a live Q&A over dinner one night that was a blast — and a selection from the Retreat Evaluations sent to me by the retreat leader and course instructor, Pastor Richard Priggie.

Hi Mr. Granger,

I’m a student in Augustana College’s Harry Potter class.  I really enjoyed your presentation this weekend, it was so eye-opening!

I was unable to ask you a question at dinner so here goes…is Dumbledore a wise and compassionate mentor who guides Harry from beyond the grave or is he a flawed character who deceives and manipulates Harry in order to meet his own ends?

Thank you!

Dear C —

Alas, he is both and neither!

Quite the complicated character — and the either/or question creates a false dichotomy. You’ll need to show how he is both these descriptions, how each description misses the mark, then create a synthesis position that comes closer to the real Headmaster.

Hope that helps! Thanks for writing!

Grateful John, beginning to unpack from Stronghold

Hi Prof. Granger!

I met you this past weekend at the Harry Potter Augustana Retreat. I asked about Ginny Weasley and feminism.

As we were reading your Deathly Hallows Lectures, I was kind of confused about the Philosophical Orphan. Why wouldn’t the marriage between quicksilver and sulphur be Tonks and Lupin instead of Bill and Fleur? I understand about the marriage and joining of France and England, but Tonks and Lupin got married between the sixth and seventh books, a marriage before the rubedo. Also, they are the ones to have the Philosophical Orphan and not Bill and Fleur, even though Victoire and Teddy end up getting together in the Epilogue.

Also, if Rowling does everything for a reason, what was the point of Ginny and Harry during his birthday? Was it just the classic tale of ‘boy has something to fight for because he has something to come back to at home’?

My final question is about Petunia. Why did Petunia never have a Dudley moment with Harry? Dudley opens up to Harry about how he’s not a waste of space, but Petunia never says anything, even though she clearly would have something to say, especially after the fifth book when she refuses to kick Harry out of her house after the Dementor attack. It seems a bit like a missed opportunity.

Thank you so much again for meeting and talking with our class! It was really eye opening!

Hi, Ch!

Hasty Inline notes below —

John

I met you this past weekend at the Harry Potter Augustana Retreat. I asked about Ginny Weasley and feminism. I remember!

As we were reading your book, I was kind of confused about the Philosophical Orphan. Why wouldn’t the marriage between quicksilver and sulphur be Tonks and Lupin instead of Bill and Fleur? This isn’t an ‘either/or’ thing, right?

I  understand about the marriage and joining of France and England, but Tonks and Lupin got married between the sixth and seventh books, a marriage before the rubedo. So they also qualify.

Also, they are the ones to have the Philosophical Orphan and not Bill and Fleur, even though Victoire and Teddy end up getting together in the Epilogue. Again, this also means they satisfy Red King/White Queen requirements and suggests they may be a better couple, but it doesn’t exclude Bill and Fleur, right?

Also, if Rowling does everything for a reason, what was the point of Ginny and Harry during his birthday? Was it just the classic tale of ‘boy hassomething to fight for because he has something to come back to at home’? I’m guessing you mean the Deathly Hallows scene in which Harry kisses Ginny and Ron interrupts. I have assumed that was included to show that the Harry-Ginny break-up was not voluntary or superficial but made despite their great love for each other.

My final question is about Petunia. Why did Petunia never have a Dudley moment with Harry? Dudley opens up to Harry about how he’s not a waste of space, but Petunia never says anything, even though she clearly would have something to say, especially after the fifth book when she refuses to kick Harry out of her house after the Dementor attack. It seems a bit like a missed opportunity. It seems Aunt Petunia just wasn’t equal to that. I thought this was a very realistic treatment by Ms. Rowling; Vernon and Petunia Dursley have their moments but they are defined by their resistance to change and to seeming to embrace ‘differences.’

Thank you so much again for meeting and talking with our class! It was really eye opening! Thank you for writing and for my most recent and best Augustana experience! John

Hi,

I was one of the students that attended the Augustana ‘a journey to hogwarts’ two weekends ago. I was impressed with all the insight you had of the books, and I was hoping you could help me out with my case making paper.

I was wondering what your opinion is about house elves and magical creatures being important characters that affect the story’s resolution in a significant way, or that house elves and magical creatures are stock figures in the story and play minor roles in the major themes of the story.

Thank you for taking time to answer all of the kids in my class’ questions.

Sam

Dear Sam, if I may,

Thank you for your kind letter!

I urge you to Kathryn N. McDaniel’s essay, The Elfin Mystique: Fantasy and Feminism in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series, for insights about house-elves and their importance to the books. It was published in a Collection of essays called Past Watchful Dragons, edited by Dr. Amy H. Sturgis. I think this essay reveals how much the house-elves are a metaphorical vehicle of both Ms. Rowling’s postmodern message and her message about postmodernism, i.e., the subjection of minority groups by the powerful and the error in thinking that liberation is an answer in itself. Dobby as a Christian every man in this context is especially meaningful because he transcends his house-elf nature through his belief in and sacrificial service to the Chosen One.

I  hope that helps! Thanks again for writing —

Gratefully,

John

Hi Professor Granger,

I was wondering if you’d have any insight on my topic for my Potter case making essay. My topic is on whether Hogwarts school and the set up is a model educational institution or a school which has nothing to offer its students. I’ve compiled a few sources for this subject already but I was just hoping you would have some helpful information.

Thanks!

Al

Dear Al,

Good morning!

If I were writing this essay, I think I’d try to do three things:

(1) Make a brief case that Hogwarts is a student paradise in which every class is practical rather than conceptual (except History of Magic?), no one is forced to come, and a collegial spirit reigns within each house;

(2) Make the contrary case that Hogwarts is a satire of our failed educational institutions and compulsory state schooling with certification and test taking (OWLs,NEWTs, etc.) their primary function and the sorting and branding of individuals arbitrarily and destructively their goal; and

(3) Conclude with a synthesis of these contradictory views by reviewing how Albus Dumbledore works (or benignly neglects…) to foster the paradise and dull the effects of the conveyor belt process, inter-house nastiness, and individual branding.

I hope that helps! Thanks again for writing —

Gratefully,

John

Hello again. Sorry I happen to hit the wrong key while i was typing and it sent my message before I was done.

First off I wanted to say it was really nice meeting you at the Harry Potter retreat last weekend and I really enjoyed learning about ring composition. I went and explained to my aunt and roommate this past week. I also wanted to ask you to explain something you had written in “The Deathly Hallow Lectures.”

The quote is ” Harry Potter isn’t the gateway to the occult but a portal to a lifetime of edifying reading..” The moment I read this I decided that this would be the topic for my paper and I was wonderingyou could explain a little more in depth about what you meant by that statement. Thank you so much!
—
Anna

———-
Dear Anna,

” Harry Potter isn’t the gateway to the occult but a portal to a lifetime of edifying reading..”.

Four quick Portal points (for the full version, go to LuLu.com and purchase Harry Meets Hamlet and Scrooge):

• Harry is a portal to a lifetime of edifying reading because, through Harry, a new reader gains the skills necessary to enter into and appreciate the Greats of English and World liyerature;
• … because, through reading Harry, the reader gains the experience of self-transcendence in reading which creates in turn the appetite for more such reading experiences, and, I might add the expectation that future reading experiences will deliver this engagement with supra-personal, edifying reality;
• … because, in the Hogwarts Saga, the reader encounters, often for the first time, a variety of literary genres, often for the first time, from alchemical drama and the Schoolboy novel to the juvenile mystery and English High Fantasy, creating a portal into those worlds; and
• … because, in reading Harry, a reader gains not only an introduction to previous Greats but a lens through which to understand them better.

On this last, ponder the quotation below (from the book linked above). Hope this helps! I recommend for your paper you develop these assertions as arguments with citations from the seven novels. May God smile on your efforts —

Fraternally,

John:

This organic relationship between talent and tradition is what makes Ms. Rowling’s novels the perfect gateway to great reading. As F. R. Leavis wrote about Jane Austen:

In fact, Jane Austen, in her indebtedness to others, provides an exceptionally illuminating study of the nature of originality, and she exemplifies beautifully the relations of ‘the individual talent’ to tradition. If the influences bearing on her hadn’t comprised something fairly to be called tradition she couldn’t have found herself and her true direction; but her relation to tradition is a creative one. She not only makes tradition for those coming after, but her achievement has for us a retroactive effect: as we look back beyond her we see in what goes before, and see because of her, potentialities and significances brought out in such a way that, for us, she creates the tradition we see leading down to her. Her work, like the work of all great creative writers, gives a meaning to the past.[i]

[i] The Great Tradition, F. R. Leavis, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, New York University Press, 1973, p. 5

Hello there Mr. Granger,

I was one of the students that was in Pastor Priggie’s class for the Harry Potter retreat.

I was just wondering if you could tell me what you think about Snape as a double agent?

Do you think that he really did care about Harry because he was a connection to Lily or was he just going by Dumbledores plans so Lily wouldnt have died in vain? Your opinion on any other Snape matter would be helpful as well if you have the time!

Thanks

MG

Dear MG,

Your prayers this Great and Holy Tuesday.

Isn’t the draft of this paper due tomorrow? You’re cutting it close!

I think the story we are told in the Prince’s Tale, chapter 33 of Deathly Hallows, pretty much lays it all out. Severus loved Lily and was devastated by shame for his role in her death. He made a vow to protect her son that was unbreakable even if not made with the formulaic binding spell. His sacrificial bravery as a double-agent and care for Harry’s safety, though he despised the living image of James Potter, are consequences of his love and the vow he made to Dumbledore.

Care about Harry as a connection to Lily? Yes and no. Only acting in conformity to DDore’s wishes? Again, yes and no. Severus was not a nice man but his love and the sacrifices it demanded of him, essentially his life, redeemed him.

Frankly, it’s something of a parable or transparency of the life in Christ. Except for our identification with the God Who is Love, the Light of the World, we are just self-important ephemera. With that Love, we may transcend the world of ego and accidents and have eternal life.

I hope that helps! Have a great Holy Week and a joyous Pascha —

Fraternally,

John–

[MG] Just one more quick question, simply because im curious. Do you think that Snape Dumbledore and Harry go alone with the alchemical stages. Snape being the nigredo, Dumbledore the albedo and Harry the rubedo. Harry does use information from both Dumbledore and Snape to defeat Voldemort, it makes sense in my mind. Your thoughts?

Dear MG,

Your prayers this Great and Holy Wednesday.

I think I see what you mean but I’m not sure it works.

For a person to be an alchemical stage, they would have to serve the function of that stage. I ‘get’ that Severus is a largely destructive force in Harry’s life and the primary force acting against his being an egotist, hence nigredo. I understand, too, that Albus can be grasped as the purifying and spirit nurturing factor in Harry’s life, hence the albedo.

But how can Harry be the spiritually integrating force in his own life? I think that last may be where your idea fails. Perhaps, though, the postmodern idea of self-actualizing choice points exactly to your idea.

Let me know what you decide.

Fraternally,

John

Hey John,

My name is S– and I am in Pastor Richard Priggie’s Harry Potter class. We have to write a case-making paper by the end of the term and I was wondering if you could give me your opinion on my topic.

The two sides of the argument are: “Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are ‘sidekicks’ whose roles are mainly as Harry’s companions and helpers” and “Ron and Hermione are crucial characters in their own right whose growth and development are important to the story’s resolution.”

Thanks,

S–

Dear S–,

If your choices are (a) and (b) and if I were you, I would briefly explain the merits of both — before opting for (c) “Harry and Hermione are alchemical catalysts whose relationship with one another and with Harry (rather than their individual development) coincides and drives Harry’s transformation.”

My opinion on the topic? Great choice!

Fraternally,

John

Course Review: Students comments on my ‘Ring Composition’ talk and Q&A session —

Journey to Hogwarts Retreat

April 1-3, 2011

Reflections afterwards about John Granger

1. When friends asked me after I got back how the retreat was, I said…

2. My favorite parts of the retreat were… because…

• • I really enjoyed meeting John Granger. He is a really cool guy and had a wealth of knowledge to share. I really enjoyed talking to him.

• • The teaching about the rings was mind-blowing!

• • John Granger’s speech. The teaching about rings was the coolest thing I learned about Harry Potter so far; my mind was blown. I am going to buy his book.

3. Something I found hard to enter into…

4. Something that will stick with me…

• • …is the stuff I learned from John Granger, which I found very interesting.

• • …the ring composition. I now notice rings everywhere, and it’s good to remember that we aren’t just wandering in a maze, but we are always circling the center of the labyrinth. Also, I MET JOHN GRANGER!

• • …the teaching about the rings. I loved learning about John Granger’s new theory because it all continues to blow my mind and create a greater appreciation for the books.

• • …John Granger’s lecture. Granger’s lecture, especially firsthand, was very insightful. Getting to discuss harry Potter with an expert was a neat experience. John Granger was awesome!

• • …Our discussions with John Granger were awesome!

• • … listening to John Granger. I think that Mr. Granger was incredibly interesting to listen to and ask questions.

• • …John Granger’s talk on rings…

• • The time with John Granger. He was such an interesting man and had SO many cool things to share. Honestly, I’d like to be a house-elf on his shoulder. He was so nice too!

• • …Granger’s talk about Rings and dinner with John Granger. John is such an interesting, quirky and humorous man, and I found his lesson about rings to be fascinating, eye-opening, and striking. His Q & A dinner was also very intriguing; he knows so much about the books!

5. Other comments/suggestions…

o Maybe you should have told us to bring our books for John Granger to sign.

• • …more John Granger Q & A.
  • I have to say that John Granger was amazing.