Dementors Suck. Literally.

Blog Post 3

This week we finally started Prisoner of Azkaban, a strong contender for my favorite book of the series. Why is it (maybe) my favorite? Well, we're finally introduced to a competent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the first (and last) time, allowing us to truly see how that class is actually supposed to be run. Between the bogarts, grindelows,~expecto patronums~, and valuable life lessons Lupin taught the kids and Harry, it's finally clear what Defense Against the Dark Arts is really about.

While my love for Lupin is one of the driving factors of my love for PoA, the main reason I love this book is for Rowling's creation of dementors. Am I a weirdo who has a strange love for creatures that suck out everyones happiness and will to live? Absolutely fricken not. But do I love the idea that Rowling created this representation of depression and found a way to combat it with light and happiness? Absolutely.

Before we are introduced to the dementors formally, we already hear a lot about them. They're the Azkaban guards and everyone seems to be terrified of them. However, the way they're just continually referred to as guards, the first time I read the series I assumed they would just be really horrible wizards that had the ability to do dark, torturous things to the prisoners. But then we actually meet the dementors on the Hogwarts Express. Harry faints and hears screaming, Ginny sobs. Overall, everyone is clearly shaken up.

The way dementors are described is a clear metaphor for depression, something Rowling struggled with herself while writing the series. Drawing from her own experiences came the existence of the dementors. Ron explains it as feeling as if he would never be cheerful again. They drain out all peace, hope, and happiness from the air. Lupin tells Harry that "dementors will feed on you long enough until you become soulless and evil". Depression can be seen in the same way; if you let the depression win, it will just keep tearing you down until you no longer can move forward and you're "left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life".

And worst of all is the dementors' kiss. It sucks the soul out of you until you're nothing but a hollow shell of a human. But obviously there has to be a way to combat these dementors, right? And cue...

First off, expecto patronum means "I wait for a patron" in Latin, but why it's so interesting is that the sorcerer creates their protector themselves. In an essence, Rowling is saying that you are your own protector. In the presence of these dark, soul crushing creatures, the only thing that can overtake them is your own light which is created by thinking of what makes you happiest.

A major theme throughout the entire series is the whole concept of dark versus light and that is exceptionally highlighted through the dementors. As Dumbledore says himself, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light".