Just Out of Sight

As far as I have experienced, JK Rowling’s ability to remove the “subject-object division” is what sets the Harry Potter series apart from perhaps any other series of books ever published. I first began the series when I was 8 years old and since that time, I have been hopelessly hooked. Throughout my elementary, middle and high school careers, I followed Harry and his friends throughout their adventures at Hogwarts. As geeky as this made me, I established an emotional connection with the stories because they provided an escape from my every day life, and allowed me to discover and experience a world that was endlessly exciting and enticing. Part of this connection was surely due to the timing of the books which were unveiled as I, myself, aged. I remember sitting in my room at home reading Harry Potter when I was supposed to be doing homework, the obligatory calls of the math and science textbooks scattered around me, too weak for me to hear with my nose so deep within the pages of some Potter tome. To this day I cannot identify what exactly it is that made, and still makes these novels so enchanting. Rowling’s writing is not particularly prolific, however the plot is endlessly complex. Still, each time I read them, I discover allusions to the plot I had previously missed, or one of the small foreshadows that pepper the series. One aspect that I recall as being particularly exhilarating is how real Rowling seems to make the series; not for the wizards, but for the muggles. In the way that she sets up the entire wizarding world, it seems to be entirely plausible that there could be wizards among us. Of course we wouldn’t know about them- they have magical concealment! And if a lucky muggle spotted a wizard? There are obliviating charms for such circumstances! Harry appears to be leading a somewhat normal life with the Dursleys until Hagrid comes to sweep him away, and I will not pretend I didn’t secretly want an owl to drop a Hogwarts letter on my doorstep. So among the many alluring aspects of the series, this may be one small contribution to the sensation, and I am sure that anyone who becomes connected to the series has at least a little glimmer of hope that the wizarding world is really there, but perhaps just out of sight.