Page 4
Opinions
Jan. 23, 2002
Fires cannot extinguish Harry Potter or its creativity
Jennifer Guarino
Editor in Chief
A year ago, I couldn’t un
derstand the hype. I didn’t
know what quidditch was
or who muggles were. I thought
Harry Potter was nothing but an
other attempt by Hollywood to
make a buck.
But I gave in. I picked up two
copies of “Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone,” at Border’s: one
to give a friend for Christmas and
one to keep for myself.
Twenty-four hours later I was
back at the store to purchase books
two and three - “Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets” and
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban”.
For a week, I only moved from
the couch to make another cup of
hot tea. I stayed up all hours of the
night as I drifted into the magical
world of Harry Potter. When I was
forced to move, I took the book
with me, just in case I might be able
to steal a few minutes to read. My
mom didn’t like that at the dinner
table.
During Christmas break, I re
gained a little of the passion that I
had as a child for reading, much of
it thanks to a little wizard named
Harry.
This series about the struggles
of a teenage wizard has taken the
world, as well as me, by surprise.
The movie based on the first book
has made $300 million since the
release in North America and has
passed $800 million worldwide.
The first four books are on USA
Today’s best-seller lists.
Despite the acclaims from re
viewers worldwide, Harry Potter
and author J.K. Rowling have re
ceived a lot of criticism. Schools
have banned the books and churches
are burning the books.
A church in New Mexico spon
sored a “holy bonfire” to destroy the
books the pastor says are an “abomi
nation to God.” He said, “Harry
Potter books are going to destroy the
lives of many young people.” And
it’s not just in New Mexico; fires are
blazing across the country in at
tempts to stifle ideas and good lit
erature.
Huck Finn has seen the flames,
and so has Little Red Riding Hood.
Alice’s Wonderland has felt the heat,
as well as Pinocchio. Fairytales, yes',
but do they destroy the lives of chil
dren?
After reading Harry Potter, I
could visualize myself competing in
the Quidditch Cup, flying on a
broomstick chasing .the golden
snitch. But that doesn’t mean I’m
going to hop on a broomstick and
attempt to fly out the window. Crit
ics say children have a harder time
discerning reality and fantasy. But
by the time children read the stories
about Harry, they are old enough to
know this isn’t possible or safe. If
they can’t reason between right and
wrong, good and bad, then the par
ents are at fault.
Parents are the first teachers to
whom children are exposed. They
set the course for the moral devel
opment of their children. If parents
KRT Campus
Harry Potter, the movie, took f/ie world by storm. The movie has
brought in $300 million since November
tell their children that the stories in
Harry Potter, Snow White and
Mother Goose are purely fictional
and for entertainment only, children
won’t attempt to cast a spell with a
magic wand. (And surely if they
tried, they would realize the stick
has no power.)
Harry Potter has the magical
power to fight off demon Lord
Voldemort or wear an invisible
cape to sneak around Hogwarts
after dark, yet the critics forget that
this fictional teen’s power cannot
leap from the pages into our 2P‘
century world. By casting the
blame on books, movies, etc.,
we’re ignoring the role and respon
sibility of parents.
When we bum books, or censor
them, we do the world a disservice,
especially the children. Judge
Lowell A. Reed, responding to an
other case brought by the Ameri
can Civil Liberties Union said, “In
deed, perhaps we do the minors of
this country harm if First Amend
ment protections, which they will
with age inherit fully, are chipped
away in the name of their protec
tion.”
We cannot afford, as a country,
to take away a fellow citizen’s
speech or expression of ideas. We
cannot afl'ord to kill, bum or hide
Harry Potter, just as we cannot af
ford to silence the critics. Their
complaints and actions may be ri
diculous, but just as we are entitled
to celebrate the passion of reading,
the need for creativity and the im
portance of discemment, they are
entitled to criticize and, unfortu
nately, bum.
But we’re lucky; ideas don’t die
in a bonfire. Flames can’t extin
guish a story. President Dwight
Eisenhower said in 1953 at
After reading
Harry Potter,
i could visualize
myself competing in
the Quidditch Cup,
flying on a broomstick
chasing the golden
snitch. But that doesn’t
mean Tm going to hop
on a broomstick and
attempt to fly out the
window. ^ ^
Dartmouth College, “Don’t think
you’re going to conceal faults by
concealing evidence that they ever
existed.” We live in a country
where our ideas and speech are pro
tected from government supression
by the First Amendment. We can
speak freely, yet we have to respect
the right of others to speak freely.
“If there is a bedrock principle un
derlying the First Amendment, it is
that government may not prohibit
the expression of an idea simply be
cause society finds the idea itself
offensive or disagreeable,” Su
preme Court Justice William
Brennan said in 1989.
Fairytales and stories like Harry
Potter encourage children (and
adults) to dream and imagine. They
encourage us to be creative and to
think outside the box. Thank good
ness that the fires won’t consume
Harry Potter. After all, he’s survived
“he who will not be named” four
times and there are three more
books on the way.
Winter term takes away from academic development
Andrew Holmberg
Columnist
ow, why is it that most col
leges don’t have Winter
Term?
After being on the Elon cam
pus for the past two weeks, I have
realized that the Winter Term has
become a way for students to sleep
all day and party all night. During
the Winter Term, Elon loses any
academic feel that has been built
over the past semester.
Throughout the first semester,
freshmen adapt to the new chal
lenges that college introduces.
Class schedules are more challeng
ing than last year, and it takes the
student time to adapt. After finals,
the students are exhausted from the
challenge that they were just pre
sented. Everyone is given a break
to relax, go home and celebrate the
holidays with their friends and fam
ily. Instead of retuming to col
lege after the break and begin
studying again, we are presented
an opportunity to take an addi
tional four weeks off.
We get to attend the Elon Win
ter Term. During this term, stu
dents take one class for three hours
a day for a month. The problem is
that the students are given too much
free time. The student can take a
class that starts at 8:30 a.m. or 1:30
p.m. This gives the student the
option to either sleep all moming
or sleep all afternoon.
There aren’t very many classes
that can give enough work to fill
the empty schedules of the Elon stu
dents. So what do most college stu
dents do with the increase in free
time and decrease in responsibility?
They socialize in a party setting.
The Winter Term seems to be
more of a chance to live up the
“college experience” than to study
single topics with more depth.
To defend Winter Term, it does
give students a good chance to
study abroad or do an internship.
But Winter Term on the Elon cam
pus needs to be studied again, be
cause the term seems to be taking
away from the academic develop
ment of the students on the cam
pus. '