Thursday, March 06, 2008

Did Harry Potter's adventures never happen...

Harry Potter is introduced to us as a tortured soul - his parents viciously murdered while he was a baby, left on the doorstep of his aunt and uncle who never wanted him, abused as a child by his uncle, hated by his aunt, tortured by his cousin. Forced to live in a closet, trapped as a creative soul, abandoned to the world.

So... what if everything that happens in all the books are Harry disassociating to an alarming degree - finding a safe place in his head where he has an identity, where he has power, where he is finally seen, where he has control over his life. I posit the following: Harry is still trapped under the stairs, kicked, abused, unseen, forgotten.

What if.

2 comments:

gamer-geek said...

Interesting twist, much like saying that the kid's adventures in Narnia in "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" are just their own imagination and shared storytelling.

Although, with Harry Potter, that reading is much more of an interpretation of the story themes than based off a straight reading. The books start with magical occurrences placing Harry with his aunt and uncle... if it had just started with them finding him at their doorstep, and then proceeded from there I can totally see Harry's Wizarding world as an escapist fantasy.

Bonus question: What traumatic event caused Calvin to imagine his tiger was alive?

Anonymous said...

That was a 'wow' moment there. I've just never considered this possibility. But why not, eh? Would be tragic, though.

By the way, I stumbled across your photography blog because my fairly new blog on wordpress has the same title! It's a total coincedence, and I hope you don't mind. Great minds think alike :)