Harry Potter: Magical Education and Coming of Age

                                        Harry Potter and Magical Education in the Fantasy Genre


                        I always found it interesting that in the Magical Education sub-genre of fantasy, despite all the dangers and life threatening events, monsters and dark lords that ultimately still so much of the stress and focus in the life these magical student protagonists is their day to day school life, bullies, romances, homework, sports and tests. I remember how difficult and stressful and frustrating middle school and high school could often be, and I mean very often. I guess I have always been a bit skeptical about being able to balance that type of fictional life, though that might be the point. Maybe the idea is that the magical eduction fantasy is supposed to personify the difficulties we faced, as young adults and coming of age, as fantastical things of epic proportions. Lets look at Harry Potter, the Idea's of your school being a safe haven from a family you would rather get away from and the school becomes this amazing place you can be yourself, the teacher who takes after you feeling like a wizard with infinite wisdom, the bullies we faced being agents of the forces of evil, and the rollercoaster of time with the friends we make and grow up together with feeling like an epic adventure. And its interesting because of for all the exaggeration and metaphor in the transition between or real lives during that time and the fantasized version, the work life problems are still the same, homework, career planning, money troubles, grades, and extracurricular activities and balancing them with the the fantasy, or with personal life. The thing is I am not sure if the point is to escape the harsh reality of responsibilities with the epic fantasy, create a scenario were the normality of school gives something simple to latch onto during the duration of the fantasy, or to say that the trials and tribulations of  discovering yourself and your responsibilities to your self make your responsibilities towards school ultimately trivial.