Lessons In Life: Harry Potter as the Modern Myth
[Here you go-- my Extended Essay on Harry Potter. This is before editing, because this is about 5000 words, and the limit was 4000. I prefer this version, though.]
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Jump to Snape's First Class * Snape and Lupin
Joseph Campbell says that "leaving one condition and finding the source of life to bring you forth into a richer or mature condition" is the basic motif of the hero's journey. The hero forms the basis of the myth; he is the one that experiences the growth process of the individual to higher levels of spiritual completeness. The hero is the medium in which the message of the myth is portrayed. In such, a myth must serve four functions: a mystical function, a cosmological function, a sociological function, and a pedagogical function. (The Power of Myth 38-9). The recent bestseller "Harry Potter" series is constructed of the journey of the hero; in this case, the journey of a little boy learning not just about himself as a wizard, but himself as a human. Though Campbell breaks the functions into four types, it could be said that all of them must contain the element of mystery, that is, the essential lesson that the nature of human existence is a mystery.
Campbell notes about the "new myth:"
"And what it will have to deal with will be exactly what all myths have dealt with -- the maturity of the individual, from dependency through adulthood, though maturity, and then to the exit; and then how to relate to this society and how to relate this society to the world of nature and the cosmos. That's what the myths have all talked about, and what this one's got to talk about." Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (pg 41).
It is my determination that the Harry Potter series is the new myth, for its story, themes, and lessons occur with such a pattern as to akin the series with myths of old.
The concept of Harry Potter's world of witches and wizards is not new. The struggle which Harry fights both in the evil personified as Lord Voldemort, the person who killed his parents, and the evil he fights within himself, is not new. They have a basis in our past experience. As Campbell says, "the main motifs are the same, and they have always been the same"(The Power of Myth 27). This concept, Jungian in nature, is a plausible reason as to why the Harry Potter series is so appealing to a new generation. Though Harry might be British, and he might live in England, the emotions and problems he deals with are universal so much so that anyone can appreciate his journey. It does not matter that Harry is a wizard; it is the fact he is a wizard that makes the piece even more mythological. In placing the action in a predominately magic world, J.K. Rowling is using the world to enhance the humanistic qualities of Harry, thus making him more of a vessel of explaining the world to ourselves, which, essentially, is the purpose of a myth.
The use of a "magic world" with their own laws, customs, and social taboos also helps explain the "mystical" properties of the world. Campbell says that the series of adventures of the hero are "beyond the ordinary"(152). In fact, the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, seems to use the concept of discovery of magic as a dominate occurrence. For instance, when Hagrid, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts (Harry's school) took Harry down Diagon Alley, an exclusive wizard's alley, hidden from view by magic, Harry was amazed:
"Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once; the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 71).
He is utterly fascinated for two reasons: the gathering of so many "of his kind" affirms that this is not some kind of dream; and perhaps the more important concept, that the witches and wizards, despite "mystical" connections, are gathering and cavorting, buying ingredients, socializing, even complaining about the price of dragon liver ("seven Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."(73)). This event, in fact, Harry's first submersion into another world, starts his submersion into a mystical world; it is the metaphorical start of his spiritual journey.
A perhaps more concrete example of Harry's first induction into wizarding society occurs when Harry enters Hogwarts for the first time; specifically, the Great Hall, with its floating candles and ceiling which was bewitched to look like the sky outside. The magical mood is furthered in the Hall; "It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open in to the heavens"(117). This setting is certainly magical enough; for a boy coming from a modern-day English household, floating candles and ghost floating, this is certainly the experience that convinces Harry that this is real. The interaction with something higher, a more mystical force, is personified in this scene, and ultimately in the setting of the series in a school of witchcraft and wizardry. The hero must break boundaries, journey into the strangeness of the other world, so he can come back and benefit his own kind with what he learned. It is for that reason that the setting helps elevate the tale to mystical status.
It is with some note that one remarks back to Campbell: "A ritual is the enacting of a myth. By participating in a ritual, you are participating in a myth" (103). What follows after Harry is ushered into the Great Hall is the character-defining Sorting ceremony in many ways. The importance in the plot is stated by one Professor McGonagall:
" 'The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room' "(114).
The significance of the scene continues when they are forced to go through a ritual of the Sorting Hat, a hat that determines the future of the mind under it. This in and of itself is significant; for it suggests the apparent lack of choice that one has in their destiny. Each House is classified according to traits that each child exhibits: Gryffindor for bravery, Hufflepuff for loyalty and justice, cleverness for Ravenclaw, ambition for Slytherin. After all, Sorting implies a deadlocking of sorts into a destiny; this leads and almost encourages classification of types. For instance, it is generalized that all Slytherins are evil because "there's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin"(80). It is very relevant when Harry is being Sorted and the Hat actually gives him a choice; and Harry chooses "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin"(121). This symbolic choice of good over evil helps elevate Harry to hero-status, and helps further a uniquely Western approach to fate and destiny. Campbell notes that the Western and the Oriental truths are different to the position of man. In the West, man is "a completely unique creature and that, if we are ever to give any gift to the world, it will have to come out of our own experience and fulfillment of our own potentialities"(186). This approach seems to be the opposite as implied by the Sorting Hat, which takes on an Oriental point-of-view; in Campbell's words, "the individual is cookie-molded" (186). This is one of the quests that Harry as the Hero must struggle though: how powerful and important is choice in life. Though there is some doubt for Harry, built to a climax when, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets he shows traits of being the Heir of Slytherin. The character of Albus Dumbledore perfectly blends symbol and truth together in many occasions, and none so much as when he reverses the Oriental belief and says: "' It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities' "(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 333).
Harry's bewilderment for the workings of the wizarding world is a metaphor for our own wonderings of the operation of the world. When one first becomes aware of such a difference, the first action often involves confirming our confusion with others. It is interesting to see, then, that Rowling notes about Harry:
"Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start''(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 134-5).
In short, the bewilderment of both Harry and the readers are a reaction to the mystical workings of the world. First note that Harry's confusion over choice versus fate is not magical in basis; the worry is completely humanistic. Then see how suspense is created over this misleading thought; Harry, as the point of view of the novel, is forced through feelings of fear, intimidation, and insecurity about his identity. This works on so many levels and in a majority of the plot lines; from the mystery over the true Heir of Slytherin in Chamber of Secrets, to the misidentify of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, to even the disbelief that Voldemort has returned which pervades the fifth book, Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix. The concept that the majority of Harry's problems are not magical in nature is what furthers the mystical connotations of the lessons learned; that life is deceptive, thus furthering the mystical function of the novels.
The cosmological function of a myth is spent on explaining how the world works, or, "the dimension which science is concerned"(Power of Myth 39). Campbell says this because many of the myths that are accepted deal with some natural occurrence (such as the origin of fire). Some might think that because the Harry Potter exists in a universe in which science has no definition, then this aspect of a myth is non-applicable. This is not so. It is subtle, but within the series science is personified in logic. The primary definition of 'science' is not what one generally associates it to, as in the science of Chemistry or the science of Biology. It is instead what science requires, that is, a logical mind, that the term 'science" is being used in the novel.
Science in Harry’s world is introduced when Harry has Potions, the class most akin to Chemistry in reality. (Of course, he has two more potential science-classes, astrology and herbology, but they are given a passing glance, while the Potions class is developed much more fully, thus increasing its importance.) What draws one's attention to this class is the use of the word 'science' in the teacher's opening monologue in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making"(136). It is evident by the construction of the sentence that Potions is to be paralleled to science. Snape himself also represents another force in the novel- the power of logic. His first speech first admonishes the concept of "foolish wand-waving."(137). Then he explains "many of you will hardly believe this is magic." Here the two concepts of 'magic' and 'science' are paralleled together to create a rather interesting concept: that the process of logical deduction, that is, science, is magic.
Note that in the same monologue, Professor Snape goes further to say: "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic"(137). For instance -- the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, centers on the idea that Sirius Black, a wanted criminal for killing a man, is after Harry. The suspense of the plot is dependent upon the impression made by all of the wizarding world that Sirius Black is an evil murderer. The evil of Black is taken as a fact in the wizarding world; for the majority of the novel there is nothing contradicting that claim. When Harry finds out the truth, it is contradictory to what society has told him. It is more of a logic base that society operates-- the book tells of the witnesses seeing Black in the street, saw him taunt his victim, one Peter Pettigrew. There is no doubt left in their minds. When Black himself tells otherwise, and this story is confirmed by Professor Lupin (a longtime friend of Black's) it quite frankly defies logic. What had been so easily explained was now in doubt. This is a cosmological lesson that the series teaches: that logical conclusions do not always mean the truth.
Logic itself is inserted into the concept at the very end of the first book; Harry and Hermione are trying to get to the Sorcerer's stone, and they have to get through Snape's portion of its defense- which is a riddle. " 'Brilliant," said Hermione. 'This isn't magic -- it's logic -- a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever' "(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 285). Here the image is complete; magic, which implies a mystical and therefore non-logical base, is juxtaposed to Potions, which is not magic, which represents logic and the force of the mind. So it is entirely fitting that Snape, who's entire character is based on the concept of logic, is the Potions master, the embodiment of logic and the power of the mind.
So science and Potions (and ultimately Snape, since he teaches Potions, is the ultimate symbol of logic) is taught to Harry, as the young hero. For in the development of the hero, the idea of putting things together and figuring out the world from clues is an important lesson. Harry learns this, of course, and applies the skill to several tasks in books: from deducing where the Chamber of Secrets was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, to solving the riddle of the Sphinx in the fourth of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But it must be remembered, and vital to the understanding of Harry's development, that most of his success (in the five books) have been according to help or outside influences. This suggests that Harry must learn to help himself, rely upon himself and the power of his own mind to draw conclusions. The power of the logical self and the need to develop it is affirmed in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Snape, the epitome of such a thought process (due to his background) is assigned to teach Harry. Campbell says that in the end, though, we must conquer the last obstacle alone (Power of Myth 184). This concept is vital in the structure of a myth; the strength required to fight that last obstacle comes form within the hero; should the hero achieve his aim and beat the monster, then it proves he is indeed strong enough and wise enough to spread and really instruct a people, as the Harry Potter has ended up doing to millions of children everywhere. This is why it is not surprising in terms of mythical structure when Dumbledore tells Harry in the 5th book about the prophecy that Harry must take on Voldemort by himself.
The same concept occurs when Harry learns of both Cederic Diggory's death (in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and of Sirius Black's death in the fifth. He knows cognitively that they are dead, but it’s obvious he doesn't know what it means to be dead. He can see death, he can see how it occurs, but it does not really explain "what is death?" An example is Harry's insistence that he saw his father the night Sirius escaped -- even though his father is dead. There are some things we'll never know-- difficulty with Sirius's and Cedric's death, for instance. This in itself is a lesson that must be learned-- as a child going to adulthood, they must learn this lesson-- that they do not know everything, they cannot learn everything, life is mysterious and therefore mythical.
The sociological lessons learned in the Harry Potter series are admittedly form a Western view of society: that of the division between classes. Though as a society we have made advancements toward a non-biased society, there is still discrimination and bigotry prevalent based on a pre-conceived views passed down form tradition. If ever a concept was shown through the Harry Potter series, it is this one.
The commentary starts with the initial division of witch and Muggles, those who are non-magical. Most Muggles live in ignorance of the wizards; from the majority of wizards point-of-view, this is the best for both of them, because the Muggles are the inferior race. Many feel like this, but no one as much as those who represent the antagonists in the novel--which so far in the five books are those aligned with Voldemort. " 'At this rate, there'll be no more Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school' "(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 262). This quote, said by one Lucius Mafloy, is the extreme bigots on the side of wizards. This force is passed down in his son, Draco, who attends Harry's school. This unnecessary hate is also represented by Uncle Vernon, who ardently hates wizards and everything to do with them. The balance of these two characters -- Lucius Mafloy and Uncle Vernon -- provide a definition of the boundaries that bigotry can take. Also by exhibiting the trait in both a wizard and a Muggle removes the idea from a remote magical source and places it in a context that can be related to. These extremes also teach the hero, Harry, about how hateful and blind bigotry is. It is one of the lessons that one must learn to become a well-rounded member of society. This lesson is the same one everyone must learn -- it's in myths where the connection must take on a mystical turn. That is why the debate over Muggle and wizard relations works as a mystic symbol.
This concept does not remain between humans, however. Within the series it is expanded to include discrimination between 'halfbreeds' such as werewolves, giants, and centaurs. There are a group of people who might feel that Muggle and Wizard relations are fine, but they cross the line at different races. This is another form of discrimination that must be learned. The symbol of this type of hate is Dolores Umbridge, who in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix fires Hagrid (who is half giant), instigated legislation against werewolves (Professor Lupin, a former teacher and friend of Harry's, is a werewolf) and blatantly insults the herd of centaurs that live in the forest on school grounds."'...By the laws laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves on a human--’ ‘What did you call us?’ shouted a wild-looking centaur, whom Harry recognized as Bane. (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 754). Indeed the 5th book goes into this in detail with the introduction of Sirius’s family. Through lengthy and rather tedious, it explains several important connections and themes. Sirius Black is a part of an exclusive pureblood (that is, pure wizarding blood) family. Their pride is in their family's heritage. In fact, it should be seen that their family acts Slytherin in behavior, because in the series the Slytherin house is the one that personifies racism (though behavior of the Mafloys) complete with the fact that they thought that Voldemort 'had the right idea.'
It is a vital difference, therefore, when Sirius reveals that he left home at the age of sixteen because of his family's opinions. "'Leave?' Sirius smiled bitterly and ran a hand through his long, unkempt hair. 'Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal...'"(111). Sirius in this respect becomes a foil for Harry; Harry can relate to Sirius' position, because his Aunt and Uncle operate in out-dated dogma, ergo, in a similar position. Harry has had many urges to run away, seek his fortune away from them. This is where the difference is; as much as he would like to go away from the Dursleys, he cannot. In the first four books, there has always been a practical reason (that is, important to the plot) that Harry goes back to Dursleys. In the fifth, the reason is explained, again, by the plainspoken Dumbledore: "'While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you.'"(836).
It is the critical return to the smallest unit of society: that is, the family. Within the book the importance of the family is evident: sons follow the behavior of their fathers, classmates follow the behavior of their Houses. This creates a diverse group of people who are pigeonholed to believe in and behave in tradition. One must learn to have the courage to break away from tradition when it is detrimental to the self, yet also be able to embrace the strength of the family unit. The hero in many myths often starts on the quest because of a disagreement with tradition, and so they head off into the unknown (Power of Myth 194). Harry's struggles with his family, for example, finding and deciphering an accurate portrayal of his father from two different point of views (Lupin and Sirius versus Snape's) also fit into the classic 'father quest' that is found in the majority of the mythic stories (168).
What is important is to realize that the multileveled interactions of individual to individual, family to family, race to race are essentially the same. Their problems of conflicting viewpoints must be compromised. What Harry represents is finding himself in the mass of society, because as Campbell states, "It's quite possible to be so influenced by the ideals and commands of your neighborhood that you don't know what you really want and could be"(176). And so by having Harry deal with problems such as bigotry and discrimination, Rowling is making a comment about society, and the ideal way to live among such pressures.
The pedagogical aspect of a myth is usually not represented as a physical symbol or even as a metaphorical symbol. Instead it is the lessons learned by the hero which reinforces the instructional purpose of the myth. The Harry Potter series is unique in using school itself as the local for so many of these life lessons that heroes tend to learn. It is true that many of Harry's escapades occur while on campus; this blend of outside activity combined with the regularity of school life (having to write essays, study for tests, ect) are both blended within the same novel to indicate equality. Indeed we see that throughout Harry's development, it is not the lessons taught in the classroom which alter his character so much as what happens to him outside the classroom. In the first book, Harry and his friends (Hermione Granger and Ron Weasely) are involved in a mystery concerning the search for the Sorcerer's (or in the United Kingdom, the Philosopher's) Stone, a powerful rock which transmutes any metal into gold and can make someone immortal. Early in the book, they deduce though what is later false logic that the probable thief of the Stone would be Snape. When they find out otherwise, it is a major shock, but they learn a lesson: not to make assumptions based on first judgments.
The second book starts the same: there is the mystery concerning the Chamber of Secrets and who is the Heir of Slytherin. And even though Harry and his friends jump to conclusions in deducing that one of their classmates, Draco Mafloy, is the Heir of Slytherin, there is definite development is the fact that they actually try to affirm their suspicions (even though illegally). The important point is that they learned a lesson: not within a normal school environment.
Perhaps this idea is strengthened by the role that the teachers of Harry's school serve in his development. They too serve double roles, not only teaching Harry the ways of the wizarding world, but also life lessons as well. Gilderoy Lockhart, a fame-driven star from the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, serves as an example to Harry about the effect of fame on one's self. Lockhart is egotistical, bombastic, and constantly self-centered. The synthesis of the effect of excessive fame is brought a climax when Harry and Ron find Lockhart packing to leave after he is forced to prove his prowess in the Dark Arts field:
"'You mean you're running away?' said Harry disbelievingly. 'After all that stuff you did in your books -- '
'Books can be misleading,' said Lockhart delicately.
'You wrote them!' Harry shouted.
'My dear boy,' said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Harry. 'Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things'"(297).
Lockhart is revealed for what he is: a low individual seeking either compensation for his lack of talent or attention. Here it is highly relevant that he is a teacher. Lockhart is both a teacher in the literal sense, that is, appropriate to the subject in a strict regimented system and on a more personal level, yet not related to the curriculum of Hogwarts.
Snape too achieves this level of importance to the development of Harry, serving as both a teacher and source of past information. Recall that he and Remus Lupin are put into similar situations, that is, with providing Harry with extra lessons. They are foils of each other in the sense that both are professors, but the similarities stop there. Lupin is a kindly professor, both in and out of the classroom, encouraging students to think and participate. He believes in the power of the group, and helping out the weaker members is seen as an honorable act. Snape, however, could not be more different. He praises independent and individual thought; pupils are condemned for asking for help, for he believes in the power of the will and not relying on others. This juxtaposition is clearly evident within Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Early on, their lessons follow each other. It is the same situation; and though Harry himself is not a direct participant, the fact that he is in the class allows him (and therefore the reading audience) to catch the full benefit of the true lesson.
Neville Longbottom, a rather hopeless boy who is only good at Herbology, is constantly made an "example of" by Professor Snape, due to his inadequate attention to detail. We see him squirm after a rather crass critique: "'Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?'"(Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 125-6). As we see, and as Snape is portrayed in the book, he is not the epitome of encouragement. Later in the lesson, after Hermione helps Neville with his potion, Snape still takes points away from Gryffindor. This tells us that Snape is not so much as concerned with results as with process. The fact that Neville received help and did not accomplish the task himself was more insulting.
Now juxtapose that lesson to Lupin's, which is right after Snape's. He takes them all to communally fight a boggart, a shape shifter that changes to the person's greatest fears. Here, the symbolic lesson 'fighting one's fears' is literally presented. Neville continues to be the 'example' by the fact that Neville's boggart turns into a Professor Snape. By having the lesson succeed by both having the class work together, and more importantly, supporting and helping all members (including Longbottom) Lupin represents a different ideal than Snape. And to a certain point, we see (and learn) that when juxtaposing Snape's behavior to Lupin's, one sees that Lupin represents a better way of life, due to his general like by the students, versus Snape's general dislike by students.
But perhaps the most benevolent and best example of the almost archetypical teacher is of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. From the first book, he is presented as the wise, all-knowing teacher. Indeed, he reaches almost god-like status in the first book: "'I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try [to get the Sorcerer's Stone], and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror [of Erised] worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could.'"(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 302).
Dumbledore is the glue that holds the novel together, for it is his clear expression of themes, using plain syntax and not hidden in symbolic imagery which connect Harry's experiences to tangible lessons that anyone can learn from. Dumbledore is consistently in this role:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: "'The truth.' Dumbledore sighed. 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution'"(298).
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: "' It is our choices, Harry, that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities"(333).
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: "'The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed...'"(426).
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: "'Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open' (723).
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix: "But I forgot-- another old man's mistake -- that some wounds run too deep for the healing'"(833).
Indeed, Dumbledore as the headmaster of Hogwarts completes the image system of school: he, as the head of a school, leads teachers who end up teaching the students (like Harry) more than Transfiguration, or Potions. The teachers teach Harry though their behavior within the school environment about life, and ways to react to life's challenges. And Dumbledore, as head of the teachers, caps off the idea by providing thought-provoking statements and general support for Harry, and in doing so cements the piece for what it is: a lesson in life.
Harry Potter's world is diverse and approaches epic size. In five books, J.K. Rowling has managed to open up a world of possibility and intrigue surrounding the development of a child into an adult. Much of the appeal lies in this developmental "example." In myths, the hero is taken as the example that one learns from. His (or her) struggles are our own, because though the mystical beasts and magic swords might cause the particulars of an adventure to cause a distancing in readers, it is through the metaphorical lessons that one can connect with the hero's struggle. Joseph Campbell says "A living myth presents contemporary models."(186). It is not through lecture, or theory, that one learns best. It is through example, and Harry Potter could not be a better example from which to learn.
References:
Campbell, Joseph and Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth. New York: Anchor Books, 1991.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2000.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2003.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999.
Rowling, J.K Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1997
Any comments please email me. I would love to hear what you guys think. My teachers liked this paper (yes I turned it in for a grade), and thought it was a good analysis.