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Educating the Young Wizard

 J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, and Xenophilius Lovegood

By Katie Eller

Katie Eller is a Curriculum Support Instructor in the Randolph County Schools of North Carolina and a graduate student in Duke University’s Master of Liberal Studies program.

 

Given how many children have read and re-read the Harry Potter series, one may well imagine that in addition to entertainment, readers have received some sort of teaching or teachings from the books. The question thus arises: What lessons are being taught? The purpose of this piece is to identify one view of morality conveyed in the books. This is the view that human beings act correctly, morally, when their choices and actions are guided by their minds, their hearts, and their bodies working together, with the heart leading the other two. Rowling’s teaching in this regard suggests the influence of C.S. Lewis. While Rowling has spoken of Lewis’s fantasy literature, the Harry Potter books appear to contain a moral philosophy similar to what may be found in The Abolition of Man, Lewis’s critique of children’s literary education and the values texts potentially transmit to readers.[1] Very briefly here: In the Harry Potter series, a whole soul, combining mind, body and heart, but governed by the heart, is best and will win out in the end.

To illustrate the ways in which Harry Potter conveys this moral philosophy, I will take a closer look at the relatively minor character of Xenophilius Lovegood. Although “Xeno” appears only briefly in the series, I have chosen him because his role in the final book is integral to the last of Harry’s quests as well as to the major conflict of the series as a whole. As regards structure, I will begin by explaining why this is an important topic to consider, discussing the influence of children’s literature on the values of readers and what makes The Abolition of Man an appropriate text for this argument.

I will also briefly explain Harry’s problem in the final novel and summarize Xeno’s role within it in order to show his significance within the plot. Next, I will lay the framework of Lewis’s Abolition over the Harry Potter series. Within this structure, I will draw connections between Lewis’s moral argument in Abolition and Xeno’s role in Harry Potter. Finally, I will delineate Xenophilius’s contribution to Rowling’s central message in the Harry Potter series. As a result of this examination, I hope and trust that readers will be able to see how Rowling’s series teaches values predicated on the centrality of the “heart” and on objective morality—values deemed right or wrong irrespective of one’s opinions or beliefs.

 

Children’s Literature, Rowling, and Lewis

Children’s literature may have greater influence on its audience than adult literature simply by the way it encourages both children and adults to suspend disbelief.[2] Certainly, this genre can be an important tool in the socialization of children, but add to this possibility the Harry Potter series’ unsurpassed economic and cultural status. It is hard to discount J.K. Rowling’s power to widely disseminate, for good or ill, various values. As the “shared text” of a generation, its values should be scrutinized.[3]

In The Abolition of Man Lewis writes about objective morality (as opposed to moral relativism) and argues for the existence of three parts of the soul: the head (also “mind” or “intellect”), the chest (“spirit” or “heart”), and the belly (“body” or “appetite”). Lewis feels that literary language contains the capacity to create “men without chests,” or students whose emotions are not filtered through the mind. Lewis further argues that some language even suggests the chest is “unimportant.”[4]

Not unlike the ideals advocated in Abolition, the Harry Potter series champions objective morality, the three parts of the soul, and also promotes a strong, informed heart or chest. Throughout her books, Rowling’s stories revere selflessness, often sacrificing logical (head) and instinctive (belly) solutions in favor of the principles of courage and love (chest). In particular, Xenophilius counters these principles as a non-villainous foil to Harry and employs a flawed moral sense from which Rowling’s work implicitly guides readers away. Xeno’s lesson to readers is a subtle one (if for no other reason, because there is so little of him in the books). He appears almost exclusively in the final installment, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, in which Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, embark on their final quest. This quest tells the story of Harry and his friends’ endeavor to find and destroy “horcruxes,” the maimed soul parts of the series villain, Lord Voldemort. These are to be found in significant objects from Voldemort’s life. Harry and his friends’ success in eliminating the horcruxes could lead to Voldemort’s ultimate defeat. But Xeno, by offering Harry an alternative way of conquering Voldemort, without destroying his horcruxes, leads Harry to a moral impasse. Thereby, one of Rowling’s major lessons to the reader is further emphasized.

 

Xeno in Harry Potter

While the entire series contains more than 4,000 pages in its U.S. editions, Xenophilius appears on only 41. Nevertheless, it is Xenophilius who finally discloses the meaning of the Deathly Hallows symbol. Very quickly Xeno shifts from peripheral character to revealer and finally to betrayer. Before Deathly Hallows, Xenophilius is mentioned in just one other book in the series. In The Order of the Phoenix, it is he who, at the request of his daughter Luna, publishes an editorial in his journal, The Quibbler, in defense of Harry Potter.[5] The Daily Prophet, on the other hand, the more popular and widely read newspaper, is controlled by the Wizarding World’s increasingly corrupt government, the Ministry of Magic. In Deathly Hallows, Xeno’s Quibbler is still publishing “the facts,” having evolved from “muck” and a “lunatic rag” to “printing all the stuff The Prophet [is] ignoring.”[6] Beyond this reference to his job as an editor, Xeno appears briefly in two different scenes in the final novel: first at a wedding and later when Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit him in his home. At the wedding, Xenophilius is described as “the most eccentric-looking wizard.”[7] Most importantly, he wears an “odd symbol” around his neck, one initially unknown to Harry and his friends.[8] At this point, it seems, Xenophilius is a mixture of an eccentric and clueless journalist, a small-time champion for Harry’s cause who, incidentally, is also the father of one of his friends.

This is all we know of Xenophilius until about halfway through Deathly Hallows when we encounter a very different side of Xeno in his home. Harry and his friends have traveled to see Xenophilius, wishing to learn about the symbol from the necklace he wore to the wedding that occurred earlier in the novel. Xeno is disheveled and paranoid, at first resistant to even allowing the three inside. He contends that it would be dangerous to help them and reluctantly agrees to a brief visit, during which the guests are invited to tea. In this encounter with them Xenophilius goes from being exasperated and hesitant to becoming a gracious host. During the visit, the trio inquires about the symbol, and Xeno, surprised and delighted, refers to the “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” a selection found in Hermione’s copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard—ironically, a children’s story she describes as “a morality tale.”[9] Hermione reads the story aloud, teaching Harry and the reader about a set of brothers who attempted to escape death, each in one of three ways. Xeno claims that the tale is related to the existence of three actual, death-defeating objects: an unbeatable wand, a resurrection stone, and an invisibility cloak. He further relates that the union of these three objects would make their possessor “master of Death” and “immeasurably rich.”[10]

About the time that the trio finally understands the meaning of the Deathly Hallows, they realize that Xeno intends to betray Harry by trading him for Luna who has been kidnapped by Lord Voldemort’s dark followers, the “Death Eaters.”[11] Xenophilius Lovegood’s portion of the plot ends after a duel with these teenage wizards, who ultimately triumph over Xeno’s supposedly more advanced magical ability.

 

C.S. Lewis in Harry Potter

In order to fully understand Xeno’s role and the resulting moral implications, it is helpful to place Rowling’s story within the framework of Lewis’s argument. In Abolition, Lewis addresses children’s literature’s tendencies to strengthen or weaken the “chests” of readers—the chest being the part of the soul he believed to be guided by an objective moral sense. Lewis called this sense the Tao, using this one word to reference Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, early Hinduism, Stoicism, and elements of the Chinese, Jewish, and Christian principles of virtue.[12] As mentioned above, the Harry Potter series often echoes the objective morality represented by Lewis’s Tao. In contrast to moral relativism, Harry Potter’s Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, famously says in The Goblet of Fire:

No spell can reawaken the dead, Harry. I trust you know that. Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.[13]

Other suggestions of an objective right are found throughout the books, perhaps most commonly in Dumbledore’s year-end chats with Harry. John Granger, a Harry Potter scholar, refers to this talk as the annual “Dumbledore Denouement,” a conversation that transpires in each of the first five books and twice in Deathly Hallows.[14] These morality chats typically include revelations of some sort, “bad” characters are revealed to be “good,” and others are praised for difficult choices made that were, in the end, the “right” ones.

In addition to the way the Tao is transmitted through Dumbledore’s chats, Granger directs readers to notice the way in which Harry, Ron, and Hermione might represent the three parts of the soul.[15] Referencing Lewis as well as Plato, Granger outlines the three parts, with Harry representing the “heroic heart,” Ron the “physical, comfort-focused complainer,” or “body,” and Hermione the “mind.”[16] Recalling that “[t]he human person has to have these three elements in good health and in the right order to function effectively, Granger states: “Whenever Ron the body decides he’s going to take charge, everything goes wrong.” Granger also believes Rowling used the trio to remind us that the chest should lead the other two parts. Consistent with this value, the Harry Potter stories reveal what goes wrong when either of the other two soul-symbols are “in charge” or absent. It is through these episodes that Rowling teaches the preferred order of these soul parts. Granger states:

The trio’s love for one another and our identification with them makes their hard times with each other the most painful parts of the stories—and their reconciliation the most joyous. We become aligned in this identification—spirit to mind to body—and feel strangely upright and all right for the change.[17]

Granger is not the only scholar to see the Harry Potter characters as symbols of the “soul parts.” Eliana Ionoaia, in “Moral Fibre and Outstanding Courage,” provides a similar argument, expressing the position that when either one of his friends is not around, Harry favors the wrong element: the rational in the absence of Ron and the appetitive when Hermione is gone.[18]

For her part, J.K. Rowling has stated her belief that courage is the highest of the virtues.[19] In Plato’s Republic courage is the responsibility of what Lewis much later called the “chest.”[20] In The Abolition of Man, Lewis, in writing about “death for a good cause,” argues that the courage required for martyrdom (as well as the sentiment produced by the idea of it) cannot derive solely from reason or logic, nor can it reasonably be thought to be a product of instinct.[21]

 

C.S. Lewis and Xenophilius Lovegood

What does Lewis’s moral framework mean for Xeno? After all, there is very little information to be found about this character. Searching Accio-quote.org, a search engine devoted to a database of interviews with J.K. Rowling herself, the name “Xenophilius Lovegood” does not produce a single result.[22] We can assume Rowling has rarely, if ever, mentioned him in an interview. Despite this, there has been some discussion of his role in the books, with almost all of this discussion dedicated to Xeno’s function as a plot device. Commenters on Travis Prinzi’s popular Hogs Head website have vilified Xenophilius’s character as another “Mr. Tumnus” (of Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) for his befriending and betrayal of the protagonist.[23] On the other hand, Xeno has been sympathetically defended as another “Michael” (from the TV series Lost)—forced to make an impossible ethical choice in order to save his own child. While both of the comparisons have merit, one wonders where Xeno fits in the moral philosophy of the series. How does his character function within Lewis’s beliefs regarding a text’s capacity to teach the “soul” and reaffirm the Tao? After all, Xenophilius is not a villain. Nor is he a role model. Yet his character is integral to The Deathly Hallows, to the plot of the series as a whole, and to Rowling’s central message to her readers.

Applying C.S. Lewis’ paradigm to Xenophilius’s character, one might say that Xeno’s “chest” is weak; his “body” and “mind” elements prevail. When we first meet him at the wedding he seems strongly guided by appetite; he is eccentrically dressed. He boasts of a counter-cultural affinity for garden gnome bites, which he applauds for their encouraging intemperance.[24] Xeno does not wish to repress this trait.[25] Multiple guests sneer at his appearance, at his behavior, and even at the Deathly Hallows symbol he wears. Yet in his first encounter with Xenophilius Lovegood, Harry excuses this behavior, contending that “the Lovegoods are quite unusual,” that they probably do not know any better, and do not even know what the symbol means. It is interesting that Xeno’s clothes and opinions give the impression of a self-assured wizard, yet Harry and the gang find it plausible that Xeno would be ignorant about a symbol he wears. A child reading the book might feel what Harry feels: sympathy (and even embarrassment) for the way Xenophilius is ostracized by the discomfort he creates among the wedding guests.

Xeno’s attachment to bodily pleasures is also apparent later in the novel, in the many references to food, the kitchen, and eating. For example, upon entering Xeno’s gardens, signs encourage visitors to pick mistletoe, but also to “keep off the dirigible plums.”[26] Mistletoe recalls the pleasure of physical affection—specifically of Christmas kissing.[27] Once inside the house, Harry notes the “slightly overwhelming” effect of Xeno’s curved kitchen, one in which everything is ordered to fit the walls.[28] Upstairs in the home, a tablecloth—rather than a blanket or more typical covering—hides his printing press. To encourage the trio to settle down for a conversation, Xeno claims that Luna, his daughter, is fishing for an ingredient to add to a soup.[29] Xenophilius twice disappears to the kitchen to gather food and once returns with a drink, one that makes Harry gag while Xenophilius appreciatively smacks his lips.[30]

In her essay titled, “Glorious Food?” Siân Harris describes the connection of Harry Potter characters to food and feelings in the series. She states, “Perhaps most revealingly…food acts as an emotional signifier, and a means by which the characters can express their relationships.”[31] If food is, as Harris suggests, an emotional and relationship symbol throughout the series, perhaps Xenophilius’s attachment to “disgusting” food shows evidence of a soul “slightly overwhelmed” by the “belly.”[32]

More evident than the emphasis of the “body” element is Xenophilius’s heightened “mind” faculty. For starters, we can assume he is a graduate of the Ravenclaw House of Hogwarts, the house known for matriculating the most intellectual wizards.[33] Luna is a member of this House and often quotes the Ravenclaw motto, “Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.”[34] Xenophilius’s “pet invention” is marked with this exact sentence.[35] Xeno quotes the Ravenclaw motto while admiring his contraption displayed, “fittingly enough, upon the head of the beautiful Rowena Ravenclaw.”[36] He describes each element of the invention and its three purposes: “to remove all sources of distraction from the thinker’s immediate area …[second,] to induce an elevated frame of mind. Finally…[it will] enhance the ability of the extraordinary.”[37] The creation is central in his living area, an idol meant to strengthen the mind. One could also wonder at the physical layout of his home: might Xeno’s house symbolically suggest his emphasis on the “mind” and secondarily, the “body?’ The living room, containing his books and ideas—relating to his mind—is on the upper level of his house. Below it is the overwhelming kitchen, a room appropriately dedicated to his appetite.

As further evidence of his dominating intellect, and specifically regarding the Deathly Hallows, Xeno claims that “belief” in the objects is an exercise of the mind.[38] When he describes the Hallows, Hermione is unconvinced of their existence. She questions the plausibility of a resurrection stone, and Xeno responds by asking her to “prove that it is not.”[39] Hermione is furious, saying: “You could claim that anything is real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody’s proved it doesn’t exist!” [emphasis in the original]. Xenophilius agrees that this is true and even congratulates her for “opening [her] mind a little.”[40] Even Xeno’s affinity for the Hallows appears to be an intellectual rather than courageous exercise. By instantly making the Hallows’ possessor “master of Death,” the objects eliminate any need for the heart, selflessness or courage. Moreover, within Xeno’s 41 pages, we encounter only two pieces of information that Xenophilius judges to be wrong: his previously held conviction to help Harry and his criticism of others’ unbelief.

Xeno pours belief into anything, quite blatantly, without discernment. This characteristic further emphasizes the significance of his obsession with the mind, suggesting a deficient sense of “what is right,” a soul out of balance and a weakened application of the Tao. Xeno accepts and believes all, and this requires him at times to contradict his own opinions. In one instance, Xenophilius reminds Hermione that the Hallows tale is “just to amuse, not to instruct,” and yet he wears the symbol of the Hallows, displays complete belief in the existence of these objects. It is more than an amusing tale to him. Xeno’s “chest” does not inform his mind, and he is trapped within varied and opposing opinions.

In spite of his mind-heavy soul, Xenophilius does deserve some credit. He loves his daughter, often referring to her as “my Luna.” He loves her to the extent of gambling with the lives of other children when he calls for Death Eaters to capture Harry and owns (possibly unintentionally) a dangerous explosive. To love his daughter as he does, Xenophilius must have some “chest.” However, the “chest” is often most easily measured by and visible in one’s interactions with others. Xeno’s way of relating to other characters is inconsistent, never selfless (excepting his role as a father). Though initially convinced to promote the truth of Harry’s story in his journal The Quibbler, to courageously contradict the message of the Ministry of Magic, he later negates his position. He is easily swayed. As Ron and Hermione aptly observe, Xeno is a “cowardly old wart” and an “awful old hypocrite.”[41]

One wonders if he sincerely valued the legitimacy of Harry’s story earlier on, or if he was simply open minded. As noted above, Xeno praised Hermione for opening her mind when she pointed to the lack of logic in his belief. Xeno is able to accept any information, regardless of how reasonable, and particularly anything the Ministry of Magic or the Daily Prophet has disregarded. It seems unclear whether his decision to support Harry can be to his credit when his betrayal comes so easily.

Though Xeno is not altogether “bad,” he lacks the objective moral guide that might have otherwise allowed him to be consistently brave or, at least, to filter decisions and ideas through his “chest.” Without a strong “chest,” and as one whose mind overshadows his chest, Xeno is the right person to offer Harry a logical, alternative solution to the Voldemort problem. This conception fits neatly into Rowling’s morality lesson to young readers. She may be said to use Xeno as an example of someone lacking a strong “chest.” Xeno contradicts his earlier stance of defending Harry and also places faith in the Hallows, objects he believes to be the easiest possible method for defeating death. These actions contrast sharply with Harry’s courageous stand against the Ministry and his eventual, selfless choice not to seek the Hallows. Xeno’s character displays cowardice and even greediness. He is a person dominated by his intellect and desires. In this sense, Xeno simply has a weak “heart.”

 

Xenophilius Lovegood and Rowling’s Central Message

What, then, does a mind-heavy and heart-deficient soul, such as Xenophilius’s, reveal about the message in Deathly Hallows and, thereby, about the lesson being taught to young readers? His role first emphasizes the mind’s limitations and, secondly, reiterates the necessity of a strong “chest.” This message is reaffirmed in the conclusion of the final Dumbledore Denouement, set in an ethereal version of the King’s Cross train station, just after Harry has died at Voldemort’s hands. In this scene, Harry asks if their paradise-like encounter (following Harry’s self-sacrifice) has been “real.”[42] Dumbledore assures him quickly that it has been. Harry is unsure; he even claims that it might be happening just in his head. Still, Dumbledore responds, “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”[43] According to Dumbledore, the “mind,” though important and invaluable, should not be the single nor dominating element in guiding one’s decisions or validating one’s understanding.

Xenophilius’s role as the character who reveals the meaning of the Deathly Hallows contributes to the grand moral of the story. Included in the title, the Hallows are significant to the reader. However, they are the items Harry chooses against. In Chapter 24, when Harry is burying his elf friend Dobby, he confronts the problem of choosing between finding Xeno’s Hallows or continuing with his original mission to destroy horcruxes.[44] Harry has the choice of two possible solutions and either option could usher in the final victory (as far as he or the reader knows at that point in the story). Xenophilius’s “hallows” are the “easy” choice, offering to make Harry the “master of Death.” Harry chooses instead to destroy horcruxes, and this turns out to be the “right” choice. Harry learns later that he is a horcrux himself and surrenders to Voldemort who, because of Harry’s sacrifice, is eventually finally and fully defeated. Had Harry chosen the Hallows instead, a part of Voldemort’s soul would have lingered behind—in Harry. Dumbledore even affirms that choosing the Hallows would have been Harry’s easier, “chest-less” choice. Dumbledore confesses, “I was afraid that your . . . head might dominate your good heart. I was scared that, if presented outright with the facts about those tempting objects, you might seize the Hallows as I did, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons” [emphasis added].[45]

The right choice—the chest-leading choice—was ignoring Xeno’s Hallows. When Harry’s self-sacrifice lands him in paradise, Dumbledore utters part of Rowling’s central message: “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed” [emphasis added].[46] Ultimately, Dumbledore teaches Harry, and potentially the young reader, to pity those who live without a “heart,” with a weakened “chest,” nearly claiming that this broken order equals an incomplete self. To reprise the opening assertion: In the Harry Potter series, a whole soul, governed by the “chest,” informed by the Tao, is the ultimate victor. If this is Rowling’s moral argument, we may be assured that it is being read (and re-read and depicted in films, theme parks, and myriad other popular culture media) voraciously.

 

Endnotes

 

Bibliography

Bunker, Lisa and Deborah Skinner. Accio Quote!. Accessed October 17, 2013. http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1001-sydney-renton.htm.

Granger, John. The Deathly Hallows Lectures: The Hogwarts Professor Explains Harry’s Final Adventure. Allentown, PA: Zossima Press, 2008.

——. Looking for God in Harry Potter. Carol Stream, IL: SaltRiver, 2006.

Harris, Siân. “Glorious Food? The Literary and Culinary Heritage of the Harry Potter Series.” In J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter, edited by Cynthia J. Hallett and Peggy J. Huey, 8–21. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Ionoaia, Eliana. “Moral Fibre and Outstanding Courage: Harry Potter’s Ethics of Courage as a Paradigm for the Muggle World.” In Harry Potter’s World Wide Influence, edited by Diana Patterson, 49–76. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub., 2009.

Lewis, C.S. “The Abolition of Man.” The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. New York: HarperOne, 2002.

Plato, and C. J. Rowe. The Republic. Penguin Classics. 1 vols. London: Penguin, 2012.

Prinzi, Travis. The Hog’s Head. Accessed April 8, 2013. http://thehogshead.org.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. (Cover of American edition illustrated by and Mary GrandPré.)

——. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000.

——. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic, 2003.