h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just finished reading the final book in the series.

I'd heard a lot (despite trying to avoid spoilers) about how certain high-ranking priests saw the series as a Christian metaphor. I also heard that Rowling deliberately kept her Christian faith quiet to avoid giving away where the plot was going.

So I was expecting some kind of climax where Harry sacrifices his life to save everyone else (perhaps returning to life later). And he does face death bravely at the end - but it's hardly and Narnia-style redemptive sacrifice. He gives his life to save others, but is that really a Christian thing? Or was it the Snape/Judas metaphor people were thinking of?

Did I miss something?

Gif

hi Gif,

You could give a better argument that it's a Buddhist metaphor. Harry doesn't give his life at the end, he just totally abandons his sense of self which destroys all power that Voldemort has over him and that destroys Voldemort.

Snape is no Judas. Some say that Judas' betrayal of Jesus is just part of the divine plan but if so, he's an unwitting participant. Snape has been working with Dumbledore all along to defeat Voldemort. There's a scene in the just released film where Snape cements his duplicious relationship with the Deatheaters by saying " I have deceived one of the greatest of wizards." He then acknowledges that Dumbledore is a great wizard. The Deatheaters infer that he has deceived Dumbledore but it's Voldemort who doesn't suspect Snape.

Hi Tumsup,

So then where does this 'Christian parable' come into it?

Gif

To someone with a hammer in his hand, everything looks like a nail. I think the proper term is confirmation bias. I'm not a christian so I don't see such parables.

I think that Harry Potter is just a coming of age story, a lot of kids literature is. It begins with Harry as a small confused boy and ends with him as a competent man.

When JK Rowling said that the not yet released second to last book would see the death of a major character I won a bet by saying that it would be Dumbledore. Every time that Harry was in peril he would be saved at the last second by Dumbledore or one of his people. For it to work as a coming of age story Harry would eventually have to stand on his own and that meant that his father figure had to die.

If Ms Rowling wanted to tell a story of redemption she would have put Snape at the center. He falls under the influence of Voledemort but is saved by Dumbledore and goes on to save Draco.