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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment