Nothing in the name Harry Potter gives a heavy impression of its richness. Nothing about the subtitle ... and the Philosopher’s stone. And as far as the time at which the book was written, even JK Rowling wasn’t a name that would give a heavy impression. But the supremacy of Enid Blyton, Dahl and Lewis Carol over books for children really suffered a huge dent since this book came up, didn’t it?
Harry Potter is a 11-years-old little boy, living with his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, ever since he could remember because his parents were reportedly (by the Dursleys) killed in a car crash. All Harry has of his own is a scar on his forehead, a souvenir of the car crash that snatched his parents away from him... or so he thought.
But Harry learns the truth- the truth that had been intentionally hidden from him. He learns about his parents, of how they lived and of how they really died. He learns that he is not a meek 11-years-old, but a thumping good wizard, to put it in Hagrid’s words. Harry learns that his parents died because they lived trying to shunt an order of evil from rising. He learns that they were martyrs who died protecting (magical) humanity and not drunk drivers who ended up killing themselves and leaving him orphan.
Faced with this mind-rattling reality, he goes to a school specially for wizards, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn the ways of sorcerers. And he learns who had killed his parents, who had tried to kill him too but had, for some unfathomable reason, failed, killing himself in the process. Harry learns of Lord Voldemort, an evil sorcerer on even hearing whose name wizards and witches shudder. And Harry does not just face the real fact, but also the real mastermind. He faces the very Lord Voldemort and gives him another reason to want Harry dead. Harry, a mere eleven-years-old defeats he who most of the wizards could never ever think of challenging.
But this book is not so much about this encounter, or the mastermind’s plot. It is really about the mental turmoil in Harry’s mind. There he was till his eleventh birthday living like an unwanted pain-in-the-neck with the Dursleys, accustomed to hearing disdainful blasphemes to his dead parents, the story of whose heroic death also had been told to be that of the death of bums. And then he finds himself to be a boy who’s parents were martyrs, and he a hero. But more importantly, it is the turmoil that Harry faces... Harry’s parents were martyrs who should, in death, be honoured, respected. But they are not. Harry now understands fully how the horrible manner in which the Dursley’s treat him by disdaining his brave and heroic parents even after their death.
Even if Rowling does not describe this state of Harry’s mind, a good reader would immediately understand the depth of the story. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is not the story of a David who defeats a Goliath. It is a very silent and subtle tragedy of a boy who knows from what ashes he has to rise. It is the story of a boy who rises from thinking that he is just a particle of soot in the ash to realize that, in reality, he is a phoenix who must rise from the very ashes Voldemort tried to consign him to. It is the beginning of a struggle that very few would realise.
And yet, this story is for children. It takes real mastery over language to write stories for children. Yet, the mastery seems pretty commonplace if these stories have morals, lessons or advice. But this book is for children, yet is a tragedy of Harry’s life that will certainly be treated to be an immortal classic in the future. JK Rowling is superior to other authors writing for children simply because she has created a story based on really shallow axioms, but taken the story to such a depth, yet maintained its simplicity and palatability considering the taste of a child-reader.
Vive Joanne!