Blog Post 8 Analysis of Rowling

While reading Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire the themes of friendship and sticking up for what you believe in keep arising.  Throughout the book I believe J.K. Rowling is communicating these values and how important they are in one’s life.  It teaches the reader the value of friendship, and to give in to the evil forces around you. 

In the beginning Harry and Hermione are invited to the World Cup of Quidditch by the Weasley’s, and are invited to stay with them the rest of the summer until the children return back to Hogwarts.  To some this may not seem like that big of a deal.  However, the action of inviting someone in your home and taking them to an event of their lifetime shows a strong act of friendship.  The Weasley family was more than courteous to Harry and Hermione.  They even practically treated him as their own children, worrying about them and caring about them.  Such as, when the World Cup was over for the night and everyone had returned to their tents. When the death eaters caused ciaos and scared everyone to run away Harry, Ron, and Hermione were separated from everyone.  Together the three of them run into Draco Malfoy.  Draco proceeds to call Hermione a Mudblood.  Harry and Ron immediately defend Hermione telling Malfoy to “watch his mouth!”  This shows the love and friendship they have for one another.  By telling Draco to watch his mouth they were standing up for what they believe in, “Everybody present knew that ‘Mudblood’ was a very offensive term for a witch or wizard of Muggle parentage.”  Soon after their encounter with Draco Malfoy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are almost stunned by a spell cast by the magic of ministry.  The children simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Luckily, Mr. Weasley was among the men searching for the death eaters.  Of course, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were accused of committing the crime.   Mr. Weasley stopped the Minister of Magic from even having a thought that they would do something so evil.  He defends all three of them.  This is shows the love Mr. Weasley has for his son and his son’s friends. 

Hermione sticks up for what she believes in throughout the book by defending the house elves.  She says, “You know house elves get a very raw deal!  It’s slavery is what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he’s got her bewitched so she can’t even run when they start trampling tents!  Why doesn’t anyone do something about it?” Hermione recognizes that someone is not being treated as they should be.  She goes against everyone around her by creating S.P.E.W., and she doesn’t care if people make fun of her for it.  She is showing love and friendship to a crowd that is usually treated like crap.

Harry and Cedric also share a bond of friendship.  They are the two competitors from Hogwarts.  Naturally you would think they despise each other because they are from the same school.  However, Harry warns Cedric of the dragons in the first task.  Harry learned this information from Hagrid.  By Hagrid showing Harry the dragons and Harry warning Cedric this shows how these characters care for one another.  Because Harry warned Cedric of the first task in the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric helps Harry out in the second task.  He tells Harry that he must open the egg underwater to hear the clue.  It pays off being a friend to someone.  Do unto others as you would have others do onto you is what JK Rowling is communicating here. 

During the second task Harry is faced with the option of winning the tournament or helping another friend in danger.  Even though Harry was suppose to bring one person up from the bottom of the lake he sees that Fleur Delacour is not coming to get her sister.  Harry says, “But she’s my friend too.”  The merpeople surround Ron and the young girl.  Harry threatens them with his wand and they scatter.  Harry is showing what it means to be a friend.  He is risking his own life to save to others and will not let anything stop him. 

The power of friendship is connected all throughout this book.  Without one another, all of these children would not be the same.  Each character is becoming a better person by being a friend, and standing up for what they believe in.  These are lessons they learn throughout the book and that are taught to the reader.

7B-The Goblet of Fire: Notable Moment

My notable moment from Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire comes from chapter thirty three; the death eaters.  Lord Voldemort has just returned in his human state form and called his death eaters to him.  They are gathered in the graveyard where Tom Riddle’s father is buried, and Cedric Diggory has just been killed by the dark lord.  Harry Potter and Cedric arrived here by touching the triwizard tournament trophy that was a portkey.  Voldemort is speaking to his death eaters and explaining why he has called them there, how he is alive, and why Harry Potter is present.

Voldemort says, “You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill him.  His mother died in the attempt to save him-and unwittingly provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen….I could not touch the boy.”  I think it is amazing what JK Rowling is communicating here.  To me, she is saying love conquers all.  Here is the pure definition of evil, Lord Voldemort, that can destroy anything he wishes, but he cannot conquer the power of love.  Harry’s mother loved him so much that she sacrificed her own life trying to protect him, and because of that Harry will always have something that Lord Voldemort is incapable of receiving. 

I have read this book three times now and every time I come to this passage tears come to my eyes.  In my opinion, the world is an evil place, ready to take everything they can away from you.  However, love can never be taken away.  If only the world could see the power that love holds instead of hate or evilness it would be a better place.  I truly believe love conquers all. 

7A-Anticipating Rowling & The Goblet of Fire

I am really looking forward to reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  I am not ashamed to say that as a child I was a Harry Potter fanatic.  I was the kid standing in line at Barnes and Noble the day the books were released.  I love these books.  I do not believe there is a better children’s series in the world that teaches children valuable lessons while making it interesting.  I learned more from these books than my parents could ever teach me about good over coming evil, doing the right thing, and standing up for what you believe in. 

I feel J.K. Rowling’s use of symbolism in this book is amazing.  Everything in this book represents something else.  Her use of combining a fantasy world with the real world at the same time is astonishing.  Her writing style is intriguing.  It will have me buried in this book where I can not put it down until I am finished. 

I recently watched an interview on Oprah with J.K. Rowling.  I highly recommend it to anyone curious about her life and how Harry Potter was created.  She was so very poor, and her mother passed away right before the first book, The Sorcer’s Stone, was released.   This woman has truly overcome a lot and stands as inspiration to me to follow my dreams, despite life’s obstacles. 

6B-The Magician's Nephew: Notable Moment

While reading The Magician’s Nephew a passage during The Bell and the Hammer chapter most caught my attention as a notable moment for this book.  During this time Polly and Digory have came into the world of Charn.  They have just awoken Queen Jadis and broken her spell.

I find it interesting that Queen Jadis only acknowledges Digory.  It is obvious that the Queen did this intentionally when Polly says, “We’ve come from another world; by magic.” The queen goes on to say, “Is this true?’  Still looking at Digory and not giving Polly even a glance.”  I believe this is because Queen Jadis refers to herself as a woman of great power, and does not respect common type girls such as Polly.  Even though they are both female the queen is being sexist and favoring Digory because he is a male.

I believe Lewis was aware of this when he was writing the book.  During this time period of the 20^th century women, especially young girls, weren’t a part of society.  Their opinion did not matter.  I judge this is a portrayal of Lewis’ society that he lived in that unconsciously came out in his writing.  Although I do not agree with degrading females I think it fits the time period appropriately. 

Blog 6A-Anticipating C.S. Lewis and The Magician's Nephew

I read the entire series of The Chronicles of Narnia when I was around twelve years old. I enjoyed The Magician’s Nephew because it was a story of discovering a fantasy land full of adventure, but they could still return home to their normal lives.  The curious children discovering a hidden passage way inside their house always interested me.  I guess it’s the aspect of exploring that I loved doing as a child.   My grandparent’s house was a huge old home that had a study or library. Somehow I always felt that if a secret passage way was to be found it was going to be at my grandparent’s house.  I was always pulling out books trying to find a secret door.  I was never as lucky as Polly for I never found one. 

However, when I read the series The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first book.  I am interested to see how the change of order made by the publishers affects my feelings towards this book.  Will it make this book more interesting?  Will it change how Narnia was found and what happened?   

 “This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child.” The first line of the book, gives me the impression that this will be a historical story.  Growing up I enjoyed hearing stories from when my grandfather was a child because it was a different time then.  As I skim through the middle of the book I am noticing that the narrator is very descriptive.  This will help me imagine what is going on.  The narrator also seems to intrude such as Nesbit did in The Phoenix and the Carpet.  I believe I will like this because I enjoyed how Nesbit did it.  I feel it draws the reader closer into the story because they are learning something important that can be used in life.  Overall I am looking forward to re-reading this book.

5B-The Phoenix and the Carpet: Notable Moment

For my notable moment from The Phoenix and the Carpet, I selected a scene from Chapter 6: Doing Good.  Particularly on page 153 after the children have arrived in France.  The children have just discovered a family’s hidden treasure after wishing to do a good deed on the carpet, and have gone to find the owners of the castle where the treasure is hidden.  They came upon a shabby house, and went in to discover it was the residents of that house family’s castle.  The family was in desperate need of a hidden treasure because they were broke. 

I like this entire chapter because the children are doing something good for once, but are still having an adventure.  This appeals to my expectations for reading any children’s literature during this class.  However, what striks me as the most interesting is when the phoenix says, “Why are you so sad at Christmas-time?” The narrator goes on to say, “The children looked at it with one gasp of horror and surprise, for the youngest of them knew that it is far from manners to notice that strangers have been crying, and much worse to ask them the reason of their tears.  And, of course, the lady began to cry again, very much indeed, after calling the Pheonix a bird without a heart; and she could not find her handkerchief, so Anthea offered hers, which was still very damp and no use at all.”  It is interesting to me that the narrator is teaching manners to the reader.  In my opinion, most children learn their manners from their parents.  However, if their parents are not around during their early child hood years when these lessons are taught, the children learn from their environment.  I think it is a brilliant idea that Nesbit is doing.  She is not only giving the reader entertainment, but also teaching the reader a social skill needed in life.

 This is helpful to all types of readers though because everyone could use a little reinforcement and reminder every now and then of what is appropriate behavior and what is not.  I like that the narrator communicates messages similar to this passage throughout the book.