Character Development In Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

Harry was reluctant to accept fame because he was humble and as a hero, he has to be humble in order to be able to sacrifice himself for the

In Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone, the author J.K. Rowling introduces to the reader several characters.

All this has added to the growing popularity of the Harry Potter brand that is everywhere today. Young readers can relate to Harry’s issues and the books create another world the readers can subconsciously ‘escape’ too.

I have never been as comfortable with people made of flesh and bone than I have been with those made of words. Whatever information I lose in the contours of the human face, I have no trouble locating in the unchanging, permanent text of a book. There is something about literature that felt safe to me; the worlds created within far more welcoming to little girls with problems fitting in than the one outside the pages. For this reason, fiction, from Harry Potter to The Book Thief, has remained my greatest passion ever since I learned to read.

As we, University of Virginia students, took refuge in Bruce Holsinger’s Masterworks of Fantasy Literature class back in August, Holsinger succinctly defined Fantasy Literature as, “making reality more real,”. Fantasy Literature is famous for its talking animals, magical powers, utopian/dystopian societies, and containing exceptionally imaginative plots. After reading and analyzing several foundational fantasy novels, without a doubt, allegory is omnipresent. Furthermore, this literary aspect can either hinder or liberalize reading. Reading is hindered by interpretation with a preconceived, objective notion. In clearly associating a distinct understanding while reading, ultimately the novel’s freedom to draw conclusions is robbed. Furthermore, and unfortunately I must add, Fantasy Literature is often

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York, NY: Scholastic, 1997. Print.

Harry spends most of the book complaining about how he doesn’t want to be famous; yes, he’s had a hard life, but he should appreciate what he has-- it is much better compared to his life with the Dursleys! This isn’t the only way in which Harry seems selfish and juvenile; the times he got himself into trouble and lost points almost cost Gryffindor the house cup! When he gets into trouble, he doesn’t think about his fellow Gryffindors and how it would hurt them and their reputation. “Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter… had lost them all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years.” (Rowling pg.#195)

Everyone has to grow up at some point in their lives. Some people mature faster than others and some take their entire lives to mature emotionally and intellectually. Modern fantasy today takes an especial interest in growth. Examples of this interest include J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as his 1937 introductory, The Hobbit. Characters within these books grow up emotionally and mentally through the course of events within the novels and series. Audiences of these books are able to grow with the characters as well, through escapism. Critics of modern fantasy and escapism, like Kurt Lancaster in his 2001 essay, Why Fantasy ‘Rings’ True also acknowledge the personal growth that the

Some believe that you can only be humble if your parents are humble, or if you’ve experienced it all your life. This is false: anyone can be humble. Similar to the concept previously stated, humility develops with experience. It takes a specific circumstance to show one that they are not always the center of attention and thus become

The children's fantasy novel is filled with archetypes that fill every device a book can hold: the setting, the plot line and even the individual characters. The world where everyone is mad is filled with standard literary

We have all heard of the Harry Potter book series written by J.K. Rowling. And even though the series is extremely popular, there is still controversy as to the intention and meaning of the books. In this evaluation, I will explain how the book’s character’s relationships, plot, and theme live up to my expectation of a “life lesson” work. I understand how the word “witchcraft” can maybe be taken to mean idol rituals to some, but Rowling is conveying good morals through a fictional story. The Harry Potter books do not portray Satanism or occultism ideas, but teaches morality, love for others, and virtues.

One of the main reasons for the success of Rowling’s Harry Potter is the universality of the different story elements which - unconsciously, perhaps - subtly satisfies readers. By cleverly weaving the characteristic archetypes that famous psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung mapped out in the year 1947, Rowling illustrates multiple fairytale tropes. In The Philosopher’s Stone, she incorporates one such element: the archetype of the ‘shadow’, whereby the narrative of ‘evil’ and ‘good’ is put to question—and an underlying discourse on the Taoist concept of yin and yang emerges. By this notion, the presence of Voldemort is necessary for the completion of Harry’s character as a whole. By advancing this, Rowling has helped raise a generation—to the

Literary heroes that are also ordinary children are engaging to readers, particularly child readers. James Pope and Julia Round write that “Roald Dahl is a fascinating author in that his books for children feature child heroes who are very often neither hero nor villain, but a wild, subversive combination of both” (258). These characteristics are also true of Coraline and Harry Potter, as they are presented as imperfect, but ultimately find the power within themselves to save what is important to them. Children readers are empowered by Coraline and Harry because they identify with these ordinary children and feel as if they can also make a difference in their lives, as the characters defeat the evil in theirs.

Using imagination and creativity, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has defined literature as transformative. In this seven-book series J.K Rowling imagined and creatively pieced together a fantasy world of muggles, wizards, tyrants, and heroes to symbolically share with readers problems plaguing modern society. Similar to Shelley’s work of the past, never before have readers in the modern era seen teenage and adult mania surrounding an 11-year-old wizard. Some will argue that J.K. Rowling’s young-adult series lacks depth or wants to twist young minds by using magic and evil, but through close examination it is evident that

In the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling Harry starts of in the unfamiliar wizarding world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After lord Voldemort killed Harry’s parents he is sent of to his aunt and uncle's house as a baby. Harry does not like living with them but eventually at age 12 he gets a letter to attend hogwarts which he will soon find out that he is a wizard. After being sorted into one of the four houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, ravenclaw and slytherin)he gets sorted into gryffindor and finds friends in his house(Ron and Hermione). They have to stick together and work together to defeat him. This leads to one of the themes for this book series being that “You are much stronger when with friends”.