Mellissa G. Brown
8 December 2009
Muggle Quidditch: The Magical Sport in the Non-Magical World
One of the exciting aspects of the Harry Potter series is the interesting game of Quidditch which J.K. Rowling invented for her magical world. However, this pretend sport from a fictional, magical world has been transformed and given a muggle makeover. While it was difficult to translate this magical sport in a non-magical way, if anyone could figure out how to do it was Harry Potter fans.
Since Harry Potter has such a dedicated and obsessive fan base, it is not surprising that fans have taken their obsession one step farther. Many colleges are starting to form Quidditch teams to represent their schools. Some colleges that already have Quidditch teams include Miami University, Middlebury, Syracuse University, Indiana University, Ohio University, Louisiana State University, Boston University, Harvard, and Texas A&M. There are also high schools that are forming their own Quidditch league for the high school level. Muggle Quidditch is very similar to the magical Quidditch with a few adjustments and the muggle sport is growing in popularity
The first major adjustment is that obviously Muggle Quidditch is not played up in the air since, unfortunately, our brooms cannot fly. However, Muggle Quidditch is still played on broomsticks. It is required that all players have a broomstick, that one hand remains on the broomstick and the broomstick remains between the players legs at all times. At tournaments, the brooms that are used resemble real Harry Potter brand brooms such as the Nimbus Two Thousand and the Firebolt. In practice, anything can be used as a broom. Examples of items used as broomsticks include mops, lacrosse sticks, plungers, and PVC pipes.
The next adjustment that was required was the balls. The biggest change is the Snitch. The Harry Potter Snitch is a little golden ball with wings that arbitrarily flies around and must be caught by the Seeker. Since we do not have anything like this, a person is used as a replacement. This person is a neutral player and wears all yellow to represent the Golden Snitch. Then the player has a ball with a flag attached to it tucked into his or her pocket. The job of the seeker is to capture the ball and flag or “Snitch” to end the game.
Bludgers in Muggle Quidditch are dodge balls instead of the ball and bat combination from the books. There are two Beaters on each team and there are three Bludgers in the game. The goal of the Beaters is to hit other players with the dodge balls. After a player is hit, they have to immediately drop any ball that they are holding and run and tag up at their end of the field by running around the hoops. This action is called the Knockout Effect. Beaters can make a huge impact in a game of Muggle Quidditch because they can protect their own players and defeat players from the other team.
Chasers are exactly the same as in magical Quidditch except that since the players are on the ground and not flying, the hoops are only about seven feet off the ground instead of forty. The Keeper also has the same job of defending the hoops and keeping the other team from scoring. The Keeper has their own Goal Zone and Keeper Safety Zone. When inside this zone they are immune to Bludges and The Knockout Effect. When outside the Keeper Zone, the Keeper is subject to all the same rules as Chasers. Players are also allowed to kick the ball up to one time, except the Keeper who while in The Keeper Zone is allowed to kick the ball as many times as he or she would like.
Just as in magical Quidditch, Muggle Quidditch is a contact sport and is a violent sport with injuries. Players of Quidditch are allowed to remove the ball from other players’ hands, push, shove, grab with one hand, shoulder or body checking, slide tackling, and tripping. In the rules it specifically states that creativity is encouraged. Miami University’s Quidditch team, which was founded this year, has already had several serious injuries. One of the players tore his meniscus, one player got a concussion after hitting her head, and a girl was sent to the hospital to get stitches in her forehead after colliding with another player and his broom.
There are penalties as a result of illegal physical contact. The types of contact include cape grabbing, punching, slapping, headlocks or any physical contact directed toward the head or neck, assaulting the Snitch, and body tackling another player. The penalties for any of these types of physical contact are sixty seconds in the penalty zone, or a yellow wand which means a warning, or a red wand which is expulsion from the game.
Anyone who does not think that Quidditch is a real sport should attempt to play. With all the physical contact and injuries, it should not only be considered a sport, but a ‘dangerous contact sport’. It also takes a lot of athletic ability to play the various positions. The positions in Quidditch are basically a combination of other sports such as basketball, soccer, dodge ball, tag, track, and football. There also is no time limit to a game of Quidditch. Games of Quidditch could potentially take hours to play which will wear down players more than sports that only last a specific amount of time.
This transformation from fiction to sport shows the dedication of the Harry Potter fan base. Now fans of the Harry Potter series can experience the world of Harry Potter in a way they have never been able to do through the books or movies. Harry Potter fans, or perhaps a better term would be fanatics, truly love the Harry Potter series and the game of Muggle Quidditch is a way for them to come together with other fans and play a sport from the books. The book series has been brought to life in more ways than just the transfer of this one sport. They sell the robes, the wands, the candies, and even the books they read in stores. Universal Studios is even building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in their Orland Theme Park and it will open in the spring of 2010. Quidditch is just another way the book series has been brought to life and fans can experience the wizarding world in a non-magical version.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Journalism in Harry Potter
Mellissa G. Brown
17 November 2009
Journalism in Harry Potter
Journalism is considered the fourth estate in the United States. Journalism checks the government’s actions. The media affects the public’s view of the government and can be a very powerful source of persuasion. In the Harry Potter series, the news media does not operate in a responsible or credible manner. The Harry Potter series portrays journalism in a negative light and has affected children’s views on journalism.
It is important to start by taking a look at how media and journalism effects the government and the public in the United States when it operates correctly. Credible journalism monitors the government and questions its actions. It reports what it finds whether it is favorable or unfavorable. There have been many investigative journalists who have revealed scandals or lies in the government. A great example is the Watergate scandal which was investigated and reported by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Great journalism performs this role as a watch dog and monitors the government.
In the Harry Potter series, journalism and the media does not fill this important role. The Daily Prophet becomes a puppet of the Ministry of Magic and does not monitor its activity. The Daily Prophet allows the Ministry to feed lies to it and then the Daily Prophet reports the stories without checking to see if it is a reliable and fact based story. “The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society” (Brooks 486). The Quibbler, which has the image of being an unreliable journalistic source, does not allow the influence of the Ministry to affect what they print. The only exception to this is in the Deathly Hallows when the Death Eaters kidnap Luna Lovegood. Also, when the Prophet is publishing lies about Harry Potter, the Quibbler agrees to publish Harry’s side of the story which is actually one of the only good journalistic pieces referenced in the series.
A Study at Baylor University came to the following conclusion based on a study of how the books effected perceptions of news media:
“Journalism as portrayed in the Potter world is heavily slanted and misleading. Information is often obtained through unethical and illegal means and is intended to damage the credibility of the subjects concerned. In addition, only one journalist of any consequence is mentioned by name in the series, and she is revealed to be the epitome of the corrupt, yellow journalist stereotype” (Libhart 20).
This is a very problematic portrayal of journalism in the Harry Potter series which allows students to create negative views on the news media and journalism because of the examples in a popular book series.
Rita Skeeter is a poor example of a journalist and makes many basic mistakes that make her an incredible journalist. First of all, with her Quick Quotes Quill she misquotes her sources. One of the most important aspects of journalism is to correctly quote your sources. Journalists spend a lot of time checking and double checking that they are correctly quoting their sources. If a media source incorrectly quotes a source they could be sued for liable. “The article had appeared 10 days ago, and Harry still got sick, burning feeling of shame in his stomach every time he thought about it. Rita Skeeter had reported him saying an awful lot of things he couldn’t remember ever saying in his life, let alone in that broom cupboard” (Rowling 314). What Rita Skeeter does to Harry can be considered liable because she defames his character and misquotes him to her advantage.
The article that Rita Skeeter publishes about Hermione breaking Harry’s heart could also be considered liable and Hermione could sue Rita for the damages that the article causes her. Hermione receives hate mail from readers and suffers as a result of the article. Some people argue that everyone knows that Rita Skeeter does not tell the truth. However, even the sensible Mrs. Weasley believes Rita’s article and is cold toward Hermione until Harry and Hermione directly tell her that the article is full of lies. Rita’s reporting techniques are very unethical and could potentially lead to legal consequences.
Rita also uses a very questionable method to obtain information. The way that Rita eavesdrops on conversations through being an unregistered Animagus could be considered problematic. This method could be considered trespassing, considering that Dumbledore did kick Rita Skeeter off Hogwarts property, or even invasion of privacy when she listens in on private conversations. Hermione questions how Rita Skeeter is eavesdropping on private conversations. When Rita ‘bugs’ private conversations this is an unethical journalistic practice.
The poor examples of journalism in Harry Potter give the field a bad image. Children read the Harry Potter books and get the wrong impression of journalism through the books. ‘“The books present an unnecessarily pessimistic view of journalism today,’ says Dr. Amanda Sturgill, senior lecturer in journalism at Baylor and one of the study co-authors. ‘Since literature can play an important role in helping children learn and possibly empathize with situations experienced by the characters, the potential for influence on journalism is strong’”(Fogelman 4). The Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter are the impression that readers get of journalism and it has effected some readers views of journalism in the non-magical world. The impressions left by the Harry Potter series could lead children to believe that the journalistic field is a poor career choice and that newspapers or news media cannot be trusted.
Works Cited
Brooks, Brian S., et al. News Reporting and Writing. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2008. Print.
Fogleman, Lori. "Newspapers Already Struggling- and 'Harry Potter' Doesn't Help." Baylor University N.p., 29 July 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009..
Libhart, Tina, Amanda Sturgill, and Jessica Winney. "Harry Potter and Children's Perceptions of the News Media." American Communication Journal 10.1 (2008).
Rowling, J.K. 2000. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic.
17 November 2009
Journalism in Harry Potter
Journalism is considered the fourth estate in the United States. Journalism checks the government’s actions. The media affects the public’s view of the government and can be a very powerful source of persuasion. In the Harry Potter series, the news media does not operate in a responsible or credible manner. The Harry Potter series portrays journalism in a negative light and has affected children’s views on journalism.
It is important to start by taking a look at how media and journalism effects the government and the public in the United States when it operates correctly. Credible journalism monitors the government and questions its actions. It reports what it finds whether it is favorable or unfavorable. There have been many investigative journalists who have revealed scandals or lies in the government. A great example is the Watergate scandal which was investigated and reported by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Great journalism performs this role as a watch dog and monitors the government.
In the Harry Potter series, journalism and the media does not fill this important role. The Daily Prophet becomes a puppet of the Ministry of Magic and does not monitor its activity. The Daily Prophet allows the Ministry to feed lies to it and then the Daily Prophet reports the stories without checking to see if it is a reliable and fact based story. “The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society” (Brooks 486). The Quibbler, which has the image of being an unreliable journalistic source, does not allow the influence of the Ministry to affect what they print. The only exception to this is in the Deathly Hallows when the Death Eaters kidnap Luna Lovegood. Also, when the Prophet is publishing lies about Harry Potter, the Quibbler agrees to publish Harry’s side of the story which is actually one of the only good journalistic pieces referenced in the series.
A Study at Baylor University came to the following conclusion based on a study of how the books effected perceptions of news media:
“Journalism as portrayed in the Potter world is heavily slanted and misleading. Information is often obtained through unethical and illegal means and is intended to damage the credibility of the subjects concerned. In addition, only one journalist of any consequence is mentioned by name in the series, and she is revealed to be the epitome of the corrupt, yellow journalist stereotype” (Libhart 20).
This is a very problematic portrayal of journalism in the Harry Potter series which allows students to create negative views on the news media and journalism because of the examples in a popular book series.
Rita Skeeter is a poor example of a journalist and makes many basic mistakes that make her an incredible journalist. First of all, with her Quick Quotes Quill she misquotes her sources. One of the most important aspects of journalism is to correctly quote your sources. Journalists spend a lot of time checking and double checking that they are correctly quoting their sources. If a media source incorrectly quotes a source they could be sued for liable. “The article had appeared 10 days ago, and Harry still got sick, burning feeling of shame in his stomach every time he thought about it. Rita Skeeter had reported him saying an awful lot of things he couldn’t remember ever saying in his life, let alone in that broom cupboard” (Rowling 314). What Rita Skeeter does to Harry can be considered liable because she defames his character and misquotes him to her advantage.
The article that Rita Skeeter publishes about Hermione breaking Harry’s heart could also be considered liable and Hermione could sue Rita for the damages that the article causes her. Hermione receives hate mail from readers and suffers as a result of the article. Some people argue that everyone knows that Rita Skeeter does not tell the truth. However, even the sensible Mrs. Weasley believes Rita’s article and is cold toward Hermione until Harry and Hermione directly tell her that the article is full of lies. Rita’s reporting techniques are very unethical and could potentially lead to legal consequences.
Rita also uses a very questionable method to obtain information. The way that Rita eavesdrops on conversations through being an unregistered Animagus could be considered problematic. This method could be considered trespassing, considering that Dumbledore did kick Rita Skeeter off Hogwarts property, or even invasion of privacy when she listens in on private conversations. Hermione questions how Rita Skeeter is eavesdropping on private conversations. When Rita ‘bugs’ private conversations this is an unethical journalistic practice.
The poor examples of journalism in Harry Potter give the field a bad image. Children read the Harry Potter books and get the wrong impression of journalism through the books. ‘“The books present an unnecessarily pessimistic view of journalism today,’ says Dr. Amanda Sturgill, senior lecturer in journalism at Baylor and one of the study co-authors. ‘Since literature can play an important role in helping children learn and possibly empathize with situations experienced by the characters, the potential for influence on journalism is strong’”(Fogelman 4). The Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter are the impression that readers get of journalism and it has effected some readers views of journalism in the non-magical world. The impressions left by the Harry Potter series could lead children to believe that the journalistic field is a poor career choice and that newspapers or news media cannot be trusted.
Works Cited
Brooks, Brian S., et al. News Reporting and Writing. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2008. Print.
Fogleman, Lori. "Newspapers Already Struggling- and 'Harry Potter' Doesn't Help." Baylor University N.p., 29 July 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009.
Libhart, Tina, Amanda Sturgill, and Jessica Winney. "Harry Potter and Children's Perceptions of the News Media." American Communication Journal 10.1 (2008).
Rowling, J.K. 2000. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic.
Severus Snape Saga: Do Motives Define the Action?
Mellissa G. Brown
13 October 2009
Severus Snape Saga: Do Motives Define the Action?
In my first paper, I compared Severus Snape to other classic heroes throughout mythology, history, and literature. Severus Snape definitely possesses some characteristics of a hero, but many Harry Potter fans have issues calling Snape, a character we have learned to hate, a hero. He is painted as such a monstrous person throughout the first six novels, that fans cannot let go of the grudges they hold against him. There is no reason that there cannot be more than one hero in the series, because many would say that Hermione, Ron, and Dumbledore are all heroes in the series. So why would Snape not be a hero in the series? In this paper, I will be exploring whether or not the motives behind Snape’s actions make what he does in the end any less heroic and whether or not fans can let go of how evil Snape is to Harry throughout the series.
There are many questions we have to ask ourselves when we try to determine whether or not Snape is a hero. “Would James and Lily be alive now if not for him? Would Harry be dead now if not for him? Did he ever care about Harry, or only Lily?” (Caffrey). It seems like the answers to these questions contradict one another. I would argue that James and Lily would be alive if Severus had not told Voldemort the prophecy that he overheard. However, I would also say that the only reason Harry survived throughout the seventh novel was because of all the help he had from Snape. So can we as fans forgive Snape for essentially killing James and Lily, because he saved Harry? This is one of those questions that make Snape such a controversial character because there is no right answer.
Throughout the series, we do not learn very much about Snape until the end. However, right from the first book we learn to hate Snape. He mistreats Harry, singles him out, and blatantly goes out of his way to punish Harry. How could we as readers like such a character? “J.K.R. said it plainly herself shortly after DH [Deathly Hallows] was released---‘Snape is vindictive. He’s cruel. He’s not a big man’ [JKR-MTV].” (Schoen 106). In the sixth book, we get a little peek into Snape’s past that helps the readers sympathize with Snape. When Harry is getting Occlumency lessons, he sneaks into the pensive and sees a memory of Snape when he was attending Hogwarts. James and his friends are hanging Snape upside down in the schoolyard and yelling names at him. This is the first time in the series where we actually start to feel sympathetic toward Snape as a character. The next time we learn anything about Snape is the very end of the seventh book, where we learn Snape’s entire story.
We learn that everything he did throughout the series he did to protect and help Harry, because he had loved Lily Evans his entire life. The reason behind the actions to save Harry was because he loved Lily, not necessarily because he liked or felt the need to protect Harry. Another reason that is revealed is that Snape feels responsible for the deaths of the Potter’s and this is another reason he protects Harry. Snape does not necessarily want to help Harry and he struggles with what he has to do throughout the series, but he does so because of the guilt he feels over his actions. However, Snape did have the option of walking away from the responsibility of watching over Harry entirely. “It would have been easy for Snape to walk away from that responsibility. Harry isn’t his son and only reminds Snape of everything he has missed out on in life since James married Lily, but Snape is tough and heroically takes a much harder path and stays at Hogwarts” (Schoen 106). Therefore, we know as readers that Snape took the difficult route in life in order to help Lily Evan’s son defeat the Dark Lord.
Do the motivations behind Snape’s actions make what he does any less heroic? Snape agreed to kill Dumbledore in the sixth book, so that Malfoy would not have to do it. He gave the ultimate sacrifice so that Harry could succeed in defeating the Dark Lord. Does the fact that he truly did not want to do these things change the fact that these acts were heroic? However, you could also argue that his main motive was his love for Lily Evans or his guilt over his role in her death. This brings about the question to be a true hero; do a person’s actions have to be altruistic? “According to Freud, the unconscious is the source of our motivations… However, we are often driven to deny or resist becoming conscious of these motives, and they are often available to us only in disguised form” (Postill 4). According to Freud, Snape’s motivations are unconscious.
I would like to come to the conclusion that Snape is a hero in the series even if his motives or mindset is not in the right place. I think that Snape and Harry’s motives are very similar, because they both in a way are motivated by love. Snape’s motives are questionable, but in the end he did what was necessary to defeat Voldemort and help Harry do it. An interesting article I read made a distinction between Severus and Snape. Whenever J.K Rowling calls him Severus, she is referring to him as an ally and whenever she uses the name Snape, she is referring to him as a foe. I think this is a very interesting conclusion with which I completely agree. After all this speculation, throughout two papers, I am going to take a side and say that Snape is a hero, that deserves to be celebrated in the end.
http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=121381&page=55
http://www.mugglespace.com/
Works Cited
Caffrey, Kristian. "Severus Vs. Snape." MuggleNet.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2009..
Postill, David. "Sigmund Freud." Sigmund Freud. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2009..
Spartz, Emerson, and Ben Schoen. Harry Potter Should Have Died. Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2009. Print.
13 October 2009
Severus Snape Saga: Do Motives Define the Action?
In my first paper, I compared Severus Snape to other classic heroes throughout mythology, history, and literature. Severus Snape definitely possesses some characteristics of a hero, but many Harry Potter fans have issues calling Snape, a character we have learned to hate, a hero. He is painted as such a monstrous person throughout the first six novels, that fans cannot let go of the grudges they hold against him. There is no reason that there cannot be more than one hero in the series, because many would say that Hermione, Ron, and Dumbledore are all heroes in the series. So why would Snape not be a hero in the series? In this paper, I will be exploring whether or not the motives behind Snape’s actions make what he does in the end any less heroic and whether or not fans can let go of how evil Snape is to Harry throughout the series.
There are many questions we have to ask ourselves when we try to determine whether or not Snape is a hero. “Would James and Lily be alive now if not for him? Would Harry be dead now if not for him? Did he ever care about Harry, or only Lily?” (Caffrey). It seems like the answers to these questions contradict one another. I would argue that James and Lily would be alive if Severus had not told Voldemort the prophecy that he overheard. However, I would also say that the only reason Harry survived throughout the seventh novel was because of all the help he had from Snape. So can we as fans forgive Snape for essentially killing James and Lily, because he saved Harry? This is one of those questions that make Snape such a controversial character because there is no right answer.
Throughout the series, we do not learn very much about Snape until the end. However, right from the first book we learn to hate Snape. He mistreats Harry, singles him out, and blatantly goes out of his way to punish Harry. How could we as readers like such a character? “J.K.R. said it plainly herself shortly after DH [Deathly Hallows] was released---‘Snape is vindictive. He’s cruel. He’s not a big man’ [JKR-MTV].” (Schoen 106). In the sixth book, we get a little peek into Snape’s past that helps the readers sympathize with Snape. When Harry is getting Occlumency lessons, he sneaks into the pensive and sees a memory of Snape when he was attending Hogwarts. James and his friends are hanging Snape upside down in the schoolyard and yelling names at him. This is the first time in the series where we actually start to feel sympathetic toward Snape as a character. The next time we learn anything about Snape is the very end of the seventh book, where we learn Snape’s entire story.
We learn that everything he did throughout the series he did to protect and help Harry, because he had loved Lily Evans his entire life. The reason behind the actions to save Harry was because he loved Lily, not necessarily because he liked or felt the need to protect Harry. Another reason that is revealed is that Snape feels responsible for the deaths of the Potter’s and this is another reason he protects Harry. Snape does not necessarily want to help Harry and he struggles with what he has to do throughout the series, but he does so because of the guilt he feels over his actions. However, Snape did have the option of walking away from the responsibility of watching over Harry entirely. “It would have been easy for Snape to walk away from that responsibility. Harry isn’t his son and only reminds Snape of everything he has missed out on in life since James married Lily, but Snape is tough and heroically takes a much harder path and stays at Hogwarts” (Schoen 106). Therefore, we know as readers that Snape took the difficult route in life in order to help Lily Evan’s son defeat the Dark Lord.
Do the motivations behind Snape’s actions make what he does any less heroic? Snape agreed to kill Dumbledore in the sixth book, so that Malfoy would not have to do it. He gave the ultimate sacrifice so that Harry could succeed in defeating the Dark Lord. Does the fact that he truly did not want to do these things change the fact that these acts were heroic? However, you could also argue that his main motive was his love for Lily Evans or his guilt over his role in her death. This brings about the question to be a true hero; do a person’s actions have to be altruistic? “According to Freud, the unconscious is the source of our motivations… However, we are often driven to deny or resist becoming conscious of these motives, and they are often available to us only in disguised form” (Postill 4). According to Freud, Snape’s motivations are unconscious.
I would like to come to the conclusion that Snape is a hero in the series even if his motives or mindset is not in the right place. I think that Snape and Harry’s motives are very similar, because they both in a way are motivated by love. Snape’s motives are questionable, but in the end he did what was necessary to defeat Voldemort and help Harry do it. An interesting article I read made a distinction between Severus and Snape. Whenever J.K Rowling calls him Severus, she is referring to him as an ally and whenever she uses the name Snape, she is referring to him as a foe. I think this is a very interesting conclusion with which I completely agree. After all this speculation, throughout two papers, I am going to take a side and say that Snape is a hero, that deserves to be celebrated in the end.
http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=121381&page=55
http://www.mugglespace.com/
Works Cited
Caffrey, Kristian. "Severus Vs. Snape." MuggleNet.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2009.
Postill, David. "Sigmund Freud." Sigmund Freud. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2009.
Spartz, Emerson, and Ben Schoen. Harry Potter Should Have Died. Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2009. Print.
Severus Snape Saga: What is a Hero?
Mellissa G. Brown
15 September 2009
Severus Snape Saga: What is a Hero?
Harry Potter names one of his sons Albus Severus Potter. This name is a derivation of Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. Harry explains the importance of his name in the epilogue of book seven. “You were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew” (Rowling 758). Even though Harry thinks so highly of Snape at the end of the series and describes him as the bravest man he ever knew, is Snape truly a hero in the series?
Clearly, Harry thinks that Snape is a hero by honoring his name and giving the name Severus to his son. Also, Dumbledore trusts Snape with his life and always trusts his judgment. It is safe to infer that Dumbledore would be convinced that Snape was in fact a hero of the series. Before I can determine whether or not Snape is or is not a hero, it is necessary to compare qualities that Snape possesses with other heroes such as Achilles, Atticus Finch, and Hercules.
One hero from Greek Mythology is Achilles. “He was the mightiest of the Greeks who fought in the Trojan War, and was the hero of Homer’s Iliad” (Hunter 1). Achilles was a hero who fought to the death, even though he knew he was going to die. We very frequently refer to Achilles as a hero because of his sacrifice in fighting in the Trojan Wars. Snape could be considered in this same manner a hero. Snape fights throughout the series, even though we do not know it, for Harry to be able to succeed. Snape also ends up giving the ultimate sacrifice of his life for the greater good just in the same manner as Achilles falls fighting.
Along these same lines, Achilles did have an obsession that may devalue his heroic acts. “Achilles reflects a paradigm of the hero that has fallen in deep love with honor and glory. Behind every action or decision of Achilles lies his thirst for everlasting honor and reputation” (Metsovitis 1). In this sense, Snape is very similar to Achilles because of how he acts out of his love and loss of Lily Evans. For arguments sake, I would like to say if Achilles is still considered a hero with this obsession, than we cannot rule out the idea of Snape being a hero also.
Another hero similar to Achilles is Hercules. In Greek mythology it is important to remember that although Greek heroes often did amazing things with their talents, they were not always selfless. Hercules is required to do the twelve tasks as punishment for killing his wife and children. Even though this is a great feat that shows amazing strength, he does not do it for selfless reasons. In this sense, Snape is very much like the Greek hero Hercules. Snape is very selfish in his reasons for wanting to protect Harry. Another important detail to note is that Greek heroes always die. “The precise moment when everything comes together for the hero is the moment of death” (Harvard 4). This is both true for Hercules and for Snape. When Snape’s final task is done and he delivers the memories to Harry is his moment of death. As everything comes together, it is his time to die.
A famous literary hero that must be addressed is Atticus Finch. Atticus is the hero in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird that demonstrates all the ideal values of a hero. Atticus Finch is moral, virtuous, and acts on behalf of the innocent. Atticus does the right thing no matter what the cost was to him and in doing so shows his courage to take on fight even though it was clear he was going to lose his case. In acting, he did something risky and disagreeable, but he did it because it was the right thing to do. I think Snape, even if the readers sometimes disagree, is a lot like Atticus Finch. Snape puts himself at risk to protect Harry and spy on the Death Eaters. He takes the initiative to spy on the Death Eaters and he plays a very dangerous role in protect Harry and providing information to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Snape is different from Atticus in a sense that Atticus is very clear to his intentions and his actions, whereas Snape is very secretive about what he is doing and whose side he is truly protecting.
Throughout all these comparisons my main point is that Snape shares many similarities and differences from classic historical and literary heroes. He is very qualified to be considered a hero yet there are many other factors that must be considered before determining the answer to that question. All these characteristics and similarities with other heroes does not mean that Snape is a hero because there are other factors that must be considered. Since Harry Potter is the hero of the series, can there be more than one hero in these stories? Do Snape’s motives need to be considered before demining him worthy or unworthy of being a hero? These are questions that I would like to examine in other papers as I continue to determine if Snape is or is not a hero. “Is Snape just a coward who serves two masters? Or is Snape a true hero who protects Harry for the noblest reasons?” (Schoen 107). The Severus Snape Saga will continue to decode and determine the answers to these questions.
Works Cited
Harvard. "The Concept of Hero." Harvard University. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.
Hunter, James. "Achilles." Encyclopedia Mythica. N.p., 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.
Metsovitis, Stathis. "Is Really Achilles a Hero?" MIT. N.p., 10 Oct. 2005. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2007. Print.
Spartz, Emerson, and Ben Schoen. Harry Potter Should Have Died. Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2009. Print.
O.WL.S.
Today was our last day of class (so sad!). We had a feast in class and ate turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and one girl even made chocolate frogs for us! We watched the last video in the series The Children of Dune and I turned in my final paper. I will be posting all four of my papers after this post for everyone to check out! The first two papers were both about Severus Snape, my third paper was about Journalism in the Harry Potter series, and my final paper was about Muggle Quidditch. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and following along in my Harry Potter class!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Dune vs. Harry Potter
Today, we compared the Dune Saga vs. Harry Potter. I've never read or seen the Dune Saga, along with everyone else in our class. However, our professor explained the series to us and it is very complicated alternate universe about various planets. Here is the similarities between the two series. Since this is a blog about Harry Potter, I've included the Harry Potter elements under each plot theme:
Control of world/universe: Riddle/Voldemort/Deatheaters
Power of Love: Lily Evans Potter's loving sacrifice protects Harry
Unrequited Love: Snape's love for Lily Potter
The Romances: Harry/Ginny, Hermione/Ron
Father figures: Dumbledore, Hagrid, Snape
Mother figures:McGonagall, Lily, Molly
Grief, Loss: Dumbledore, Cedric Diggory
Sociopathy, Insanity: Tom Riddle, Beatrix LeStrange, Fenrir Greyback for instance
Prophecy: believed to be true
Dreams & Visions: Harry connects with Voldemort while sleeping
Secret Societies: Deatheaters, Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army
Societies with Secrets: Hogwarts Houses
Enhanced Memory:Pensive, Department of Mysteries
Poisons: potions
Immortality: Resurrection Stone, Sorcerer's Stone
Near Death Experience: Harry Potter in a battle with Tom Riddle (DH)
Who has to die for the world takeover: Dumbledore, Harry Potter
The Quest: repair old social order by defeating the Deatheaters and Riddle (rebellion).
Monsters: Magical creatures of many sorts
This comes from Dr. Nicholson's chart of comparisons that she sent to us.
Control of world/universe: Riddle/Voldemort/Deatheaters
Power of Love: Lily Evans Potter's loving sacrifice protects Harry
Unrequited Love: Snape's love for Lily Potter
The Romances: Harry/Ginny, Hermione/Ron
Father figures: Dumbledore, Hagrid, Snape
Mother figures:McGonagall, Lily, Molly
Grief, Loss: Dumbledore, Cedric Diggory
Sociopathy, Insanity: Tom Riddle, Beatrix LeStrange, Fenrir Greyback for instance
Prophecy: believed to be true
Dreams & Visions: Harry connects with Voldemort while sleeping
Secret Societies: Deatheaters, Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army
Societies with Secrets: Hogwarts Houses
Enhanced Memory:Pensive, Department of Mysteries
Poisons: potions
Immortality: Resurrection Stone, Sorcerer's Stone
Near Death Experience: Harry Potter in a battle with Tom Riddle (DH)
Who has to die for the world takeover: Dumbledore, Harry Potter
The Quest: repair old social order by defeating the Deatheaters and Riddle (rebellion).
Monsters: Magical creatures of many sorts
This comes from Dr. Nicholson's chart of comparisons that she sent to us.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Personally, I Think You Look a Little More Devil-May-Care This Way, but It's Up to You.
Today, we started off by discussing father figures in Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling mentions in one of her ABC interviews that she never had a father and by the end of the series, JKR has killed off a lot of father figures. It seems that JKR's own father figure experience is reflected in her writing when she kills off so many fathers and father figures. Were these father figures killed off because it was neccesary or because Rowling has a vendetta against father figures?
We also talked about mother figures such as McGonagall, Tonks, and Mrs. Weasley. It is interesting that McGonagall ends up being the first head mistriss (except for Umbridge) at the end of the Harry Potter series. Women aren't as promenate of characters or as powerful of characters. Yes, Hermione is smart, but doesn't necessarily have power. Not to mention we dont' know what happens to her after the book series ends.
Then we moved onto the topic of revolution. Our professor posed the question on whether or not there was a revolution in Harry Potter. If Voldemort had claimed power, there would have been a definite revolution and rapid change of how the current system fuctions. The old order would have been dramatically changed if Voldemort had successfully taken power. One girl argued that the revolution began when Voldemort first tried to take power some fourteen years ago and all Harry is trying to do is restore the former order before Voldemort ever existed.
It is interesting for us to take a look inside the Harry Potter government structure, or the ideas of rebellion, revolution, and social order to see how another culture deals with problems.
Of course, we finished watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! No class next week due to Thanksgiving so I will not be posting. I might just post my three papers instead of class discussion for anyone who would like to read them.
We also talked about mother figures such as McGonagall, Tonks, and Mrs. Weasley. It is interesting that McGonagall ends up being the first head mistriss (except for Umbridge) at the end of the Harry Potter series. Women aren't as promenate of characters or as powerful of characters. Yes, Hermione is smart, but doesn't necessarily have power. Not to mention we dont' know what happens to her after the book series ends.
Then we moved onto the topic of revolution. Our professor posed the question on whether or not there was a revolution in Harry Potter. If Voldemort had claimed power, there would have been a definite revolution and rapid change of how the current system fuctions. The old order would have been dramatically changed if Voldemort had successfully taken power. One girl argued that the revolution began when Voldemort first tried to take power some fourteen years ago and all Harry is trying to do is restore the former order before Voldemort ever existed.
It is interesting for us to take a look inside the Harry Potter government structure, or the ideas of rebellion, revolution, and social order to see how another culture deals with problems.
Of course, we finished watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! No class next week due to Thanksgiving so I will not be posting. I might just post my three papers instead of class discussion for anyone who would like to read them.
Monday, November 16, 2009
She Thinks You're The Choosen One... But I Am The Choosen One
My post is a little late! However, I promise it will be very interesting... Last Tuesday, we had student presentations on their topics for their papers. I think one of the presentations was particularly interesting and is definitely worth sharing.
One of the students presented to the class a conspiracy theory, if you will, on Ron and Dumbledore. Essentially, the theory states that Ron and Dumbledore are the same person. JKR has denied this relationship between the two characters. However, the theory is rather interesting and there is some interesting evidence that suggests that they could be the same person.
Here is the relationship explained on a fan page:
Book abreviations are used:
SS/PS= Sorcerer's Stone (book 1)
CoS=Chamber of Secrets (book 2)
PoA= Prisoner of Azkaban (book 3)
GoF= Goblet of Fire (book 4)
OotP= Order of the Pheonix (book 5)
HBP= Half Blood Prince (book 6)
DH= Deathly Hallows (book 7)
1. Uncanny Resemblance
We often joke about how unobservant Harry is, and though he hasn't made the connection we have, he does indeed dutifully describe for us both Ron and Dumbledore's appearance. Harry describes both Ron and Dumbledore as tall, thin and possessing a long nose (though Dumbledore's has been broken a couple of times). These three characteristics are repeated by Harry when he meets either of these two characters for the first time in almost every book.
Dumbledore is described as having long fingers, while Ron is described as having large hands and feet. Unless Ron is a mutant, having large hands would also mean having long fingers. Dumbledore is very, very old with white hair when we first meet him, but when Harry visits a fifty years younger Dumbledore in Riddle's diary, he is described as having auburn hair. In other words, Dumbledore was once a redhead just like Ron. While we know Dumbledore has sparkling blue eyes, JKR has very curiously neglected to have Harry mention Ron's eye color for five whole books now. We know nearly everyone else's eye color, including Arthur Weasley's (blue), but we don't know that of Harry's best friend.
Dumbledore's one other key characteristic, the scar above his left knee, is mentioned in the first chapter of PS/SS. While Harry hasn't noticed any tell tale scars shaped like the London Underground on Ron, we do indeed know from PoA that Ron has sustained a serious injury to his left leg. Though JKR curiously, and very pointedly, dances around which leg exactly it is that Ron has broken, we have determined that it is indeed his left leg. When Sirius conjures the manacles and attaches Peter to Ron and Lupin, he attaches Peter to Ron's left side. If you are injured and using only one crutch, you would, of course, use the crutch on the side of your injured leg. Sirius shackled Peter to Ron's injured side - his left.
2. How sweet it is...
Though on the surface Ron and Dumbledore seem to have little in common, they both have a great love for sweets. When we first meet Dumbledore he offers a lemon sherbet to Professor McGonagall. When we first meet Ron he introduces Harry to the wonderful world of wizarding candy. In PoA, he goes into a blissful trance describing to Harry and Hermione the wondrous confections to be found at Honeydukes, the magical sweets shop in Hogsmeade. In CoS we learn that Dumbledore likes to use the names of sweets as his office password. In PoA, Ron suggests to Hermione that they bring Harry back some Cockroach Clusters from Honeydukes. In GoF, when Harry returns to the castle to alert Dumbledore of Crouch Sr.'s strange appearance on the grounds of Hogwarts, he must guess the password to Dumbledore's office. He goes through a whole list of normal sweets, but to Harry's disbelief, the password ends up being, you guessed it, Cockroach Clusters.
But that is not all... In the last chapter of PS/SS, Dumbledore tells Harry that he lost his taste for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans after eating a vomit flavored bean in his youth. There is one problem with this... Bertie Bott was born in 1935. While Dumbledore is over 150 years old, and for him, 'youth' is a relative term, he could not have possibly eaten a Bertie Bott Every Flavor Bean until the 1950's, most likely even later, making him well over a hundred years old. Even in Dumbledore terms this is hardly his 'youth'. Before anyone makes the brilliant observation that the Bertie Bott card isn't canon, be sure to read the statement from Wizards of the Coast concerning their collaboration with JK Rowling on the making of the cards posted to The Leaky Cauldron.
3. "Dumbledore knows pretty much everything anyway" -- JKR
Dumbledore really does seem to know 'pretty much everything', even for a very wise old man with an army of pictographic spies.
In PS/SS, he knows precisely what Ron saw in the Mirror of Erised and exactly why Ron saw what he did. He tells Harry that there are other ways of being invisible, but are we to believe that Dumbledore was really waiting around every night for Harry to show up in front of the Mirror? He either knew exactly when to show up, or he was there the first time as Ron. When Harry asks Dumbledore what he himself sees in the Mirror, Dumbledore tells him he sees himself holding a pair of socks. What is it that Ron's mother is always giving him, but he never appreciates? Socks.
Dumbledore also knows the exact moment to show up and save Harry from Quirrelmort. In fact, Harry leads us to believe that Dumbledore orchestrated the entire thing. Now, we know Dumbledore lets Harry do some things he wouldn't let an ordinary student do, but isn't keeping a Pawn of Voldemort around for an entire school year a very dangerous thing to do? Why yes it is... unless of course Dumbledore knew that everything would turn out okay in the end.
In CoS we learn that Dumbledore never really trusted Tom Riddle, even before the murder of Moaning Myrtle. In the Chamber scene, Riddle tells Harry that Dumbledore never liked him as much as the other teachers. When Fudge comes for Hagrid and Lucius for Dumbledore, Harry and Ron are hiding under the invisibility cloak. Dumbledore knows exactly where they are and gives Harry a message. Not only that, but does anyone else think it odd that Dumbledore wasn't worried about what might happen to Harry after he leaves? Once again, Dumbledore sets Harry up to complete a very dangerous task. Either Dumbledore is truly mad, or he knows how it all turns out.
In PoA, Dumbledore very readily accepts the innocence of Sirius Black. One might come to the conclusion that he knew Sirius was innocent all along. In fact, many have. The only testimony he hears comes from Sirius himself (a convicted felon). He has already made up his mind to send Harry and Hermione back in time before they get a chance to tell their side of the story. When Harry and Hermione do go back in time, you will notice that every single thing happens in exactly the same way both times. There was never a time through in which Buckbeak was killed or Harry didn't cast his Patronus. JKR is even very careful to put in the door slamming from the second time through in the first time through. Yet... it is Dumbledore himself, as his 'first time' self, who ends up saving Buckbeak - he distracts everyone inside Hagrid's hut so that Harry and Hermione can make off with Buckbeak. Later, when Harry tells Dumbledore about Trelawney's prophecy, Dumbledore is not in the least bit phased. In fact, Harry is surprised he can take it so calmly. In addition, Dumbledore seems to be very adamant about Peter getting away being a 'good thing'. Oh sure, Peter owes him a life debt, but Dumbledore is just a little too convinced that it is all for the best.
GoF is a special case. Though we do find one really huge piece of evidence of Dumbledore's ability to know what he really shouldn't, we think that this was one of the times that Ron/DD may have actually tried to change the course of events. He goes to great lengths to prevent the younger students from entering the Tournament (the age line). He goes to great lengths to find the most trustworthy DADA professor possible (for only one year, and as a special favor) - Mad Eye Moody, someone he knows really, really well. Still, in the end, we believe the end result was exactly the same (except, perhaps, the death of Cedric).
So, what are we left with? Crouching Death Eater, Hidden Moody. When Dumbledore discovers that Moody is an imposter, he shows up with Snape and McGonagall in Moody's office. He tells McGonagall to go fetch Padfoot. He tells Snape to go fetch Winky and some Veritaserum. Oh wait... go fetch Winky? How did he know to fetch Winky? Barty Crouch Jr. still looked like Moody. Perhaps Dumbledore really is a super genius, and figured out there had to be a connection to the Crouches. However, Crouch Jr. was thought to be dead and Crouch Sr. was present with Moody the night the names came out of the Goblet. Oh wait, you say, perhaps Dumbledore suspected Crouch only began impersonating Moody AFTER Halloween. Or maybe, just maybe, he was able to figure out that Crouch Jr. wasn't really dead between the maze and Moody's office. Maybe... but he tells Harry 'you never knew the real Mad Eye Moody'. Everything else aside... this is something he could not possibly know with any certainty.
In OotP, Dumbledore knows from the very beginning to avoid Harry's gaze. While three years have passed for us, only one month has passed for Harry and Dumbledore. How does Dumbledore know when to begin avoiding Harry? He avoids his gaze from the very first time they meet in the courtroom (despite telling Harry later that he sensed something behind his eyes - he never looked Harry in the eye, something Harry was exceedingly peeved about). This is BEFORE Dumbledore knows about the dreams. This is BEFORE the attack on Arthur Weasley. Dumbledore absolutely can not know that Voldemort is already in Harry's mind. Later on, when the attack on Arthur does take place, Dumbledore knows the precise questions to ask Harry about the nature of the attack. We now know that Dumbledore is a Legilimens, however... Dumbledore could not have used this on Harry as he could not make eye contact for fear Voldemort would 'spy' on him. Speaking of which... the issue couldn't have been spying as such. After all, Harry is still observing Dumbledore. He still hangs out at Order headquarters. He still knows the identities of most of the members of the Order. While he is left largely in the dark (with disastrous consequences), he still observes much that would be useful for Voldemort and his followers. Dumbledore does, however, give us a hint as to what it is he doesn't want Voldemort to see:
"I was sure that if he realized that our relationship was - or had ever been - closer than that of headmaster and pupil, he would seize his chance to use you as a means to spy on me." (US OotP Ch27 pg 828)
Now, we do know that Dumbledore really loves Harry. He tells him as much in that same scene. However, it is curious that JKR would emphasize (by placing it between dashes) the phrase 'or had ever been'. It is not as simple as Dumbledore not wanting Voldemort knowing his true feelings for Harry and therefore be able to use them against him. After all, Voldemort now knows that, and his not knowing that ended up putting Harry and even more danger (the possession in the MoM). No, the significance is in the phrase 'or had ever been'. The truth is, as far as Harry is concerned, they really aren't any closer than Headmaster and pupil. Why was the line referring to a past relationship? Harry's relationship to Dumbledore has been constant all through the series. Dumbledore orchestrates hoops for Harry to jump through, Harry jumps, they chat about it at the end of the school year. We believe this 'had ever been' refers to Dumbledore's prior relationship to Harry as his best friend Ron. Dumbledore, of course, would not want Voldemort to know of this prior relationship because that would make Ron a target as well, messing up EVERYTHING. Without Ron, without Dumbledore, the game and the war are lost.
4. Foreshadowing
Ron makes it very clear on several occasions that he hates the color maroon. Could it be because he will eventually be 'marooned' in time?
In OotP, Ron is nearly strangled by some purple wizard robes while cleaning up Grimmauld Place. Who do we know wears purple robes? Dumbledore, of course.
Socks are a running theme throughout the series. They are used as symbols of freedom, redemption and love. Ron, however, doesn't ever really fully appreciate the socks his mother gives him. In PoA, he tosses them aside to gush over Harry's Firebolt. In GoF, he gives his Christmas socks to Dobby. Socks are also seen attached to Molly specifically - she is seen fussing over socks, looking for socks, folding socks, packing socks. And if Molly wasn't mother figure enough, Tonks tells Harry her own mother has this special knack for magically folding socks. In fact, the first time we see Harry, he is in his cupboard, looking for a pair of socks (though he has to knock the spiders off of them, not having a mother to fuss over them for him). Dobby is set free with a sock. Hermione knits socks for the house elves. Dumbledore, the man who clearly has all of the fame, power, respect, possessions and wisdom one could hope for in a lifetime, sees himself holding a pair of wooly socks in the Mirror of Erised. If you read this scene with Dumbledore being Ron in mind, it takes on a whole new and really huge significance Ron indeed becomes greater than all of his brothers, yet as an old man, he is still wistful for those socks his mother gave him and he never fully appreciated.
Ron's vision in the Mirror of Erised is rather curious. He sees himself as Head Boy, Quidditch Captain and holding both the House and Quidditch cups. We know that Ron has this uncanny knack for predicting the future. If, indeed, he is a Seer as many suspect, might he able to see his future in the Mirror? As of OotP, he seems to be on his way to this future - Prefect (it's the first step towards Head Boy!) and he is on the Quidditch team. Currently, he plays Keeper, a very appropriate position for a Knight, guarding a castle. If he does indeed end up becoming Quidditch Captain, he would also get to play out that dual role once more on the Quidditch field - Knight, as Keeper and King, as Captain.
In a few different places in the series, Ron is shown to hero- worship Dumbledore. Of all of these scenes, the most striking is at the end of PS/SS where Ron is extremely impressed with Dumbledore's orchestrating the rescuing of the Stone.
"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"
"Well," Hermione exploded, "If he did - I mean to say - that's terrible - you could have been killed."
"No, it isn't," said Harry thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. 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, 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 worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could..."
"Yea, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly.
In OotP, Draco composes a lovely song - Weasley is Our King. If that isn't foreshadowing, I don't know what is. One line in particular is given significance by Draco. He is heard singing it loudly during the game by Harry, and Draco later quotes it in italics - born in a bin. While Draco likes to make fun of Ron's poverty, the phrase has a double meaning. 'Bin' is also a prefix meaning 'double' or 'two' - think 'binary'. Was Ron 'born' twice? Leading a double life? Is Draco trying to tell us something important?
Movie!Canon, but worth mentioning anyway... in Dumbledore's office on the CoS DVD, there is a hidden Easter egg that reveals a portrait on the wall of two wizard chess masters. One wizard is in red, the other in green. The floor beneath them is checkered like a chess board. As the camera pans towards the picture, ominous music is played. In another part of Dumbledore's office, there is a portrait of Dumbledore (there are two Dumbledore portraits in all) where he is depicted in maroon robes standing next to a chess set.
Okay... I told you there was a lot of evidence. I think it is a very interesting theory... I'm just not sure if I buy it.
I at least thought I would share! We also watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (SOMEHOW we obtained a copy)
That's all for now Potter Fans!
One of the students presented to the class a conspiracy theory, if you will, on Ron and Dumbledore. Essentially, the theory states that Ron and Dumbledore are the same person. JKR has denied this relationship between the two characters. However, the theory is rather interesting and there is some interesting evidence that suggests that they could be the same person.
Here is the relationship explained on a fan page:
Book abreviations are used:
SS/PS= Sorcerer's Stone (book 1)
CoS=Chamber of Secrets (book 2)
PoA= Prisoner of Azkaban (book 3)
GoF= Goblet of Fire (book 4)
OotP= Order of the Pheonix (book 5)
HBP= Half Blood Prince (book 6)
DH= Deathly Hallows (book 7)
1. Uncanny Resemblance
We often joke about how unobservant Harry is, and though he hasn't made the connection we have, he does indeed dutifully describe for us both Ron and Dumbledore's appearance. Harry describes both Ron and Dumbledore as tall, thin and possessing a long nose (though Dumbledore's has been broken a couple of times). These three characteristics are repeated by Harry when he meets either of these two characters for the first time in almost every book.
Dumbledore is described as having long fingers, while Ron is described as having large hands and feet. Unless Ron is a mutant, having large hands would also mean having long fingers. Dumbledore is very, very old with white hair when we first meet him, but when Harry visits a fifty years younger Dumbledore in Riddle's diary, he is described as having auburn hair. In other words, Dumbledore was once a redhead just like Ron. While we know Dumbledore has sparkling blue eyes, JKR has very curiously neglected to have Harry mention Ron's eye color for five whole books now. We know nearly everyone else's eye color, including Arthur Weasley's (blue), but we don't know that of Harry's best friend.
Dumbledore's one other key characteristic, the scar above his left knee, is mentioned in the first chapter of PS/SS. While Harry hasn't noticed any tell tale scars shaped like the London Underground on Ron, we do indeed know from PoA that Ron has sustained a serious injury to his left leg. Though JKR curiously, and very pointedly, dances around which leg exactly it is that Ron has broken, we have determined that it is indeed his left leg. When Sirius conjures the manacles and attaches Peter to Ron and Lupin, he attaches Peter to Ron's left side. If you are injured and using only one crutch, you would, of course, use the crutch on the side of your injured leg. Sirius shackled Peter to Ron's injured side - his left.
2. How sweet it is...
Though on the surface Ron and Dumbledore seem to have little in common, they both have a great love for sweets. When we first meet Dumbledore he offers a lemon sherbet to Professor McGonagall. When we first meet Ron he introduces Harry to the wonderful world of wizarding candy. In PoA, he goes into a blissful trance describing to Harry and Hermione the wondrous confections to be found at Honeydukes, the magical sweets shop in Hogsmeade. In CoS we learn that Dumbledore likes to use the names of sweets as his office password. In PoA, Ron suggests to Hermione that they bring Harry back some Cockroach Clusters from Honeydukes. In GoF, when Harry returns to the castle to alert Dumbledore of Crouch Sr.'s strange appearance on the grounds of Hogwarts, he must guess the password to Dumbledore's office. He goes through a whole list of normal sweets, but to Harry's disbelief, the password ends up being, you guessed it, Cockroach Clusters.
But that is not all... In the last chapter of PS/SS, Dumbledore tells Harry that he lost his taste for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans after eating a vomit flavored bean in his youth. There is one problem with this... Bertie Bott was born in 1935. While Dumbledore is over 150 years old, and for him, 'youth' is a relative term, he could not have possibly eaten a Bertie Bott Every Flavor Bean until the 1950's, most likely even later, making him well over a hundred years old. Even in Dumbledore terms this is hardly his 'youth'. Before anyone makes the brilliant observation that the Bertie Bott card isn't canon, be sure to read the statement from Wizards of the Coast concerning their collaboration with JK Rowling on the making of the cards posted to The Leaky Cauldron.
3. "Dumbledore knows pretty much everything anyway" -- JKR
Dumbledore really does seem to know 'pretty much everything', even for a very wise old man with an army of pictographic spies.
In PS/SS, he knows precisely what Ron saw in the Mirror of Erised and exactly why Ron saw what he did. He tells Harry that there are other ways of being invisible, but are we to believe that Dumbledore was really waiting around every night for Harry to show up in front of the Mirror? He either knew exactly when to show up, or he was there the first time as Ron. When Harry asks Dumbledore what he himself sees in the Mirror, Dumbledore tells him he sees himself holding a pair of socks. What is it that Ron's mother is always giving him, but he never appreciates? Socks.
Dumbledore also knows the exact moment to show up and save Harry from Quirrelmort. In fact, Harry leads us to believe that Dumbledore orchestrated the entire thing. Now, we know Dumbledore lets Harry do some things he wouldn't let an ordinary student do, but isn't keeping a Pawn of Voldemort around for an entire school year a very dangerous thing to do? Why yes it is... unless of course Dumbledore knew that everything would turn out okay in the end.
In CoS we learn that Dumbledore never really trusted Tom Riddle, even before the murder of Moaning Myrtle. In the Chamber scene, Riddle tells Harry that Dumbledore never liked him as much as the other teachers. When Fudge comes for Hagrid and Lucius for Dumbledore, Harry and Ron are hiding under the invisibility cloak. Dumbledore knows exactly where they are and gives Harry a message. Not only that, but does anyone else think it odd that Dumbledore wasn't worried about what might happen to Harry after he leaves? Once again, Dumbledore sets Harry up to complete a very dangerous task. Either Dumbledore is truly mad, or he knows how it all turns out.
In PoA, Dumbledore very readily accepts the innocence of Sirius Black. One might come to the conclusion that he knew Sirius was innocent all along. In fact, many have. The only testimony he hears comes from Sirius himself (a convicted felon). He has already made up his mind to send Harry and Hermione back in time before they get a chance to tell their side of the story. When Harry and Hermione do go back in time, you will notice that every single thing happens in exactly the same way both times. There was never a time through in which Buckbeak was killed or Harry didn't cast his Patronus. JKR is even very careful to put in the door slamming from the second time through in the first time through. Yet... it is Dumbledore himself, as his 'first time' self, who ends up saving Buckbeak - he distracts everyone inside Hagrid's hut so that Harry and Hermione can make off with Buckbeak. Later, when Harry tells Dumbledore about Trelawney's prophecy, Dumbledore is not in the least bit phased. In fact, Harry is surprised he can take it so calmly. In addition, Dumbledore seems to be very adamant about Peter getting away being a 'good thing'. Oh sure, Peter owes him a life debt, but Dumbledore is just a little too convinced that it is all for the best.
GoF is a special case. Though we do find one really huge piece of evidence of Dumbledore's ability to know what he really shouldn't, we think that this was one of the times that Ron/DD may have actually tried to change the course of events. He goes to great lengths to prevent the younger students from entering the Tournament (the age line). He goes to great lengths to find the most trustworthy DADA professor possible (for only one year, and as a special favor) - Mad Eye Moody, someone he knows really, really well. Still, in the end, we believe the end result was exactly the same (except, perhaps, the death of Cedric).
So, what are we left with? Crouching Death Eater, Hidden Moody. When Dumbledore discovers that Moody is an imposter, he shows up with Snape and McGonagall in Moody's office. He tells McGonagall to go fetch Padfoot. He tells Snape to go fetch Winky and some Veritaserum. Oh wait... go fetch Winky? How did he know to fetch Winky? Barty Crouch Jr. still looked like Moody. Perhaps Dumbledore really is a super genius, and figured out there had to be a connection to the Crouches. However, Crouch Jr. was thought to be dead and Crouch Sr. was present with Moody the night the names came out of the Goblet. Oh wait, you say, perhaps Dumbledore suspected Crouch only began impersonating Moody AFTER Halloween. Or maybe, just maybe, he was able to figure out that Crouch Jr. wasn't really dead between the maze and Moody's office. Maybe... but he tells Harry 'you never knew the real Mad Eye Moody'. Everything else aside... this is something he could not possibly know with any certainty.
In OotP, Dumbledore knows from the very beginning to avoid Harry's gaze. While three years have passed for us, only one month has passed for Harry and Dumbledore. How does Dumbledore know when to begin avoiding Harry? He avoids his gaze from the very first time they meet in the courtroom (despite telling Harry later that he sensed something behind his eyes - he never looked Harry in the eye, something Harry was exceedingly peeved about). This is BEFORE Dumbledore knows about the dreams. This is BEFORE the attack on Arthur Weasley. Dumbledore absolutely can not know that Voldemort is already in Harry's mind. Later on, when the attack on Arthur does take place, Dumbledore knows the precise questions to ask Harry about the nature of the attack. We now know that Dumbledore is a Legilimens, however... Dumbledore could not have used this on Harry as he could not make eye contact for fear Voldemort would 'spy' on him. Speaking of which... the issue couldn't have been spying as such. After all, Harry is still observing Dumbledore. He still hangs out at Order headquarters. He still knows the identities of most of the members of the Order. While he is left largely in the dark (with disastrous consequences), he still observes much that would be useful for Voldemort and his followers. Dumbledore does, however, give us a hint as to what it is he doesn't want Voldemort to see:
"I was sure that if he realized that our relationship was - or had ever been - closer than that of headmaster and pupil, he would seize his chance to use you as a means to spy on me." (US OotP Ch27 pg 828)
Now, we do know that Dumbledore really loves Harry. He tells him as much in that same scene. However, it is curious that JKR would emphasize (by placing it between dashes) the phrase 'or had ever been'. It is not as simple as Dumbledore not wanting Voldemort knowing his true feelings for Harry and therefore be able to use them against him. After all, Voldemort now knows that, and his not knowing that ended up putting Harry and even more danger (the possession in the MoM). No, the significance is in the phrase 'or had ever been'. The truth is, as far as Harry is concerned, they really aren't any closer than Headmaster and pupil. Why was the line referring to a past relationship? Harry's relationship to Dumbledore has been constant all through the series. Dumbledore orchestrates hoops for Harry to jump through, Harry jumps, they chat about it at the end of the school year. We believe this 'had ever been' refers to Dumbledore's prior relationship to Harry as his best friend Ron. Dumbledore, of course, would not want Voldemort to know of this prior relationship because that would make Ron a target as well, messing up EVERYTHING. Without Ron, without Dumbledore, the game and the war are lost.
4. Foreshadowing
Ron makes it very clear on several occasions that he hates the color maroon. Could it be because he will eventually be 'marooned' in time?
In OotP, Ron is nearly strangled by some purple wizard robes while cleaning up Grimmauld Place. Who do we know wears purple robes? Dumbledore, of course.
Socks are a running theme throughout the series. They are used as symbols of freedom, redemption and love. Ron, however, doesn't ever really fully appreciate the socks his mother gives him. In PoA, he tosses them aside to gush over Harry's Firebolt. In GoF, he gives his Christmas socks to Dobby. Socks are also seen attached to Molly specifically - she is seen fussing over socks, looking for socks, folding socks, packing socks. And if Molly wasn't mother figure enough, Tonks tells Harry her own mother has this special knack for magically folding socks. In fact, the first time we see Harry, he is in his cupboard, looking for a pair of socks (though he has to knock the spiders off of them, not having a mother to fuss over them for him). Dobby is set free with a sock. Hermione knits socks for the house elves. Dumbledore, the man who clearly has all of the fame, power, respect, possessions and wisdom one could hope for in a lifetime, sees himself holding a pair of wooly socks in the Mirror of Erised. If you read this scene with Dumbledore being Ron in mind, it takes on a whole new and really huge significance Ron indeed becomes greater than all of his brothers, yet as an old man, he is still wistful for those socks his mother gave him and he never fully appreciated.
Ron's vision in the Mirror of Erised is rather curious. He sees himself as Head Boy, Quidditch Captain and holding both the House and Quidditch cups. We know that Ron has this uncanny knack for predicting the future. If, indeed, he is a Seer as many suspect, might he able to see his future in the Mirror? As of OotP, he seems to be on his way to this future - Prefect (it's the first step towards Head Boy!) and he is on the Quidditch team. Currently, he plays Keeper, a very appropriate position for a Knight, guarding a castle. If he does indeed end up becoming Quidditch Captain, he would also get to play out that dual role once more on the Quidditch field - Knight, as Keeper and King, as Captain.
In a few different places in the series, Ron is shown to hero- worship Dumbledore. Of all of these scenes, the most striking is at the end of PS/SS where Ron is extremely impressed with Dumbledore's orchestrating the rescuing of the Stone.
"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"
"Well," Hermione exploded, "If he did - I mean to say - that's terrible - you could have been killed."
"No, it isn't," said Harry thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. 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, 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 worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could..."
"Yea, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly.
In OotP, Draco composes a lovely song - Weasley is Our King. If that isn't foreshadowing, I don't know what is. One line in particular is given significance by Draco. He is heard singing it loudly during the game by Harry, and Draco later quotes it in italics - born in a bin. While Draco likes to make fun of Ron's poverty, the phrase has a double meaning. 'Bin' is also a prefix meaning 'double' or 'two' - think 'binary'. Was Ron 'born' twice? Leading a double life? Is Draco trying to tell us something important?
Movie!Canon, but worth mentioning anyway... in Dumbledore's office on the CoS DVD, there is a hidden Easter egg that reveals a portrait on the wall of two wizard chess masters. One wizard is in red, the other in green. The floor beneath them is checkered like a chess board. As the camera pans towards the picture, ominous music is played. In another part of Dumbledore's office, there is a portrait of Dumbledore (there are two Dumbledore portraits in all) where he is depicted in maroon robes standing next to a chess set.
Okay... I told you there was a lot of evidence. I think it is a very interesting theory... I'm just not sure if I buy it.
I at least thought I would share! We also watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (SOMEHOW we obtained a copy)
That's all for now Potter Fans!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Harry, it isn't how you are alike. It's how you are not.
Today we started off by talking about the government and it's responsibility to create a social order and this order can be humane or inhumane. In the Harry Potter series, the wizards do not do a good job of creating this social order in a humane way. We discussed how it is ultimately the job of the institution to treat it's citizens humanely even if they don't feel responsible.
This discussion lead to the discussion of how one person cannot know the pain of another person (I think this went along the same lines of treating people humanely or inhumanely). We related this to showing horses about how the Olympic horses are getting injured as a result of the showmanship and this is, in our opinion, an inhumane way to treat an animal for a competition.
This lead to a discussion on professional football players and how they sacrifice mind and body to play this sport and some players ultimately end up physically and mentally injured at the end of their careers. However, we did have a debate about whether they fall into this category because they WILLINGLY participate in this sport and they KNOW the pain they could eventually suffer as a result of football. How exactly this relates to Harry Potter I am not sure. :-)
We finished the fifth movie today and class and hopefully someone will be able to obtain the sixth movie, probably not legally, so that we can watch it. If not, we will watch movies related to Harry Potter such as Star Wars or Australia (related thorugh the theme of magic).
That's all for now!
This discussion lead to the discussion of how one person cannot know the pain of another person (I think this went along the same lines of treating people humanely or inhumanely). We related this to showing horses about how the Olympic horses are getting injured as a result of the showmanship and this is, in our opinion, an inhumane way to treat an animal for a competition.
This lead to a discussion on professional football players and how they sacrifice mind and body to play this sport and some players ultimately end up physically and mentally injured at the end of their careers. However, we did have a debate about whether they fall into this category because they WILLINGLY participate in this sport and they KNOW the pain they could eventually suffer as a result of football. How exactly this relates to Harry Potter I am not sure. :-)
We finished the fifth movie today and class and hopefully someone will be able to obtain the sixth movie, probably not legally, so that we can watch it. If not, we will watch movies related to Harry Potter such as Star Wars or Australia (related thorugh the theme of magic).
That's all for now!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Sorry Professor, but I Must Not Tell Lies
This past week we were discussing the individual vs. the institution and my professor brought up the idea that Harry and Dumbledore could resemble God and Jesus. However, we didn't get very far into this discussion because two kids in the class literally started arguing about religion essentially about the different views of Jesus. It was ridiculous and the professor didn't even really get to make the point she wanted to make because she just let these two kids argue about religion almost the whole class period. We started watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheniox which is the fifth movie. I don't know what we are going to do when we finish it though because the sixth movie doesn't come out on DVD for another couple weeks.
I also found this posting on MyLifeIsAverage.com that I thought was funny because I clearly did not realize this either:
Today, my 8 year old cousin was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time. When she got to the part about the Mirror of Erised, she pointed out that Erised was desire spelled backwards. I'm a sophomore in college and it blew my mind. MLIA.
Thanks for reading!
I also found this posting on MyLifeIsAverage.com that I thought was funny because I clearly did not realize this either:
Today, my 8 year old cousin was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time. When she got to the part about the Mirror of Erised, she pointed out that Erised was desire spelled backwards. I'm a sophomore in college and it blew my mind. MLIA.
Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Your wand, Harry! Your wand!
Continuing our discussion from last week, we tried an experiment in divination. We used Zener cards to try to send psychic signals to one another. There are twenty-five zener cards per deck and each has a picture on it. Five circles, five squares, five crosses, five stars, and five squiggles. The sender randomly draws one card and then proceeds to try to send the image to the reciever who then trys to pick what symbol the sender is giving them.
It didn't seem to work very well except for how many should through probability. It was an interesting experiement though. I'm going to be taking the cards home with me to try some more experiments to see if any of my friends are on the same "mental wavelength."
It didn't seem to work very well except for how many should through probability. It was an interesting experiement though. I'm going to be taking the cards home with me to try some more experiments to see if any of my friends are on the same "mental wavelength."
Monday, October 19, 2009
Cedric Diggory was murdered, by Lord Voldemort
Lumos Family and Friends!
I haven't updated in two weeks! Jeez. So let me give you an overview of what we've been discussing in class for the past two weeks!
October 6th, we talked about the nature of evil. We discussed the two basic types of evil: vincible and invincible evil. The difference between the two being that when it is vincible evil the person is knowingly hurting others' as opposed to invincible evil when the person is unknowingly causing harm. The nature of evil can also be related back to the forms of authority: traditional, legal-rational, charismatic.
Voldemort performs these evil acts (being vincible evils since he knowingly harms others) so that he can obtain immortality. However, we discussed how immortality looks attractive until you look at what happens when you actually obtain it. The question is, what happens if you outlive everybody?
The basic plot line of Harry Potter is the parallel careers of two orphans, Harry Potter and Tom Riddle. These two orphans have two very different trajectories in life and used their similar situation to create very different lives. However, we did discuss that it is possible that Tom Riddle aka Voldemort is not inherently evil, he is just angry at being abandoned.
When discussing evil, other characters besides Voldemort clearly come to mind such as the Dementors, Snape, The Malfoy's, and Belatrix LeStrange. It is very possible that dementors are not evil, they are just seen as evil because of the nature of the lives they lead (considering they live by sucking the happiness out of people). I would honestly say that Belatrix is seriously demented and evil because she ENJOYS other people's suffering, but that could be a result from going crazy from 12 years in Azkaban.
The most interesting "evil" character is Snape. Snape was from Slythering and friends with many death eaters. He had the potential to gain his own following because he was such a brilliant man. However, Snape's reasoning for being such an "evil" character is out of his jealousy (and love) fo Lily Potter and her marriage to James and the humiliation he experienced while in school. We have to ask ourselves, did Snape use the best means to reach the ultimate end?
October 13th, we talked about the art of divination and forms of real life divination (aka seeing the future). There are many forms of divination in real human culture:
-Arithromancy
-Astrology
-Numerology
-Tarot
-I Ching
-Mayan Calandar
-Oracles
We as human culture believe in this ability to see the future and predict the future. This ability could be potentially very dangerous. Can you imagine if you actually had the ability to predict the future? More over, what if people KNEW that you could acurately predict the future? You would never have a moments rest!
Everyone thinks that Trelawny, the divinations professor, is a fake. Which is potentially why she is safe and not being bothered 24/7 about the future. Since people think she is a fake, she is protected from society itself.
One of the last philosophical questions we discussed in class that day was the idea that If diviners are right, it is much scarier than if they are wrong. Being right could potentially cause much more harm than good.
As always in Harry Potter class, I feel like we ask more questions to answer our questions. This class has really translated how Harry Potter and magic appears everywhere and how Harry Potter really is rooted in real life culture.
One last note before I finish this post. Today in my American History class our professor lectured on the Salem Witch Trials. Which made me laugh because as we all know, no REAL withces we caught during the Salem Witch Trials, because of course they had magically abilities to avoid capture. And those witches who were actually captured never died because they performed charms to prevent the flames from buring them!
Even though we are very close to running out of movies in Harry Potter Class, we are working on the fourth movie Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Tomorrow we will pick the movie back up at the first task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
That's all for now!
I haven't updated in two weeks! Jeez. So let me give you an overview of what we've been discussing in class for the past two weeks!
October 6th, we talked about the nature of evil. We discussed the two basic types of evil: vincible and invincible evil. The difference between the two being that when it is vincible evil the person is knowingly hurting others' as opposed to invincible evil when the person is unknowingly causing harm. The nature of evil can also be related back to the forms of authority: traditional, legal-rational, charismatic.
Voldemort performs these evil acts (being vincible evils since he knowingly harms others) so that he can obtain immortality. However, we discussed how immortality looks attractive until you look at what happens when you actually obtain it. The question is, what happens if you outlive everybody?
The basic plot line of Harry Potter is the parallel careers of two orphans, Harry Potter and Tom Riddle. These two orphans have two very different trajectories in life and used their similar situation to create very different lives. However, we did discuss that it is possible that Tom Riddle aka Voldemort is not inherently evil, he is just angry at being abandoned.
When discussing evil, other characters besides Voldemort clearly come to mind such as the Dementors, Snape, The Malfoy's, and Belatrix LeStrange. It is very possible that dementors are not evil, they are just seen as evil because of the nature of the lives they lead (considering they live by sucking the happiness out of people). I would honestly say that Belatrix is seriously demented and evil because she ENJOYS other people's suffering, but that could be a result from going crazy from 12 years in Azkaban.
The most interesting "evil" character is Snape. Snape was from Slythering and friends with many death eaters. He had the potential to gain his own following because he was such a brilliant man. However, Snape's reasoning for being such an "evil" character is out of his jealousy (and love) fo Lily Potter and her marriage to James and the humiliation he experienced while in school. We have to ask ourselves, did Snape use the best means to reach the ultimate end?
October 13th, we talked about the art of divination and forms of real life divination (aka seeing the future). There are many forms of divination in real human culture:
-Arithromancy
-Astrology
-Numerology
-Tarot
-I Ching
-Mayan Calandar
-Oracles
We as human culture believe in this ability to see the future and predict the future. This ability could be potentially very dangerous. Can you imagine if you actually had the ability to predict the future? More over, what if people KNEW that you could acurately predict the future? You would never have a moments rest!
Everyone thinks that Trelawny, the divinations professor, is a fake. Which is potentially why she is safe and not being bothered 24/7 about the future. Since people think she is a fake, she is protected from society itself.
One of the last philosophical questions we discussed in class that day was the idea that If diviners are right, it is much scarier than if they are wrong. Being right could potentially cause much more harm than good.
As always in Harry Potter class, I feel like we ask more questions to answer our questions. This class has really translated how Harry Potter and magic appears everywhere and how Harry Potter really is rooted in real life culture.
One last note before I finish this post. Today in my American History class our professor lectured on the Salem Witch Trials. Which made me laugh because as we all know, no REAL withces we caught during the Salem Witch Trials, because of course they had magically abilities to avoid capture. And those witches who were actually captured never died because they performed charms to prevent the flames from buring them!
Even though we are very close to running out of movies in Harry Potter Class, we are working on the fourth movie Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Tomorrow we will pick the movie back up at the first task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
That's all for now!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
He Was Their Friend!
This week we discussed secret societies and common traits that these type of societies have. We compared the Free Masons and Skull and Cross Bones to the Death Eaters. They all have certain aspects in common because they are all secret societies. For example, they all have alternate identities. They wear a "mask" in society so that they can hide their membership to the secret society. Another aspect is that a member only knows a couple other members so that one person cannot take down the entire society.
After this discussion we watched the beginning of the third movie Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. While watching it we made fun of their bad acting skills. Especially when Harry discovers that Sirius Black is his godfather and starts to "cry" then yells that "He was their friend and he betrayed them! He was their friend!" Such bad acting Daniel Radcliffe. We all started laughing REALLY hard and our professor told us all that we were "strange" but honestly, it was funny how bad the acting was and how we all laughed at it!
One last thought, me and my friends joined the Muggle Quidditch team her at Miami! It's a lot of fun, but it is a contact sport so there are some bumps and bruises! I'm not a very good chaser but I'm becoming a better beater so I think I'm going to stick with that. Here is a video to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo&feature=channel
After this discussion we watched the beginning of the third movie Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. While watching it we made fun of their bad acting skills. Especially when Harry discovers that Sirius Black is his godfather and starts to "cry" then yells that "He was their friend and he betrayed them! He was their friend!" Such bad acting Daniel Radcliffe. We all started laughing REALLY hard and our professor told us all that we were "strange" but honestly, it was funny how bad the acting was and how we all laughed at it!
One last thought, me and my friends joined the Muggle Quidditch team her at Miami! It's a lot of fun, but it is a contact sport so there are some bumps and bruises! I'm not a very good chaser but I'm becoming a better beater so I think I'm going to stick with that. Here is a video to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo&feature=channel
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dobby Has Come to Warn You Sir
We started off with three student presentations on what our paper topics are so that we could receive feedback from the class. I went first and presented my ideas about whether or not Snape is a hero in the Harry Potter series. My first paper I compared Snape to other heroes throughout history, mythology, and literature. I compared him to Robin Hood, Atticus Finch, Hercules, and Achilles. My second paper is going to be about Harry Potter and Snape and whether or not motives should be separated from the heroic act and are Harry’s and Snape’s motives the same? The class had a lot of feedback for my papers and I think they gave me a lot to work with.
My friend, Matt, presented his ideas about prophecies next. He discussed whether or not people acting on the prophecies give the prophecy power. He compared Voldemort acting on the prophecy to Oedipus acting on the prophecy. Also, whether or not prophecies predict the future or determine the future.
Finally, a girl in the class presented her ideas on science and magic. She compared the magic in Harry Potter to science in real life. Her major magic abilities/objects she chose were flying broomsticks, apparition, and the invisibility cloak. They have a machine that allows for magnetic fields to left objects off the ground and “fly”. They were able to raise a frog up to five feet off the ground. As for apparition, on the quantum level they have been able to teleport matter. Finally for invisibility, they now have something called an invisibility umbrella that allows everything underneath it to appear invisible and they have light reflective body armor that makes the light go around the object and appear invisible.
After this we watched the first half of the second Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We spent most of this time making fun of some of the situations in the movie like how Ginny and Harry will be making out in the sixth movie and how the entire school shows up in one hallway when the chamber is opened.
My friend, Matt, presented his ideas about prophecies next. He discussed whether or not people acting on the prophecies give the prophecy power. He compared Voldemort acting on the prophecy to Oedipus acting on the prophecy. Also, whether or not prophecies predict the future or determine the future.
Finally, a girl in the class presented her ideas on science and magic. She compared the magic in Harry Potter to science in real life. Her major magic abilities/objects she chose were flying broomsticks, apparition, and the invisibility cloak. They have a machine that allows for magnetic fields to left objects off the ground and “fly”. They were able to raise a frog up to five feet off the ground. As for apparition, on the quantum level they have been able to teleport matter. Finally for invisibility, they now have something called an invisibility umbrella that allows everything underneath it to appear invisible and they have light reflective body armor that makes the light go around the object and appear invisible.
After this we watched the first half of the second Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We spent most of this time making fun of some of the situations in the movie like how Ginny and Harry will be making out in the sixth movie and how the entire school shows up in one hallway when the chamber is opened.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wizarding World of Harry Potter
For those of you who don't know yet, check out this link about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter they are building at Universal Studios: http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap
Check out this hilarious video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBM-xfXXcwU
Hey There Delilah Spoof (Hey Harry Potter)
Check out this video on Youtube about Harry Potter! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar4Mwk4ULvc
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
"It Does not do to Dwell on Dreams and Forget to Live"
Day Three
Today we started off class by discussing the asymmetry of authority and how it applies to Harry Potter. Her first point was about the institution versus the individual. Institutions have resources that individuals could not possibly have therefore institutions can gather information and crush individuals if they so choose. An example of this applied to Harry Potter would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry is on trial by the Ministry for violating the Decree of Underage Wizardry. They chose to do the research and use it to crush Harry and get him expelled from Hogwarts. But thankful Dumbledore comes to Harry’s rescue and this does not happen. Thus it can also be concluded that the bigger the institution the more power the institution will have over the individual. Also, an institution could feasibly last forever and individuals have a finite lifespan which restricts the power they can have. There are many examples of this asymmetry in the Harry Potter books especially in regard to Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
The second main point in class today was how education is the transmission of knowledge. Therefore, those who have the knowledge have the power. Harry finds out several times in the books that the professors, especially the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, don’t always know the subject they are teaching and therefore Harry knows that they don’t hold the power in the situation. Harry can use this information to undermine the professors which he very often does throughout the series. This power in the classrooms leads to problems within Hogwarts just like the school systems in the United States. If Obama had given his speech that he gave today at Hogwarts it would have received the same amount of criticism as it did here because parents are afraid of the agenda of those in power. The Hogwarts education revolves around the Defense Against the Dark Arts training, as opposed to Durmstrang which revolves around teaching the Dark Arts. This shows a vital stand on the education that Hogwarts wants to provide.
After this discussion we watched the second half of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My final thought for this post will be about a topic we touched upon in class. There is a difference between misinformation and disinformation. Disinformation is actively promoting incorrect information where as misinformation is unknowingly spreading incorrect information. An example of disinformation would be Rita Skeeter as a journalist who knowingly publishes the wrong information for self gain. As opposed to an example of misinformation where people were saying that Harry was the Slytherin heir and opening the Chamber of Secrets. So what if the Ministry of Magic had published the truth about Voldemort being on the rise again as opposed to oppressing the truth? Would it have made a difference? Did their use of Misinformation lead people to their death instead of protection?
Today we started off class by discussing the asymmetry of authority and how it applies to Harry Potter. Her first point was about the institution versus the individual. Institutions have resources that individuals could not possibly have therefore institutions can gather information and crush individuals if they so choose. An example of this applied to Harry Potter would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry is on trial by the Ministry for violating the Decree of Underage Wizardry. They chose to do the research and use it to crush Harry and get him expelled from Hogwarts. But thankful Dumbledore comes to Harry’s rescue and this does not happen. Thus it can also be concluded that the bigger the institution the more power the institution will have over the individual. Also, an institution could feasibly last forever and individuals have a finite lifespan which restricts the power they can have. There are many examples of this asymmetry in the Harry Potter books especially in regard to Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
The second main point in class today was how education is the transmission of knowledge. Therefore, those who have the knowledge have the power. Harry finds out several times in the books that the professors, especially the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, don’t always know the subject they are teaching and therefore Harry knows that they don’t hold the power in the situation. Harry can use this information to undermine the professors which he very often does throughout the series. This power in the classrooms leads to problems within Hogwarts just like the school systems in the United States. If Obama had given his speech that he gave today at Hogwarts it would have received the same amount of criticism as it did here because parents are afraid of the agenda of those in power. The Hogwarts education revolves around the Defense Against the Dark Arts training, as opposed to Durmstrang which revolves around teaching the Dark Arts. This shows a vital stand on the education that Hogwarts wants to provide.
After this discussion we watched the second half of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My final thought for this post will be about a topic we touched upon in class. There is a difference between misinformation and disinformation. Disinformation is actively promoting incorrect information where as misinformation is unknowingly spreading incorrect information. An example of disinformation would be Rita Skeeter as a journalist who knowingly publishes the wrong information for self gain. As opposed to an example of misinformation where people were saying that Harry was the Slytherin heir and opening the Chamber of Secrets. So what if the Ministry of Magic had published the truth about Voldemort being on the rise again as opposed to oppressing the truth? Would it have made a difference? Did their use of Misinformation lead people to their death instead of protection?
"There is no Good and Evil, There is Only Power, and Those too Weak to Seek It"
Day Two
On the second day of class we were supposed to start talking about Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, but instead we talked about how Dolores Umbridge is the most evil character in the book series. Since she has a kind exterior and an evil interior she is the worst kind of evil. She internally wants others to hurt for personal gain and personal fulfillment. After this discussion we watched the first half of the first Harry Potter movie.
So what do you think? Is Dolores Umbridge truly worse than Voldemort?
On the second day of class we were supposed to start talking about Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, but instead we talked about how Dolores Umbridge is the most evil character in the book series. Since she has a kind exterior and an evil interior she is the worst kind of evil. She internally wants others to hurt for personal gain and personal fulfillment. After this discussion we watched the first half of the first Harry Potter movie.
So what do you think? Is Dolores Umbridge truly worse than Voldemort?
"Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts"
Day One
I didn’t really know what to expect when walking in to a class about Harry Potter. The first discussion we had was a very complex analysis of the family tree within Harry Potter and how it relates to the British monarchy. So I am going to make a feeble attempt at explaining how the two are related.
Since J.K. Rowling grew up in England she would have inherently grown up learning the history of the British royal family. She probably unintentionally included these similarities, but they are still there and that might be because the monarchy is just part of the history they learn in school. My bet would be that J.K. Rowling would deny the connection. However, my professor made a very strong case with extensive research on the connections between the family trees. Some of the similarities include Richard III of York as Albus Dumbledore because they were both betrayed in battle. Also, she relates Harry Potter to Edward V of York in conjunction to the story The Princes in the Tower. Rumor has it that the two brothers were locked under the stairs in the London Tower and that one of the boys escaped. This sounds very similar to Harry Potter the boy who lived and how Harry is kept in the closet under the stairs in the Dursley’s house.
The professor for this class is clearly very dedicated to the topic. In the middle of the first class period she actually left in the middle of class without telling us where she was going. Not a minute later, she came back with the pizza delivery boy and Papa John’s pizza for the whole class! So on day one, we talked about Harry Potter and ate pizza. If you ask me that’s a pretty good first day of class!
I didn’t really know what to expect when walking in to a class about Harry Potter. The first discussion we had was a very complex analysis of the family tree within Harry Potter and how it relates to the British monarchy. So I am going to make a feeble attempt at explaining how the two are related.
Since J.K. Rowling grew up in England she would have inherently grown up learning the history of the British royal family. She probably unintentionally included these similarities, but they are still there and that might be because the monarchy is just part of the history they learn in school. My bet would be that J.K. Rowling would deny the connection. However, my professor made a very strong case with extensive research on the connections between the family trees. Some of the similarities include Richard III of York as Albus Dumbledore because they were both betrayed in battle. Also, she relates Harry Potter to Edward V of York in conjunction to the story The Princes in the Tower. Rumor has it that the two brothers were locked under the stairs in the London Tower and that one of the boys escaped. This sounds very similar to Harry Potter the boy who lived and how Harry is kept in the closet under the stairs in the Dursley’s house.
The professor for this class is clearly very dedicated to the topic. In the middle of the first class period she actually left in the middle of class without telling us where she was going. Not a minute later, she came back with the pizza delivery boy and Papa John’s pizza for the whole class! So on day one, we talked about Harry Potter and ate pizza. If you ask me that’s a pretty good first day of class!
Monday, September 7, 2009
"You're A Wizard Harry"
Welcome to my new blog about Harry Potter! This blog will follow the discussion and events in my class all about Harry Potter. We will be going through all seven Harry Potter books and movies. We are also using the books “Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts” and “The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener”. On top of both of those books I also bought mugglenet.com’s “Harry Potter Should Have Died” which is full of controversial views about the series. I’ll keep updating my blog as the class progresses and I hope everyone will get involved in the discussions on my blog which will be parallel to the discussions we will be having in class. I will also be posting my paper ideas on this blog for everyone to see and express their opinions. My first paper I will be writing about whether or not Severus Snape is a hero. Keep following my blog for updates and feel free to leave comments.
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