Arka’s blog

How a Book Series Changed My Life

Many books have strong, profound effects, and leave deep emotional marks on their readers. Other books have no effect, serving only the objective purpose of fishing out information, and otherwise being merely the dull, detached stores of ineffectual words and irksome symbols. Fortunately, the book series that I will be talking about is more of the former type; however, the opinion of any book will likely vary depending on the person. (I occasionally find perusing textbooks to be a worthwhile way to pass time, something that some of my peers may frown upon.) I would actually proudly list the areas of my life and character I owe to this book series. It is a peculiar, yet altogether pleasant experience to gain the knowledge that merely reading a book can reconstruct one’s entire life (which is not as alarming as it sounds). Only recently, after many memorable experiences, did I come to the realization that the Harry Potter series by Joanne Rowling has forever changed my life.

The logical place to start is how my interest in reading, and in Harry Potter, came to being. When I was in the 3^rd grade, my English teacher made my class read a lot of books; and much to my dismay, she intently focused on writing and reading skills. I began exploring the world of books; it is like entering a universe, where each book is like visiting a planet: some are small, some are large, some are familiar, some are breathtaking, some should not even be called planets, and in the end you only reach a minute fraction of all of them. Then, on one of my birthdays, a friend of mine gave me a book called Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Naturally, I was disappointed in his poor choice in gifts, but I nevertheless made an attempt to read the monstrous 435-page tome. Obviously, I understood near nothing since it was the third of a seven-part series, yet what I could comprehend had intrigued me, so I convinced my mother to purchase the first two books for me. She said she would buy the then-newly released fourth installment only if I succeeded in overcoming the first three, which I did. Once I had finished book one I couldn’t stop, so I was highly engrossed by the time I arrived at the last page of Goblet of Fire, by which time I naturally called myself a Harry Potter fan. It was the first part of my development through Harry Potter.

Well, I thought to myself, “I am a Harry Potter fan– cool!” While it may have been true, I did not know then of the trend that was occurring around the world. So I went forth with my “material” interest in the books; just reading for fun, over and over again (a habit that is yet to leave me). As I read the books, I inadvertently memorized everything about them, gaining an absurdly large mental encyclopedia in which I prided myself; I was described as “Harry Potter-obsessed” by my friends. At the time, it hardly seemed more to me than a football team is to a football fan. More events followed, like book releases and movies, and with them came an increase in my socialization with fellow Harry Potter enthusiasts. I soon discovered a Harry Potter news site, where I participated in detailed, elaborate discussions on a variety of issues, some barely pertaining to the subject of the books. Soon after, I discovered a branch of online literature called “fan fiction,” which is fiction based on a popular series, and written by its fans. Even more interesting were the entire websites devoted to having as much “Harry Potter” as possible. This phenomenon could not have been so had it not been for the advent and subsequent popularity of the internet; it was littered with fan bases where people could “meet” others around the world, something I had never noticed before. Simultaneously, in “real life,” I brought theories to school alongside my lunch, and discussed them regularly with fellow Harry Potter aficionados, of whom some became my best friends partly because of this shared interest. We would talk about the books for hours at a stretch, often making ridiculous, childish comparisons between them and our actual lives, something that resulted in the harsh nicknaming (unknown to her) of one unfortunate, albeit unfair teacher. Yet at the same time I laughed with my friends when not violently debating about plot conundrums, and enjoyed one of the best years of my life. By now I had definitely been personally affected, mostly subconsciously, and I had also developed as a reader and a fan.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed a hobby of reading, from modern fiction to fantasy adventure tales, and more. Through “understanding” the books, I became a distinctly more pleasant being as well– a subtlety noticed only by those closest to me. This vague perception had been demonstrated by my more fun attitude, my lighter and less depressing philosophy, my jovial and joking mood, and a generally improved public image of myself. Aside from this epic change, I also started consciously adding Harry Potter into various aspects of my life, as seemingly natural changes. It was certainly a turning point in my life, even if I didn’t realize it then.

The release of the final Harry Potter novel (at midnight, July 21^st, 2007, in thousands of bookstores worldwide, which were filled to their capacities with robed, wand-wielding, crazed readers), was the climax of the phenomenon; the hype considerably decreased thereafter, there was less to discuss, and people just weren’t as excited about the books as before. There was, however, much to observe. Most of the fans who picked up the books as children were now young adults or adolescents; all were certainly much more matured, myself included. It is sometimes referred to as “growing up with Harry Potter” when one actually grows up and relates to the books and characters.  The books began with an eleven-year old wizard, and progressed (over a course of ten years) to a book telling the story of a seventeen-year old man; so changed the readers, many of whom had a good portion of their childhood or adolescent lives were taken up by the experience. Such was the case for me, though July 21^st, 2007 was only the beginning. It didn’t take me long to discover podcasts (downloadable radio shows of sorts) that spent hundreds of hours talking about the series. These gave me a more personal insight on how people around the world felt about Harry Potter, the subject I myself was particularly passionate about. I actually got attached to the shows and hosts, and the really helped me out indirectly, getting me through tough times. Other outlets of the fandom were Wizard Rock, internet forums, movies, people dressing up as wizards in public- it could reach out and touch virtually every aspect of my life.  Then, sometime in late 2007, I came to realize what had become of me, and forever I was changed.

The book series described who I was. It affected my morality, my ideas and philosophy, my treatment of myself and others, and my opinions on a number of matters. It taught me about the world and people, through its various thematic concepts and literary devices. In many ways the books managed to craft a better human being out of me. I became more aware of cruelties and horrific injustices taking place in the world, and understood more about the workings of life. The books certainly helped on less spiritual levels as well: learning more about literature and observing styles and plots and underlying messages, getting good music to listen to, and even just having an obsession to revolve my life around (not in a dangerous way). And all this– all these events and changes and effects, my life being rewritten, everything about me being affected- culminates in being an entire irreplaceable, unbelievable experience, if not at least several chapters, of my life; and it’s all through the story of witches and wizards, of magic and power, and good and evil, the story  of Harry Potter.