When people say these books are children’s books, as if to demean them, I balk. These books dealt with themes that adults do not fully understand or wish to. It dealt with racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, prejudice, and general ignorance. These books taught us that it doesn’t matter how you were raised, but that you get to choose to be kind, loyal, brave, and true. They taught us to be strong under the pressures of this world and to hold fast to what we know to be right. These books taught me so much, they changed me as a person. So just because they’re set against a fantastical backdrop with young protagonists does not mean that their value is any less real.
This.
First book: Starts with the double murder of a pair of twenty-one year olds who were much missed and leaving their baby son a war orphan. A child growing up in abusive conditions that would give Cinderella the horrors. Dealing with peers and teachers who are bullies. The fickleness of fame (from the darling of Gryffindor to the outcast.) The idea that there are things worth fighting and dying for, spoken by the child protagonist. Three children promptly acting on that willingness to sacrifice their lives, and two of them getting injured doing so.
Second book: The equivalent of racism with the pro-pureblood attitude. Plot driven by an eleven year old girl being groomed and then used by a charming, handsome older male. The imbalance of power and resultant abuse inherent in slavery. Fraud perpetuated by stealing something very intimate.
Third book: The equivalent of ableism with a decent, kind and competant adult being considered less than human because he has an illness that adversely affects his behaviour at certain times. A justice system that is the opposite of just. Promises of removing an abused child from the abusive environment can’t always be kept. The innocent suffer while the guilty thrive.
Fouth book: More fickleness of fame. The privileged mistreating and undermining the underprivileged because they can. A master punishing a slave for his own misjudgment, and the slave blaming herself. A sports tournament which involves mortal risk being cheered by spectators. A wonderful young man being murdered simply because he was in the way. A young boy being tortured, humilated and nearly murdered.
Fifth book: PTSD in the teenage protagonist. Severe depression in the protagonist’s godfather, triggered by inherited mental health issues and being forced to stay in a house where abuse occured. A bigoted tyrant who lives to crush everyone under her heel, torturing a teenager for telling the truth in the name of the government (and trying to suck his soul out too). The discovery that your idols can have feet of clay after all. An effort to save the life of someone dear and precious actually costing that very same life. The loss of a father-figure and the resultant guilt.
Sixth book: The idea that a soul can be broken beyond repair. Drugs with the potential for date rape are shown as having achieved exactly that in at least one case, resulting in a pregnancy. Well-meaning chauvinism trying to control the love life of a young woman. Internalised prejuidce resulting in refusing the one you love, not out of lack of love but out of fear of tainting them. The mortality of those that seem powerful and larger than life.
Seventh book: Bad situations can get worse, to the point where even the privileged end up suffering and afraid. More internalised prejudice andfearhysterical terror of tainting those you love. Self-sacrifice and the loss of loved ones, EVERYWHERE. Those who are bitter are often so with a reason. The necessity of defeating your inner demons, even though it’s never as cool as it sounds. Don’t underestimate those that are enslaved. Other people’s culture isn’t always like your own. Things often come full circle (war ending with the death of a dearly-loved pair of new parents and their orphaned baby son living with his dead mother’s blood relative instead of his young godfather). Even if ‘all is well’ the world is still imperfect, because it’s full of us brilliant imperfect humans.
So… still think that Harry Potter is a kid’s series with no depth?
OH MY GOD THIS! ALL OF THIS!
(Source: fhloston-paradise)
Via Simple and Clean..
Pottermore~!
Now that everyone’s getting into it and all (beta user since September here), feel free to add me: AshHeart108
Always reblog.
I will reblog this until the end. Always
(Source: drarrysexual)
Via Rock That Stone Face
What every traditional, real American family should look like :)
COOL!!! Now let me add in some other examples of what a healthy, happy, traditional, real American family should BE ABLE to look like:
Black families
Mexican and South American families
Middle Eastern families
East Asian families
South Asian families
Native American families
European families
Interracial families of all colors
Jewish families
Muslim families
Buddhist families
Hindu families
Atheist or agnostic families
Single mother families
Single father families
Grandparents raising a family
Foster families
Adopted families
Gay parent families
Lesbian parent families
Transgender parent families
Families with special needs children
Families with disabled children
Families with disabled parents
Families with deaf/hard of hearing parents, deaf/hard of hearing children, or both
Childless couples
~~~
Awwww, aren’t they all adorable? :3
I know I probably left a lot of folks out, so feel free to add pictures of what a good, happy, true American family can be! Remember they come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, genders, religions, races, cultures, nationalities, sexualities, and appearances, so don’t leave anyone out! Especially when you VOTE. The only thing that defines what makes a family is love. <3
My, isn’t America wonderful~?
EDIT: And you know, I just wanted to add…you can send Rick Santorum and the rest of the country, even the rest of the world, the message that these families and other families that went unmentioned matter TOO, NOT just white, conservative, Christian, straight-parent, double-parent, rich, privileged families like his. Let him and the country know that ALL families have a say, ALL families are what define America, ALL families are what make this nation strong, ALL families matter, ALL families are important, and that ALL families deserve a CHANCE.
Let Rick Santorum know that OUR children deserve the chance to go to college, NOT just his.
Let Rick Santorum know that OUR children deserve to marry whoever they want, NOT just his.
Let Rick Santorum know that WE deserve to marry whoever we fall in love with, NOT just him and his wife Karen.
Let Rick Santorum know that OUR wives and girlfriends deserve to have life-saving abortions/miscarriages/whatever he chooses to call it, NOT just his.
Let Rick Santorum know that OUR special needs and disabled children deserve to have money that can help improve their lives, NOT just his daughter.
Let Rick Santorum know that threatening OUR families will NOT be tolerated, and that WE are the ones who believe in what America TRULY is, a place where ANY family can be free and happy.
Let Rick Santorum know that his family will NOT become the royal figureheads of a medieval theocracy where church and state are bound as one.
Let Rick Santorum know that marriage is as old as humanity and that HIS religion did NOT invent the concept and he can NOT force his definition of it on us.
Let Rick Santorum know that OUR women matter, OUR women should have a say over their own bodies, and that OUR women deserve to be LOVED in any way we see fit.
Let Rick Santorum know that OUR families deserve medical help, OUR parents deserve fair wages and fair pay, OUR parents deserve places in the work force, that OUR single mothers and single fathers and disabled parents are not to be shut out by greedy executives and CEOs who only seek to expand their own paycheck and give NOTHING back to their own employees or society at large.
Let Rick Santorum know that he is WRONG for excluding OUR families, that he is a BIGOT no matter how hard he tries to deny it, and that without OUR families working and toiling away beneath families like his, America would NOT be the rich and powerful country it is today.
Let Rick Santorum know that WE are America and that WE DON’T WANT HIM.
VOTE AGAINST SANTORUM AND OTHER HATEFUL MEN LIKE HIM.
A VOTE AGAINST THEM IS A VOTE FOR FAMILY IN ALL OF ITS FORMS.
A VOTE AGAINST THEM IS A VOTE FOR WHAT AMERICA REALLY IS: A LAND OF THE FREE, A LAND OF HARD-WORKING FAMILIES, A LAND OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, A LAND OF FAIR PLAY AND ASSISTING THOSE IN NEED, A LAND THAT DOES NOT SHUT OUT ITS POOR AND DENIES ITS CITIZENS THEIR RIGHTS, A LAND THAT DOES NOT LET BIGOTS LIKE RICK SANTORUM INTO THE WHITE HOUSE.
FAMILIES ARE PEOPLE, NOT CORPORATIONS.
FAMILIES ARE PEOPLE, NOT THEOCRACIES.
FAMILIES ARE PEOPLE, NOT RICK SANTORUM.
Oh my THIS is why I started following you. You are fucking AMAZING! In all truth I’d like it better if you ran for president more than any other candidate (even Obama, and I love Obama.)
BLESS. THIS. POST.
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