Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling | Analysis

kindle Potter, J.K. Rowling AnalysisIn J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the Sorcerers St bingle, the protagonist, Harry, is todays modern hero. It is noticeably app arnt that Harry is a hero, victimisation the guideline, the Heros Journey developed by Joseph Campbell in his novel, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In Campbells book, he breaks down multiple heros tales, from mythological and modern times (from Odysseus to Luke Skywalker), into trustworthy steps that each hero takes throughout their journey. I will be following Harrys tale, in relation to Odysseus tale as told by Edith Hamilton in her text, Mythology, to evidence Harry as a hero, near as Campbell proved Odysseus. The story of Harry Potter is the common story of good vs. villainy, with the good and evil in the story being blatantly obvious. Voldemort, Harrys adversary, intends to kill Harry beca uptake, as their prophecy, another element of mythology, foretold, neither dejection live while the other survives. Howeve r, when good meets evil (Harry meets Voldemort) in the novel, good prevails both times which is a very clich concept.The need to find acceptance and a place where he belongs is a driving deposit for Harry. He has come to the realization that he is different, and that theres a possibility that there ar people like him somewhere else in the man. However, he doesnt know just yet that he re all in ally doesnt belong in the muggle origination let alone that there are even other worlds beyond his own. The world of magic, a world that is filled with mythological archetypes, creatures, and the oddest of people will finally be the place that Harry feels at home (because at once, it was his home). This essay will asses the ingest that the Harry Potter novels, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone in particular, have archetypes that are common to Greek Mythology, exclusively Odysseus tale, along with the use of other literary devices to prove that modern literature surely has not become o bsolete over the years. It will do so firstly by following the use of the Heros Journey in both novels, and secondly by making a comparative analysis, based on these observations, in order to be able to unfold an answer to the research question.III. Harry Potter as a common mythological hero, in relation to OdysseusThe fictional causa, Harry Potter, from J. K. Rowlings novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, follows one of the common archetypes found in Mythology, The Heros Journey. This archetype was discovered and sorted out by Joseph Campbell in his novel, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The Journey consists of three major parts and seventeen sub-sections within the three major ones. The three major ones are, The Departure, The Initiation, and The Return.1In Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Harrys journey starts with the major point, The Departure with his call to imperil when he bums his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Wizardry. He then refuses this cal l when he tells Hagrid, I think you must have made a mistake. I dont think I can be a wizard.2He receives supernatural aid from Hagrid, who is really just an extension of Dumbledore, the predetermined caretaker of Harry Potter when Harrys parents died. The termination of Harrys parents actually becomes a symbol and extended metaphor. His mothers love becomes a form of protection for him, because she sacrificed herself for Harry, out of love the same love that continues to protect Harry throughout the novel. Harry crosses the first threshold when he enters Diagon Alley for the first time.3Diagon Alley is considered the root of the whiz world, this is where every wizard keeps their money, buys the necessities for wizarding, and where everything that is associated with wizards is found. The Belly of the Whale stage is a good deal seen as the initiation into the mod world.4Harrys initiation is when he first enters Hogwarts and is sorted into Gryffindor, one of the four houses at Hog warts.5In Harrys overall Journey, Harry learns the entire prophecy. This new knowledge transforms Harrys identity so that he now sees himself as a marked man he feels separate and apart from the rest of Hogwarts (or the rest of the world, for that matter), and around importantly, it makes him fully committed to the goal of defeating Voldemort. This is the most important step because it shows that the character is willing to undergo a metamorphosis, to die for the greater cause, so its expected that Harrys character will evolve in a significant, positive counseling because of this step.The next major point, Initiation, starts with Harrys road of trials. However, Harrys trials arent in order with the steps of the heros journey, theyre closer to the end of the novel. Harrys trials are the enchantments that are guarding the Philosophers Stone. These consist of, Fluffy, the three-headed dog6(another mythological archetype that will be discussed later in this essay), the Devils Snare, d eathly vines that constrict like boa constrictors around its captors7, which is emblematical for the hardships that Harry has been and will be going through in the future. Others include enchanted keys intended to kill anything that attempts to disrupt their purpose of guarding a door, and finally a heart-size Wizards Chess board in which Harry and his two friends were to become actual players in.8There are three transformative events that are the possible culmination of the heros journey. These are Meeting with the Goddess, Atonement with the Father and Apotheosis. For Harry, who is raised in the absence of love, love is his life goal. The Goddess guides Harry and provides him the manner for success in his trials. In a sense, all women comprise the Goddess they inherently represent Life and Death simultaneously. Some may clearly take on the shadow side of the Goddess as represented in the Temptress model, while others may have both elements of light and shadow. Several women po rtrayed in this novel have specific attri scarcees of the Goddess. These characterizations may focus on the romantic aspect, that there is also the motherly and sisterly perspective of this motif that needs to be considered. While all women are goddesses the hero has still one Goddess to be found. She is his reflection, his complement, apparent opposite yet unified with his soul.As mother, Lily Potter sacrificed her life to Voldemort for love of Harry.9He owes his existence to Lily not only for birth, but also for her ongoing protection from Voldemort. Harry was cursed with a scar the day his parents died and his life was spared, from the protection of his mothers love. The scar burns every time Voldemort is nigh because of the connection the scar has to its creator. The scar could also be burning as a warning from his mother because her love is Harrys protection. As a sister, in spirit, Hermione poses as the goddess in each adventure or trial. Hermione is the knowledgeable one o ut of Harry and his two friends, Hermione and Ron. Hermione guides Harry with her knowledge for example, she was the only of the three that knew how to ward strike the constricting vines of Devils Snare.10Harry Potter is a boy with many male parents the biological father of course is throng Potter the father of memory is Vernon Dursley the protector is Albus Dumbledore and the daimon who created Harrys destiny is lord Voldemort. There many are other men cast in the father archetype within the series, as well. James is comprehend as being exceptional at everything, much like his son, Harry. He gave his life fighting Voldemort and in protecting his wife and son under attack. James is Harrys ideal the perfect and unattainable father. Albus Dumbledore is Harrys protector, the keeper of the prophecy, the wielder of old magic based in love, the enchanter of the Dursley home, the keeper of the Order, and the master of Harrys education. Dumbledore is the archetype of the Wise Old Man who seems to know what Harry is thinking even before Harry can formulate his thoughts. Dumbledore appears to have command of both space and time. He also demonstrates superior penetration and a higher state of consciousness. Dumbledore has a transcendent authority that is obeyed by both good and dark wizards, the latter complying despite individual will and verbal commentary. Dumbledore unveils Harrys powers gradually, emphasizing repeatedly that his greatest power is love.To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return. Harry has been known by the magical world to be the savior of the world since he was an infant. That bel ief diminished greatly after he was viewed to be a very real adolescent instead of the mere stuff of legends. Harry, however, knows nothing of the enlightened state in fact, Harry believes that actions of others were the basis for his survival rather than any power that he possessed. There are some(prenominal) possible events where Harry Potter can achieve recognition of his true ability. The first may be identification as Dumbledores peer in wizardry where Harry becomes the greatest of all wizards. There is a substantial power that Harry must still discover for this to take place perhaps in how to wield that greatest power found in the Department of Mysteries love. Another possibility is an encounter with Voldemort to overcome, or at least balance, his dark nature. Voldemort has spent lifetimes contriving means to cheat death, yet never comprehending the value or meaning of life. Conversely, Dumbledore is the reigning Bodhisattva who has conquered death (in terms of being the greatest wizard), but chooses to stay in the world until it is saved. This burden appears to be taking its toll on him even as his protg Harry nears maturity.The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the philosophers stone of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail. The ultimate boon found in Harry Potter, is when Harry enters the room with the Mirror of Erised, a mirror that shows the viewer what they desire more than life itself. Once in this room, Harry is confronted with one of his professors, Professor Quirrell. However, as the events in the room progress, we discover that Lord Voldemort is using Professor Quirrell as a source for life. Therefore, in a sense, Voldemort is a leech. The reason Harry entered the room in the first place was to cere brate the philosophers stone, a stone that provides the holder eternal life. Harry perceived that Professor Snape was the one after the stone, and was surprised to see Quirrell there. Harry quarreled with Voldemort/Quirrell for possession of the stone and reigned victorious.11The wallow over Voldemort is what makes the connection between Harry and his biological father, James. Just as his father did, he succeeds with whatever he sets his mind to. Which is a very clich concept, but a valid concept often found in works of literature that follow the heros journey.The final step in the Heros Journey is The Return. The first section of this step is the Heros refusal to return. This is seen when Harry realizes that he will have to return to the Muggle World, the world hes always despised even more now that hes finally found the world (home) where he belongs. The yearn to stay in the Wizardry World is what allows his hatred for the Muggle World to grow, which causes problems for him in t he following novels. The refusal is followed by the Magical Flight, in which the hero has to get away with whatever object he has retrieved. In Harry Potter, he doesnt actually get away with his object. Instead, he receives an ancient cloak of invisibility that belonged to his father which symbolizes his powerful object. The succeeding section of the Return is the Rescue from Without. This is characterized in the novel after Harry has defeated Voldemort, and is in the infirmary when he awakes Dumbledore is standing in front of him. Dumbledore symbolizes the guide or rescuer for Harry in the situation because Harry was badly injured and was, in a sense, brought back to life by Dumbledore.Next is the Crossing of the Return Threshold. In the novel, this is shown when Harry is boarding the Platform 9 train Hagrid tells Harry to remember that his family, the Dursleys know that he is a wizard, and that he can use that to his advantage. This leads the reader to believe that Hagrid is allud ing to Harry using his wizarding skills as a threat to make his life at Privet Drive more favorable. Harry becomes the Master of the Two Worlds when he is able to see the balance of the two worlds how he will return to Hogwarts once summer is over and that he can use his magic in his favor against the Dursleys. Harrys Freedom to Live is derived from him surviving two separate confrontations with Voldemort leading him to lose his fear of death, which in turn, allows him to live life with freedom. Even though he yearns to be back at Hogwarts and away from the Muggle World, hes found the balance that allows him to live freely there.Word Count 2477