Harry & Me: Everything I Need To Know, I Learned From Fighting a Mountain Troll
by E. Christopher Clark | Monday, January 26, 2009
In the first post of this series, I wrote about why I’m not a big fan of magic in fiction. And in examining the reasons why Harry Potter works for me, when so many other fantasy stories do not, there was one piece of the equation that I never touched on. And here’s what it is: the Harry Potter series is all about experiential learning.
Did you ever notice that, while Hermione is the one with her nose stuck in the books the whole time, she’s not half the wizard that Harry is when they’re out in the field? Sure, her brains play a big role in getting out of the occasional sticky situation, but it’s Harry’s experiences with actually wielding the magic that they are being taught about that always makes the difference.
The fifth film in the movie franchise plays this up quite a bit. In Order of the Phoenix, the whole thrust of the primary plotline is about Harry helping his classmates get their hands dirty with real magic when the Ministry-approved curriculum being taught by Professor Umbridge just ain’t cutting it.
Hermione: There’s nothing in here about using defensive spells.
Umbridge: Using spells? Ha ha! Well, I can’t imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom.
Ron: We’re not going to use magic?
Umbridge: You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way.
Harry: Well, what use is that? If we’re going to be attacked, it won’t be risk-free.
This is a world away from the wizards I was used to seeing, men and women hunched over books and cauldrons, studying, preparing, but hardly ever doing. And I think that’s what drew me to the Potter series from the start: it’s protagonist was a do-er, someone who knew—unlike me—that, in order to really learn something, you have to go out into the world and try it. You have to try it, and fail, and then try it again.
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