HARRY POTTER AND THE DISORDER OF MANNERS

Thanks to a bad case of food poisoning this weekend that left me unfit for work or play, I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Allow me a gripe. There is not one "I'm sorry; please forgive me" in the whole book, not even after Harry steals an ally's most private memories from a Pensieve. Through the book, characters get angry at those they've wronged, but they never apologize for their offenses -- they merely explain themselves in an aggrieved tone, and expect everyone to ignore the offense thenceforth.

It is not just the teenage Harry whose manners are bad. I do not recall an instance of "please" or "thank you" in the book. Nor is there moral teaching. Dumbledore does not suggest that Harry forgive those against whom he nourishes grudges, nor does he suggest that Harry apologize to those he has betrayed, even though he regards as critical Harry's reconciliation with an ally he both loathes and has betrayed. If, as Dave Kopel has argued, J.K. Rowling is a Christian writer, it is a Christianity that has lost the themes of repentance and forgiveness.

Fortunately, however, you can still tell the good guys from the bad guys. I am not yet crotchety enough to root for the Dark Lord.

MORE: Quidditch Quaintness (Richard Adams, The Guardian, 6/18/2003)

[R]eaders in this country can perceive a political bandwagon being pushed. Despite all of the books' gestures to multiculturalism and gender equality, Harry Potter is a conservative....

It's no coincidence that Rowling herself is an honorary member of the British Weights and Measures Association - which defends the ounce and pint, and calls the metric system "a political philosophy".

As Josh notes in the comments, the series is pleasingly conservative. Posted by Paul Jaminet at June 23, 2003 6:44 PM