I was one of the many children who grew up with Harry Potter. I began reading the books after my older sister brought them to our household. And since then, Harry Potter and all the characters represented in the series were very dear to my heart. My sister ended up expressing her love through writing Fan fiction that actually got lots of reads. And I became obsessed with Pottermore (Beta version from nearly 4 years ago). I looked up to people like Hermione and Luna Lovegood (10 points to Ravenclaw!) who, I felt, had very strong and independent personalities. Both were very smart in their own way and were a lot of times looked down upon as weird or nerdy, so I identified with this feeling of a strong, smart, independent female, who was misunderstood by her peers.

Reading through both of the peices on gender representation of Harry Potter last Wednesday made me see the characters in a different light. Hermione is not as independent as I thought. Luna is shunned for her lack of normative feminine traits. Molly exemplifies the female domestic sphere and her outrage at the end of the series toward Bellatrix Lestrange is shown to be laughable as it opposes her normal mother triats instead of showing the strength of the woman. Most of the evil people in the novel were male and the ones who were female were given certain traits that made them less likable than the males.

I have nothing against J.K Rowling and still see her as being extremely brilliant and talented. I’m more upset with myself for not having picked up on these differences in gender before. I saw the Harry Potter series as an infallible work of perfection. I thought Hermione and Luna were my role models in the fictional world. I felt connected with eccentric characters like Bellatrix Lestrange. And now, I feel as if all my beliefs as a child have been shattered. My view of the world of gender and ficiton changed. Can I trust a work of fiction again? Do I have to watch out for equity in gender in even the novels I read? Does reading works that exemplify societal problems with gender representation affect how I think? Are they making me believe that certain gender roles are the norm when they should not be? What is there that I can trust now? Only my brain? Can my brain even continue to be relied on when it gets fed with lies about gender norms and values?

And most importantly, can I still appreciate and love Harry Potter? Yes. Yes I can. Although it’s not as pure as I thought it to be, it still holds many virtues and still helped shape my confidednce as I was growing up. And I still love being a Ravenclaw. So, I guess, not much has changed. My life is not a lie; I just need to be more aware that not all things are as they seem. Nothing is totally free of flaws, but that does not take away from its potential value. Also, Neville was, undisputaby, the best character ever. Peace.