Values in HArry Potter
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling is a children's novel about a young boy, Harry Potter, and his adventures at Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches. The novel is filled with humorous tales of exciting escapades in and around the school. There are many characters in the novel, and they do not always get along well. They make fun of each other and judge each other by a certain set of standards. Some of these standards include wealth, intelligence, family and athletic ability. These are all superficial ways of judging people. Being a children's author, Rowling shows her readers other, more important ways of categorizing others through less apparent methods. These true values that she emphasizes are judging others by their character and heart. The false values by which children judge each other are more blatant in the novel because they are illustrated through conversation instead of actions. The main ways that they judge each other are: financial status, family background (Muggle or wizard), house affiliation, intelligence and athletic ability. Almost every character has some good values and some bad values in the novel. By illustrating the characters with faults, Row
Rowling not only teaches a lesson by rewarding the good characters, but she also teaches a lesson by punishing the immoral and corrupt guys. At the end of the story Dumbledore awards Ron, Hermione, Neville and Harry a total of 170 points for their brave actions in fighting Voldemort. This puts them nine points ahead of Slytherin in the battle for the House Cup. When Gryffindor win the House Cup, Slytherin loses. This is important because Malfoy is a member of Slytherin. By having Slytherin lose, Rowling illustrates the point that all of Malfoy's superficial judgments are not a good way to judge people. He ends up being seen as the antagonist. He becomes the bad example that children should not follow. The most important example of evil and wickedness in the novel is Voldemort. In the battle between Voldemort and Harry, Voldemort loses. He loses because his powers are not stronger than love. Harry was saved by love. Dumbledore says, "Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love...Quirrell full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing a soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this very reason." (p. 299). This message is the strongest message in the whole book. It teaches children that love is always better than hate and that love conquers all. There are not many messages that are better for children to read. Characters are also judged by their intelligence. Hermione is the smartest person in the class so she has a good reputation. Rowling describes her when she writes, "Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desparate to prove that she wasn't a dunderhead." (p. 137). By the end of the novel she accomplishes this through her final exam grades, "Harry had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did...Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years." (p.307). Neville Longbottom, on the other hand, is not so intelligent. He does not do very well in school so his reputation is not as good. Hagrid has the lowest reputation for intelligence. He is not very smart and is not even allowed to use magic because he was kicked out of Hogwarts. Whenever he does use magic he seems to mess it up in one way or another. This is not really a good way to judge others, but it is used quite often, especially by Draco Malfoy. He enjoys making fun of Hagrid for his stupidity. Family background is the second shortsighted way of judging people in the book. Whether a character comes from a Muggle family, a pure Wizard family or a mix between the two seems to play an important role in the book. For example, Draco Malfoy is from a pure Wizard family and he takes great pride in it. He often judges others by this measure. On the train to Hogwarts he says to Harry, "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." (p. 108). Harry has Wizard parents, but he has lived with Muggles his whole life so he has no experience in wizardry at all. Harry's friend, Hermione Granger, is from a pure Muggle family. For this reason, Malfoy makes fun of her on more than one occasion. Ron is also from a pure Wizard family, but he does not make fun of those who are not. All of these ways of judging people are not good ways to
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2246
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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