A Story of the Exceptional: Fate and Free Will in the Harry Potter Series

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Dr. Julia Pond, is an Assistant Professor of English at Shorter University. She received her Ph.D. from Illinois State University in 2012. She currently teaches several classes in Children’s Literature, and several of her classes focus on topics that are pertinent to educating the young and middle-grade children. She has several published articles and is well recognized in her field. In her article, “A Story of the Exceptional: Fate and Free Will in the Harry Potter Series”, she addresses Friedrich Nietzche’s fate and free will philosophy, and using the Harry Potter books, she argues that Rowling allows her characters free will, with a fair amount of fate and shows us how the two forces can work in balance. I was fascinated with this article.

I have to admit that I am not that familiar with the Harry Potter series, as strange as that might sound with millions of other people waiting patiently for the next book. I enjoyed the first movie but have not seen any of the subsequent ones or read any of the novels. That being said, I am very familiar with the concepts of fate and free will. As a life-long student of the metaphysical sciences, I have read several classics by theorists such as, for example; Nietzche, Hesse, Camus, etc. as well as the teachings of several new-age teachers, for example; Tolle, Williamson, Dyer, etc. In reading this article I was reintroduced to reminders of these teachings, as well as opening a new door, and a desire to now read the Harry Potter series, due to the article

written by Dr. Pond. It is obvious that children enjoy the series, but book store owners also say that adults enjoy them just as much. In reading this article, I can understand why.

Dr. Pond provides examples throughout...

... middle of paper ...

...o by-pass or produce those outcomes. Dr. Pond reminds the reader that Rowlings was writing about far more than just a mystical story. She notes that Rowlings is teaching a Nietzschean lesson through her character’s actions. They understand that it is their fate that will determine their future but they have free will to operate within those futures. Just as we all do, in our own lives.

Works Cited

Carroll, L., & Zwerger, L. (1999). Alice in Wonderland. New York: North-South Books.

Dr. Julia Pond | Shorter University. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://su.shorter.edu/dr-julia-pond/

Draper, S. M. (2010). Out of my mind. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Tolkien, J. R. (1997). The Hobbit and the lord of the rings. New York: Ballantine Books.

White, E. B., Williams, G., & Rosenwald, E. G. (1952). Charlotte's web. New York: Harper.

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