As the new school-year's rose fingers touch the sky I have the luxury of indulging my latest students with a myriad of approaches. Today, a student wearing a necklace dangling a large alligator's tooth shared not only this decoration with me, but also that he or she had been told that this tooth could be considered a weapon. Upon being asked by this young student if this was true I immediately launched into a Harry Potter explanation, an explanation that hopefully answered itself.
"Such a tooth can be considered a weapon, particularly if this tooth has been infused with the blood of a basilisk and you are attempting to destroy a diary written by Tom Riddle, or any other Horcrux. Other than that, I do not perceive this lone gator tooth as dangerous or threatening in any way. Thank you for asking."
Please advise me if I have led this student astray. A representative from the orthodontic lobby is pestering me as I write!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Butterbeer: Fact or Fiction?
Is butterbeer simply a delicious invention of the imagination of Ms. Rowling, or is it a beverage to be found in history? It so happens that currently I am reading "Imbibe!" - a history of the cocktail in America during the 19th century. Lo and behold! Here is what I discovered quite accidentally in the section for Hot Spiced or Buttered Rum:
"The addition of butter to hot drinks goes back at least to the days of Henry VIII, when we find one Andrew Boorde recommending buttered beer or ale as a remedy for hoarseness. By Samuel Pepys's day, buttered ale, with sugar and cinnamon, had made the transition from medicinal drink to recreational one." (page 163)
I have never had a warm, let alone a hot, beer, and I don't intend to soon, but I must admit that the possibility is somewhat intriguing with the addition of such sweetness and spice. Also, having never had a Butterbeer from Harry Potter World (which is not a hot drink, nor alcoholic), I cannot compare this current interpretation with the imagined flavors on my mind's palate. I suppose I will eventually persuade some fellow adult Potter Heads to make this leap with me at some future gathering that involves lowered standards and unchained judgement. I will certainly let you know!
"The addition of butter to hot drinks goes back at least to the days of Henry VIII, when we find one Andrew Boorde recommending buttered beer or ale as a remedy for hoarseness. By Samuel Pepys's day, buttered ale, with sugar and cinnamon, had made the transition from medicinal drink to recreational one." (page 163)
I have never had a warm, let alone a hot, beer, and I don't intend to soon, but I must admit that the possibility is somewhat intriguing with the addition of such sweetness and spice. Also, having never had a Butterbeer from Harry Potter World (which is not a hot drink, nor alcoholic), I cannot compare this current interpretation with the imagined flavors on my mind's palate. I suppose I will eventually persuade some fellow adult Potter Heads to make this leap with me at some future gathering that involves lowered standards and unchained judgement. I will certainly let you know!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Humor Within Harry Potter
Humor abounds in the Potter series. It is one of the aspects of the series that I found most endearing. Rowling oftens ends a section or chapter with a funny line. Ron is particularly proficient at the section-ending humor with his ironic quips. One of my favorites, though, is by the narrator. It is a litotes, rhetorically speaking, and this understatement puts a heart-warming smile on any decent reader's face. This comment concludes the scene when Ron and Harry rescue Hermione from a troll:
"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page 179.
There are so many hilarious moments in the series. What are some of yours? Please share in the comments section. Thanks!
"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page 179.
There are so many hilarious moments in the series. What are some of yours? Please share in the comments section. Thanks!
A Confederacy of Dursleys
The comical description of Vernon Dursley on the opening page of book one is humorous, no doubt. It reminded me of the opening paragraph of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, one of the funniest books I have had the pleasure to peruse. Not only are the two characters, Vernon Dursley and Ignatius Reilly, similar in appearance, they both have a critical eye when it comes to surveying their fellow humans. First, the description of Mr. Dursley:
"Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache." - Harry Potter and the Sorcercer's Stone, page one.
While these two sentences are briefer than the quote below, and certainly not as detail-oriented, we also pick up some clues as to the shallowness of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley in the opening.
Here is the first paragraph of A Confederacy of Dunces:
"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grow in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly's supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D. H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul."
"Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache." - Harry Potter and the Sorcercer's Stone, page one.
While these two sentences are briefer than the quote below, and certainly not as detail-oriented, we also pick up some clues as to the shallowness of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley in the opening.
Here is the first paragraph of A Confederacy of Dunces:
"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grow in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly's supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D. H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul."
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Exciting this Reader - Last Paragraph, Chap. One
Continuing with our examination of chapter one of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, we should savor the final paragraph of this "prologue" to the series. I love rhetorical devices and constantly study their uses. In the quote below we have an anaphora. An anaphora is the name for a rhetorical devices that simply repeats the first word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or paragraphs. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech is a famous example. The author, in the paragraph cited below, does such an incredible job of exciting the reader about what is to come. In my copy, I have many notes surrounding this paragraph, some in ALL-CAPS, like the word "FORESHADOW." Rhetorical devices, and in this instance Ms. Rowling repeats the words "not knowing" three times within one sentence, should be used sparingly and strategically for a powerful effect. Ms. Rowling wowed me and excited me with this concluding paragraph to chapter one. I could not wait to turn the page!
I need to to give a shout out to the word choice of "inky sky." "Inky" - all that will happen next will happen beneath the sky of the world that Ms. Rowling has inked!
"A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky. The very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottle, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley. . . . He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!" ( page 17 - emphases mine)
I need to to give a shout out to the word choice of "inky sky." "Inky" - all that will happen next will happen beneath the sky of the world that Ms. Rowling has inked!
"A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky. The very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottle, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley. . . . He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!" ( page 17 - emphases mine)
Harry Potter Series and the Politics of Power
For those of us who find the Harry Potter series to be more than a coming-of-age tale set in the world of magic, there is a recent article in The Atlantic that discusses J. K. Rowling's treatment of politics, human rights, and the abuse of power. Many of the opinions which I have developed this past year while reading, re-reading, and re-reading this story yet again, appear in this article. So instead of of re-inventing the wheel, I am providing the link it. I recommend it highly.
http://m.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/07/the-political-parable-of-harry-potter/241946
http://m.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/07/the-political-parable-of-harry-potter/241946
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Who is Your Favorite Character in Harry Potter?
Is it Dumbledore? Is it Harry? Is it Hermione or Ron? Can Hagrid have stolen the cup, or is Snape on the rise? Who? Who? Who?
MTV.com has been hosting a best character Harry Potter contest, which Snape won:
www.mtv.com/news/articles/1667081/harry-potter-world-cup-severus-snape-wins.jhtml
Who is you favorite character? Please provide personal justification because no nominees will be eliminated.
I will step out, as such a delcaration is not easy, and claim Neville as my favorite character.
Time to name your favorite character! Do so in the comment section!
MTV.com has been hosting a best character Harry Potter contest, which Snape won:
www.mtv.com/news/articles/1667081/harry-potter-world-cup-severus-snape-wins.jhtml
Who is you favorite character? Please provide personal justification because no nominees will be eliminated.
I will step out, as such a delcaration is not easy, and claim Neville as my favorite character.
Time to name your favorite character! Do so in the comment section!
Intolerance and Its Foundation
I remember the concept but forget the lesson. When I was in graduate school a professor spent part of a class demonstrating how the beginning of a novel that we had just completed contained the essence of the remaining story -- not only a very brief and very tight summary of the plot, but also an explicit introduction to the themes awaiting exploration by the reader.
I share this approach to literary interpretation when my students and I read Elie Wiesel's Night together. Contained within the first three pages of the book is the story of Moshe the Beadle. This brief encounter for the reader with Moshe, what happens to him, and how he acts afterward, is reflected in great and horrific detail throughout the remainder of Wiesel's re-telling of his journey to Hell and back. For all intents and purposes, Moshe's tale becomes magnified by Elie into his novel. In this particular instance, I find the literary observation more interesting than I find it instructive. On the other hand, following this approach to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone can be most instructive, not only for this novel, but for the series in its entirety.
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page one, paragraph one:
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense." (emphasis mine)
Here we have the first paragraph of this seven book series, and all we learn about is the Dursleys and their main concern: making sure that they were thought of as normal. I beg to ask the question -- what is normal? To the Dursleys, apparently, this means not standing out or being different in anyway. I really like the ending to the first sentence - it transfers an air of haughtiness, of superiority, thank you very much. It says that we appreciate the way things are because we exemplify the way things are, and we do it very well, thank you very much.
The second paragraph holds only one phrase that concerns us here: Aunt Petunia "spying on the neighbors." The Dursleys do it and their neighbors do it - this is what they fear. But why?
Here is one of the most meaningful quotes about life that I can share with you. Considering the depth and breadth of the topics and themes that Ms. Rowlings explores, I do not find it unlikely that she has read the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. I find that Nietzsche nails it when it comes to human behavior, and I see this thought within the beginning of the Harry Potter Series, not to mention its middle and end.
The passage below belongs originally to Nietzsche's Schopenhauer as Educator, published in 1874. It has been copied from Walter Kaufmann's anthology, Existentialism from Dostoevesky to Sartre, pages 101-102. (I found this internet version on http://www.philosophicalsociety.com/ - I have the book.) BTW - timorous means fearful.
"A traveler who had seen many countries and peoples and several continents was asked what human traits he had found everywhere; and he answered: men are inclined to laziness. Some will feel that he might have said with greater justice: they are all timorous. They hide behind customs and opinions. At bottom, every human being knows very well that he is in this world just once, as something unique, and that no accident, however strange, will throw together a second time into a unity such a curious and diffuse plurality: he knows it, but hides it like a bad conscience -- why? From fear of his neighbor who insists on convention and veils himself with it. But what is it that compels the individual human being to fear his neighbor, to think and act herd-fashion, and not to be glad of himself? A sense of shame, perhaps, in a few rare cases. In the vast majority it is the desire for comfort, inertia -- in short, that inclination to laziness of which the traveler spoke. He is right: men are even lazier than they are timorous, and what they fear most is the troubles with which any unconditional honesty and nudity would burden them. Only artists hate this slovenly life in borrowed manners and loosely fitting opinions and unveil the secret, everybody's bad conscience, the principle that every human being is a unique wonder."
The central point of this quote applies directly to the Dursleys, and to many of the characters in the Potter series. Think of how each and every different type of creature is considered unworthy and substandard at some point by someone: wizards and witches, muggles, house elves, goblins, giants, half giants, centaurs, etc. I like this long list. It is proof of the many opportunities that intelligent beings have within the Potter series to express and demonsrate their feelings towards other races. But back to chapter one:
"The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that." (emphasis mine)
This paragraph seems to completely characterize Nietzsche's quote above about fear of the different. Returning to my eighth grade lessons, Animal Farm, bastion of all that is Facist, offers a similar example when the pigs declare that piglets are not allowed to play with the other farm animals. (We shall explore George Orwell and Facism within Harry Potter later on, particularly within Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). We see this within Holocaust literature, doumentaries, or primary-source documents - as the Nazi party arose within Germany, such feelings regarding "others" resulted in Jewish children being segregated from their peers. J. K. Rowling has firmly established the theme of intolerance within the first three, if not the first alone, paragraphs of this many-thousand-paged story.
We need more examples of intolerance, and fear and hatred fall under the category of intolerance. The comment section awaits all.
I share this approach to literary interpretation when my students and I read Elie Wiesel's Night together. Contained within the first three pages of the book is the story of Moshe the Beadle. This brief encounter for the reader with Moshe, what happens to him, and how he acts afterward, is reflected in great and horrific detail throughout the remainder of Wiesel's re-telling of his journey to Hell and back. For all intents and purposes, Moshe's tale becomes magnified by Elie into his novel. In this particular instance, I find the literary observation more interesting than I find it instructive. On the other hand, following this approach to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone can be most instructive, not only for this novel, but for the series in its entirety.
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page one, paragraph one:
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense." (emphasis mine)
Here we have the first paragraph of this seven book series, and all we learn about is the Dursleys and their main concern: making sure that they were thought of as normal. I beg to ask the question -- what is normal? To the Dursleys, apparently, this means not standing out or being different in anyway. I really like the ending to the first sentence - it transfers an air of haughtiness, of superiority, thank you very much. It says that we appreciate the way things are because we exemplify the way things are, and we do it very well, thank you very much.
The second paragraph holds only one phrase that concerns us here: Aunt Petunia "spying on the neighbors." The Dursleys do it and their neighbors do it - this is what they fear. But why?
Here is one of the most meaningful quotes about life that I can share with you. Considering the depth and breadth of the topics and themes that Ms. Rowlings explores, I do not find it unlikely that she has read the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. I find that Nietzsche nails it when it comes to human behavior, and I see this thought within the beginning of the Harry Potter Series, not to mention its middle and end.
The passage below belongs originally to Nietzsche's Schopenhauer as Educator, published in 1874. It has been copied from Walter Kaufmann's anthology, Existentialism from Dostoevesky to Sartre, pages 101-102. (I found this internet version on http://www.philosophicalsociety.com/ - I have the book.) BTW - timorous means fearful.
"A traveler who had seen many countries and peoples and several continents was asked what human traits he had found everywhere; and he answered: men are inclined to laziness. Some will feel that he might have said with greater justice: they are all timorous. They hide behind customs and opinions. At bottom, every human being knows very well that he is in this world just once, as something unique, and that no accident, however strange, will throw together a second time into a unity such a curious and diffuse plurality: he knows it, but hides it like a bad conscience -- why? From fear of his neighbor who insists on convention and veils himself with it. But what is it that compels the individual human being to fear his neighbor, to think and act herd-fashion, and not to be glad of himself? A sense of shame, perhaps, in a few rare cases. In the vast majority it is the desire for comfort, inertia -- in short, that inclination to laziness of which the traveler spoke. He is right: men are even lazier than they are timorous, and what they fear most is the troubles with which any unconditional honesty and nudity would burden them. Only artists hate this slovenly life in borrowed manners and loosely fitting opinions and unveil the secret, everybody's bad conscience, the principle that every human being is a unique wonder."
The central point of this quote applies directly to the Dursleys, and to many of the characters in the Potter series. Think of how each and every different type of creature is considered unworthy and substandard at some point by someone: wizards and witches, muggles, house elves, goblins, giants, half giants, centaurs, etc. I like this long list. It is proof of the many opportunities that intelligent beings have within the Potter series to express and demonsrate their feelings towards other races. But back to chapter one:
"The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that." (emphasis mine)
This paragraph seems to completely characterize Nietzsche's quote above about fear of the different. Returning to my eighth grade lessons, Animal Farm, bastion of all that is Facist, offers a similar example when the pigs declare that piglets are not allowed to play with the other farm animals. (We shall explore George Orwell and Facism within Harry Potter later on, particularly within Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). We see this within Holocaust literature, doumentaries, or primary-source documents - as the Nazi party arose within Germany, such feelings regarding "others" resulted in Jewish children being segregated from their peers. J. K. Rowling has firmly established the theme of intolerance within the first three, if not the first alone, paragraphs of this many-thousand-paged story.
We need more examples of intolerance, and fear and hatred fall under the category of intolerance. The comment section awaits all.
Encyclopedia Brown
Continuing my list of what I find within the Harry Potter series, I wish to include Encyclopedia Brown (The Boy Detective Who Lived?). Other than EB being a boy detective, I do not remember much of these tales that I read thirty years ago. One cannot ignore the detective-story aspects of Harry Potter. One of the pleasures of re-reading the series is discovering all of the hints and foreshadows offered up by J. K. Rowling within not only individual books, but throughout the entire series. I will share such discoveries in this blog, but welcome everyone to share theirs as well.
Any direct correlations between Encyclopedia Brown and Harry? Any other detective stories or characters from children's literature applicable? Let us save Sherlock Holmes for later.
Any direct correlations between Encyclopedia Brown and Harry? Any other detective stories or characters from children's literature applicable? Let us save Sherlock Holmes for later.
Friday, July 15, 2011
More on Scars, From a Reader!
The following is courtesy of Ms. Jodi:
From Herman Melville's Moby Dick:
"A white scar, reportedly from a thunderbolt, runs down his face and, some say, the length of his body."
Captain Ahab does seem god-like, or at least mythic, from the beginning. He is surrounded by legend, cured by lightning, grim, determined. Ahab then is consumed by his scar . . . the idea of the scar as a positive or negative marking - does it heal or deform the character . . . a scar as opposed to a birthmark.
Is it a 'memento mori,' as in Roman and Christian art?
Touching Spirit Bear (editor's note: beloved by middle school students everywhere!), where the bear mauls the main character and it serves to remind and inspire him, is another example of a scar in literature.
A last example: Frodo, in The Lord of the Rings, where he is wounded by the Ring Wraiths, nearly dying, and the wound/scar affects him throughout the remainder of the story.
-- Cool! Thank you so much for contributing, Jodi! Memento mori is a Latin phrase for "Remember you will die." I find it brightens up most conversations.
I re-did the settings for this blog so anyone should be able to leave a comment now.
The Ahab reference is excellent. I completely forgot about his scar. After briefly considering it, Ahab seems to be more of a model for Voldermort than Harry. Interesting.
From Herman Melville's Moby Dick:
"A white scar, reportedly from a thunderbolt, runs down his face and, some say, the length of his body."
Captain Ahab does seem god-like, or at least mythic, from the beginning. He is surrounded by legend, cured by lightning, grim, determined. Ahab then is consumed by his scar . . . the idea of the scar as a positive or negative marking - does it heal or deform the character . . . a scar as opposed to a birthmark.
Is it a 'memento mori,' as in Roman and Christian art?
Touching Spirit Bear (editor's note: beloved by middle school students everywhere!), where the bear mauls the main character and it serves to remind and inspire him, is another example of a scar in literature.
A last example: Frodo, in The Lord of the Rings, where he is wounded by the Ring Wraiths, nearly dying, and the wound/scar affects him throughout the remainder of the story.
-- Cool! Thank you so much for contributing, Jodi! Memento mori is a Latin phrase for "Remember you will die." I find it brightens up most conversations.
I re-did the settings for this blog so anyone should be able to leave a comment now.
The Ahab reference is excellent. I completely forgot about his scar. After briefly considering it, Ahab seems to be more of a model for Voldermort than Harry. Interesting.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Invitation Only!
Thank you for checking out my attempt to create a literary blog/community about the Harry Potter book series. Ironically (title-wise), I only anticipate invited individuals to participate, although everyone reading this is free to share it with anyone else.
I decided upon an academically-daunting title for the blog. It sounds more elevated than it truly will be. Inter-texuality is basically making connections between different texts. After my readings of J. K. Rowlings' series, I see many different sources for her tale. I find Homer's The Odyssey within Harry Potter. I find Holocaust literature, including Night, within Harry Potter. I find the Arthurian Literary Tradition within Harry Potter, especially The Once and Future King. I find political literature in the spirit of George Orwell, and Animal Farm, within Harry Potter. What books, stories, tales, poems, history, do you find within the Harry Potter series? Do you see any Charles Dickens within? Are there other classics within Childrens' Literature that make a connection? What about Science Fiction icons such as The Lord of the Rings?
Many of these "findings" within the series consistently hover around the theme of Love. Love, as a theme, can be categorized in many ways. There is Love versus Intolerance, for example. Or Love versus apathy, indifference, or ignorance, too. There are also political themes such as power and the use of media and history. Rowlings' series also employs many rhetorical devices, figures of speech, and literary elements. Why not explore these, too, when analyzing such a literary work?
I will begin this endeavor with an extended analysis of Chapter One of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone, in the next post. Before I conclude this one, though, I will include a spiffy little connection between The Odyssey and Harry Potter:
On page 15 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:
"Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.
'Yes,' said Dumbledore, ' He'll have that scar forever.' (Dumbledore referring to young Harry)
'Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?' (Prof. McGonagall)
'Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with.' " (Dumbledore)
In Book XIX of The Odyssey, Odysseus has returned to Ithaca in disguise, but his "nanny" or nurse of his birth and childhood, Eurycleia, discovers his true identity. How?
Book XIX, Lines 66-67:
"The old nurse held his leg within her palms; / she felt the scar. Touch was enough . . . "
Directly previous to these words is Odysseus' description of how he was gored by a wild boar as a youth just above the knee. Allen Mandelbaum's translation, which I am using in conjunction with a pre-IB blog about The Odyssey, does not stipulate which knee was scarred.
I briefly consulted Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces regarding scars and epic heroes and found nothing, but this is something, especially with the importance placed upon Harry's scar throughout the Potter series. Can anyone think of any other scars that are important in literature? And please, please, make reference to the non-stop humor liberally sprinkled throughout this tale.
Thank you again for reading and, hopefully, participating. Please leave comments, suggestions, and insults in the comment section.
I decided upon an academically-daunting title for the blog. It sounds more elevated than it truly will be. Inter-texuality is basically making connections between different texts. After my readings of J. K. Rowlings' series, I see many different sources for her tale. I find Homer's The Odyssey within Harry Potter. I find Holocaust literature, including Night, within Harry Potter. I find the Arthurian Literary Tradition within Harry Potter, especially The Once and Future King. I find political literature in the spirit of George Orwell, and Animal Farm, within Harry Potter. What books, stories, tales, poems, history, do you find within the Harry Potter series? Do you see any Charles Dickens within? Are there other classics within Childrens' Literature that make a connection? What about Science Fiction icons such as The Lord of the Rings?
Many of these "findings" within the series consistently hover around the theme of Love. Love, as a theme, can be categorized in many ways. There is Love versus Intolerance, for example. Or Love versus apathy, indifference, or ignorance, too. There are also political themes such as power and the use of media and history. Rowlings' series also employs many rhetorical devices, figures of speech, and literary elements. Why not explore these, too, when analyzing such a literary work?
I will begin this endeavor with an extended analysis of Chapter One of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone, in the next post. Before I conclude this one, though, I will include a spiffy little connection between The Odyssey and Harry Potter:
On page 15 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:
"Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.
'Yes,' said Dumbledore, ' He'll have that scar forever.' (Dumbledore referring to young Harry)
'Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?' (Prof. McGonagall)
'Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with.' " (Dumbledore)
In Book XIX of The Odyssey, Odysseus has returned to Ithaca in disguise, but his "nanny" or nurse of his birth and childhood, Eurycleia, discovers his true identity. How?
Book XIX, Lines 66-67:
"The old nurse held his leg within her palms; / she felt the scar. Touch was enough . . . "
Directly previous to these words is Odysseus' description of how he was gored by a wild boar as a youth just above the knee. Allen Mandelbaum's translation, which I am using in conjunction with a pre-IB blog about The Odyssey, does not stipulate which knee was scarred.
I briefly consulted Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces regarding scars and epic heroes and found nothing, but this is something, especially with the importance placed upon Harry's scar throughout the Potter series. Can anyone think of any other scars that are important in literature? And please, please, make reference to the non-stop humor liberally sprinkled throughout this tale.
Thank you again for reading and, hopefully, participating. Please leave comments, suggestions, and insults in the comment section.
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