Harry Potter, The Deathly Hallows and Christianity
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: A review
The New Testament is all about life, death, sacrifice, resurrection and battle between good and evil. These themes or conceptual constructs found in Bible are indicated in fictional literature too as they are the common traits of the heroic characters and villains found in the fictional universe.
Examining Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Life, death, sacrifice, endless battles between good and evil as well as resurrection are all discussed thoroughly in New Testament. The themes mentioned above are building blocks of many fictional novels as they are popularized themes crossing the time barrier. Many fictional novels have references to biblical events and analogies are found everywhere in the fictional universe. The battle between good and evil are ageless themes (Duffy, 2002). This is true for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where analogies are far too many.
Harry Potter…...
mlaReferences
Duffy, E. Sentences in Harry Potter, Students in Future Writing Classes. Rhetoric Review. 2002, 21 (2): 170 -- 87.
Hooke, S.H. The Bible. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982. Print.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2). New York: Scholastic, 2013. Print.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic, 2007. Print.
Harry Potter and the John illiams Score
There are few franchises in current literature or cinema which have commanded the kind of commercial power and consistency as has Harry Potter. The J.K. Rowling book series about a boy wizard and his epic struggle against the evil Lord Voldemort would be adapted into eight serial films, each of them a major box office blockbuster. It is fully appropriate, therefore, that when directing the initial installment in the series, 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Christopher Columbus would collaborate with the score composer famous for overseeing the musical direction of such powerhouse film franchises as Star ars, Indiana Jones and Superman. In the context of illiams' work alone is a blueprint for scoring classic popcorn cinema.
The reasons for his effectiveness in this capacity are on ready display in the Philosopher Stone. From the whimsical and swirling strings that sweep us up into…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Clemmensen, C. (2008). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Editorial Review. Filmtracks.
Columbus, C. (2001). Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Williams, J. (2001). Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone: Original Soundtrack. Atlantic.
The audience witnesses the leading actors negotiate the challenges presented to them in their fight against evil, and their performances reflect the emotions experienced by their characters perfectly. The pain of losing friends, family members, and loved ones is portrayed honestly and truthfully by the actors, allowing the audience to experience the pain that the characters are feeling. Due to the actors' superb acting skills, the audience is able to connect with the emotional peril that the characters experience and connect with them on many different levels.
The continuity in the setting and costuming of the characters contributes to the increased believability of the movie, as the audience has seen these characters wear cloaks and perform magic using their wands, but the continuity through the books and the movies allows the audience to be captivated while Harry flies across London on the back of a dragon. The perfect costumes, the…...
Instead of the author's context it is the reader's context that is examined from the feminist perspective […]
It is not the intention of this paper to enter into an extensive discussion on the theoretical validity of these different viewpoints. Suffice to say that it is the less extreme and more open -- ended and integrative form of feminist critique that is considered to be the most appropriate theoretical trajectory to this analysis and which best informs a comprehensive reading of the works of J.K. Rowling. Taking this viewpoint into consideration, the following is a brief overview of the central theoretical facets of an interpretation of the women characters in the novels, leading to an assessment of their importance in the novels as a whole.
On the one hand we have the fairly common critique that, "Many people have complained that there is a serious lack of quality feminist role models…...
mlaBibliography
Engstrom D., The Women of Harry Potter: Feminism and Women's Psychological
Development Theory ( 2006), [Accessed 12 September 2010]http://dspace.elmhurst.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/27/The%20Women%20of%20Harry%20Potter.pdf?sequence=1
Dresang, Eliza T. (2002). Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender. In: Whited,
Lana A. (ed.) The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon ( Columbia/London: University of Missouri Press, 2002).
Harry Potter books, written by J.K. Rowling, are about a boy's coming of age. The young Harry Potter has to live in two worlds -- one the ordinary world of those without magical powers, and the other his newly discovered life as an emerging wizard of some importance. In the process, Rowling teaches important lessons about what is truly important in life. Rather than lecturing her young readers with didactic lessons, she presents opposites, often extreme, opposites. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a story about a young boy who learns that in a world of apparent opposites, the truth may lie somewhere in between.
Harry Potter is a boy who was orphaned when he was about one-year-old. While he has been told that his parents died in a car crash, this is only because the aunt and uncle raising him do not want him to enter the magical world…...
mlaBibliography
Frank, Andrew J., and Matthew T. McBee. 2003. "The Use of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Discuss Identity Development with Gifted Adolescents." Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, Vol. 15.
Olson, Mark L. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling." Accessed via the Internet 6/29/04. http://www.nesfa.org/reviews/Olson/HarryPotterAndTheSorcerersStone.html
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic Press. 1998.
Tsubata, Kate. 1999. "How Children Can Gain Magical Reading Powers." The Washington Times. Nov. 16,-Page 5.
It is interesting to note how, in both Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and in Alice in Wonderland, there always is a strong connection with the real world. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, beyond the fantasy and supernatural events that abound throughout the book, the reader cannot help to see the usual social relations that are born in a secondary school or a high school, between the different students there. Despite the fact that they study at magic school, inherent issues, like dealing with the class bully or doing homework, are always present. Similarly, Alice is also an early teenager struggling with some of the problems of that age: growing too big, meeting new people and learning to deal with them, tackling new situations that arise in her life etc.
This is similar with many of the characters in both books. Although fantastic characters, they retain many of…...
Dumbledore tells Harry "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" (Rowling 214).
The third lesson Harry learned was that some desires are personal. Not everyone is willing to share their deepest wants. This was evident when Harry asked Dumbledore what he saw in the mirror and Dumbledore gave an answer that Harry did not believe.
Next Harry learned that some desires are for personal gain, while some people desire to help others. Harry wanting his family and Ron being made head boy and Quidditch captain were obviously personal desires. However, when Harry wanted the Sorcerer's Stone, he wanted it not for himself, but for the good of everyone. Just like when Voldermort was driven away after attacking Harry as a baby, Harry wanted to drive him away again by obtaining the Stone before he would. Dumbledore revealed to Harry that "only one who wanted to find…...
mlaBibliography
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1997.
What is ordered should be done and nothing less is accepted.
Slaves are not treated as human beings with equal rights. ather, they are considered by their masters as property which can be dispensed at any time. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, this is demonstrated by what Mr. Crouch said to Winky, "I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me… I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and her master's reputation." (owling 90). Mr. Crouch's words are laden with meaning as to how he sees his house-elf slave; the house-elf is nothing but a property that can be dispensed at any moment.
People who are enslaved are denied of the basic human rights to be compensated for the work that they do. Moreover, they are not entitled to the most basic benefits an employee receives such as rest…...
mlaReferences
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic, 2002
"Slave." Merriam-Webster Online. 29 March 2009
.
When the school's annual alchemy fair was staged, Venus Oz was determined to win. "I just know that Perdita pull some dirty, underhanded scheme, and coast upon the reputation of her illustrious mother," mused Oz. The alchemy fairs were held in honor of the great wizardly traditions of the science of turning lead into gold. Students were given the task of safely turning one substance into another in a spectacular fashion. Past winners had been students who had turned Quidditch bats into dragons that could eat quaffles, bludgers, and snitches and then spit them out into many multiples of themselves. Others had turned hamsters into living representations of the former kings and queens of England and back again. Hours of work was necessary to ensure that the experiment could be performed successfully for the teachers, of course, but hours of work was not something at which Perdita excelled.
Venus lay…...
For example, instead of a farm theme, there is a wizard or magic theme to the otherwise basic educational lessons.
Because this novel is already so widely read or watched by this student population, the students will already be familiar with the concepts and themes. This will limit any potential psychological impact on the students. Although there are various scenes of violence and death found throughout the book, these issues can be dealt with as part of the class reading process. Before a violent or potentially disturbing scene is read, it will be important for the instructor to prepare the students for this and discuss it both before and after it is read.
One project that may be fun for the students to do with the reading of this novel is to incorporate a Hogwarts theme into the classroom so that the students are taught like they are students at Hogwarts.…...
Comparing Harry Potter to World War IIIntroductionIt can be challenging to detect the difference between fiction and nonfiction for writers and readers. In general, fiction refers to plots, settings, and characters based on the authors imagination, whereas nonfiction refers to true accounts of real people and events. However, because these two genres frequently overlap, their distinction can be obscured (Hendersen and Clark, 353). Whether intentionally or by coincidence, authors borrow their plot lines and characters from real-life scenarios. This paper compares a real-life scenario, World War II (WWII), and a work of fiction, Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling.ComparisonAdolf Hitler began his climb to political power in Germany in June 1919 when he joined the German Workers Party and gained admirers as he rose through the ranks. In 1933, Hitler was elected as the German Chancellor, and he used his position to deceive the populace, launching a genocide against undesirables that…...
mlaWorks cited
Bunny-lou. The Parallels of the Harry Potter Series and World War II. Tumblr, 2015.
Hendersen, Deborah JO, and Herb Clark. “Retelling narratives as fiction or nonfiction.” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Vol. 29. No. 29. 2007.
Rowling, Joanne K., and Gerhard Lauer. Harry Potter. London: Bloomsbury, 2008.
With this connotation, owling is showing how our lives and geniuses can take on new adventures after our deaths through texts.
Quote 2 Blake
"The community is not given; it is made by the abilities and activities of all its members -- by the incompetent Neville Longbottom as much as by heroic Harry. Harry Potter isn't just part of Hewison's museum culture; he is revolutionary, a symbolic figure of the past-in-future England which is in desperate need of such symbols," making Harry a transmedia character that will help bring English society into a more future and present oriented world (Blake 15-16). In his work, The Irresistible ise of Harry Potter, Andrew Blake discusses how modern transmedia characters can help give England the push it needs to move beyond its past and into a more technology driven and innovative future. Blake discusses the importance of having symbols in film and literature that…...
mlaReferences
Blake, Andrew. The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter. Verso. 2002.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Pottermore. 2012.
When gone about the wrong way, the whole thing backfires on those who were only trying to help.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire also details the struggles of the classes, which is a universal lesson for humanity. There are the pure-blooded families in the wizarding world, who, for the most part, see themselves as superior to all those whose blood has been tainted. Right out of World War II, some of these pure-blooded families have become obsessed with purity of blood, to the extent that they are willing to murder any and all who aren't pure, as they are. and, just as Hitler was far from the Arian ideal he professed, the leader of these maniacal pure-blooded wizards is a half-blood himself.
Of course there are the exceptions to the rule, in Harry's world, just as there are in society in the real world. One pure-blooded family, the Weasleys,…...
But perhaps the most dramatic deviation between the fan fiction and the actual Potter books is the seriousness and lack of humor in the fan fiction. The Harry Potter novels were notable for their magic candy, broomsticks, spells and other forms of levity that lightened some of the serious issues pertaining to death, curses, prophesy, and an emerging adult awareness of the characters. Rowling often used a very ironic tone in the dialogue and in her authorial voice. This Potter fan fiction has a modernist, almost Hemingway-like style as it quickly moves from year to year in somber, spare sentences, talking about Harry's grief regarding his circumstances and the death which magic has caused. Harry is clearly finding himself as a person, and the focus of the fan fiction is more internal than external.
It is difficult to imagine Rowling's books having had such a hold upon the imagination of children…...
mlaWork Cited
Suitesamba. "Scars." Archiveofourown.org. 2007. [15 Apr 2013]
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997) by J.K. Rowling (New York: Scholastic Press, 1997)
What type of world does the author present to the child in this fantasy text?
In this fantasy text, the author presents a completely self-contained, magical world, with its own rules, hierarchies, atmosphere, heroes and villains, schools, shops, banks, restaurants, etc. Here, individuals with special magical powers outside the "muggle world" of Harry Potter's aunt, uncle, and cousin live, work, and go to school. This world exists not in place of, but separately from, the muggle world. Harry Potter and any of his friends with "muggle" parents or guardians must still live in the "muggle world" each summer when Hogwarts School is out, until they can return to Hogwarts the next fall. At Hogwarts, however, nearly everything is different than it is in the "muggle world." There are some standard similarities, however, such as classes, exams,…...
1. Characters and stories from Greek mythology are often referenced in modern pop culture, such as in movies, television shows, and video games. For example, the character of Achilles from the Trojan War is frequently mentioned in popular media.
2. Many modern books and novels draw inspiration from Greek mythology, incorporating elements such as gods, heroes, and monsters into their plots. Authors such as Rick Riordan and Madeline Miller have gained popularity for their retellings of Greek myths.
3. The themes and moral lessons found in Greek mythology continue to resonate with audiences today, and are often explored in contemporary literature. These....
I. Early Life
II. Writing Harry Potter Series
III. Legacy and Philanthropy
I. Introduction
II. Body
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