The Harry Potter series is my favorite book series ever since I was in third grade. The first time I read it, it was just a fascinating fantasy novel filled with witches, wizards, flying broomsticks, fire-breathing dragons, trolls, goblins… Then, the depth of the story changed as I grew older and understood the deeper meaning of Harry Potter books and the characters inside the magical world.

In Harry Potter, there are so many lovable and memorable characters. After I read it the first time, I would think of the boy who lived and survived the Dark Lord, the young witch who was always the top of her class even though she was teased for having non-magical parents, the red-haired boy who was a loyal friend but was always annoyed with his siblings…Now, in my mind, I see characters that show their values throughout the books, characters that chose to sacrifice themselves at the end, and characters who make the choice between what is right and what is easy.

While rereading, I discovered that the Harry Potter series has a connection to World War II, because in the series, Voldemort (the villain in the story), encouraged strong racist beliefs, which was that people born in a magical family were better than non-magical people. This draws a parallel to Adolf Hitler’s beliefs- the Jewish should not be treated equal to Germans.

In the Harry Potter series, there are a lot of hidden meanings in the fantasy world, for example, in the third book, a creature called dementors suck up the happiness and souls of their victim, leaving them feeling cold and hollow on the inside.  I read an interview of JK Rowling and she said the dementors symbolizes depression and teaches us that even if life can be depressing, you have to learn to get through difficulties by remembering the positive memories and happy moments.

My whole family and I, all love the characters in Harry Potter. My favorite character is Hermione because she always helps others in need. For example, Hermione helped house elves by starting a society for the promotion of elfish welfare (S.P.E.W.), to promote rights for elves, Hermione was also often teased by her classmates because she was born in a non-magical family, but she proved to her classmates that wizards and witches born in a non-magical family, can be just as good as magical people.

The Harry Potter series is important to me, because the story really gave my family and I a chance to discuss as a family about the deeper meanings that J.K Rowling hid in the book. We talked about Adolf Hitler as Lord Voldemort, house elves that was based on slavery, and how Harry Potter survived Voldemort’s curse when he was a baby just because of his parent’s love… This fantasy story was the first story ever that made me think carefully about the characters and meanings in real life and made me think about my values and priorities in life.