Why Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone is banned - Essay Example

The novel was first released in 1997 but was later surrounded by a lot of controversies and criticism which later led to its abolition. Any literature art is written to portray a given theme that the audience and readers can relate to. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the major themes are witchcraft, death, corruption and prejudice, power, friendship, and rebellion. A few of the themes in this novel may have bad impacts on the lives of children who are the target audience as expressed by various critics.

However, most of the themes featured in the novel are important in the education of children which makes the book worthy of positive consideration. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone brings out the self sacrifice as an important virtue. The author portrays death not as something to be afraid of in life but rather as something forms part of a natural cycle that must just be embraced by people. This is the reason Lily Potter offered to sacrifice her own life in order to save Harry. This is also revealed in the events that saw Harry’s determination to stop evil Voldemort from harming innocent people without cause.

After Voldemort’s attempt to kill Harry aborts, he continues to live as “shadow and vapor”. The theme of death as presented in the book is positively used since it shows that it is important to offer to save other people’s lives without fear - just like Harry did to save people from being killed by Voldemort (Strimel 35-52). Harry’s act of self sacrifice is seen when he offers his pasty although he “had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with” Rowling 171.

The novel is educative since it shows the importance of love in at school and in the society at large. Harry’s appreciation of love is seen in the following event: “It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten)” (Rowling 171). Love is portrayed as a virtue in the novel The Author reveals the theme by explaining that Harry probably survived death when he was to be killed by Voldemort because of the love from his mother, Lily (Mitchell 82).

Lily showed the love for his son Harry by offering her life instead of that of his son Harry. Harry is also seen as a character who is loving and this makes him make every attempt to defeat Voldemort. Voldemort, however, does not understand the importance of love in the society and only wants to kill others as he believes that he is immortal. This is because where love exists, peace will always reign. The book also shows that that where hostility and enmity reign supreme, the result may be death and destruction, as opposed to peace and prosperity.

Friendship is another virtue portrayed in the novel which makes the book worth being considered as good literature for children. Albus Dumbledore notes that “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends" (Rowling 221). Throughout the novel, the author brings out the importance of friendship in confronting challenges and difficult tasks. At the onset of the novel, Harry is described as an orphan who is accustomed to loneliness and isolation until he joins school.

Despite Harry not being in a position to have the love and friendship from family members, he is able to make friends at Hogwarts School with his fellow students like Hermione and Ron. This friendship is manifested strongly as his two friends try and make effort to assist him overcome challenges at school. This is seen during Professor Snape’