Going through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince now… The students are all learning how to apparate, the wizardly version of getting their drivers’ licenses. Both are regarded (in the various book- and real-worlds) as major rites of passage on the way to adulthood, a “tangible” way of proving that you’re no longer a child, but a grown-up.
It seems that all cultures have rites of passage. In more primitive societies, these seem intentional, and intentionally set up. Get through them, and you’re officially an adult. But our society, seeing no obvious need for such primitive stuff, seems to have invented a rite of passage anyway.
What is it about transportation that makes it the obvious rite of passage for our society? Shouldn’t we, like, need to go out and kill a blood-thirsty animal, or starve ourself into a trance on some mountain peak somewhere?
We’re so spread out … We can’t get to where we need to be through the course of a day on foot, or on horseback, should we have a horse. We need mechanical transport.
So, what does being adult equal being considered responsible and skillful enough to transport yourself through artificial means say about us, and/or our society? No idea right off, here. Time to think about it.
“Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, Book 6)” (J.K. Rowling)
[OTB]
white pebble 