Research Project on Magic
Translated into over thirty languages and sold more than 114 million times world-wide, the four Harry Potter books still occupy the places 7, 11, 15 and 19 on the New York Times best-seller list. On its publication day, the fourth volume broke all past records, when a famous Londoner book shop sold over one hundred copies per hour. This essay will focus on Joanne K. Rowling's way of narration which seems to fascinate so many readers. First, this is done by considering some of the narrative elements, i.e. the frame story and the presentation of the characters. Then, three critical arguments shall be indicated and, finally the pattern of narration will be discussed, in order to explain the success of these books.
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One fascinating element of Rowling's work is the frame story, the world which the author created as scene for Harry's adventures. Its strong point is its plausibility which is based on a convincing relation to reality. Scene of action is Hogwarts, the hidden castle with its towers and secret chambers, its 142 moving stairs, and populated by fabulous creatures. The most important sport in the magic world is Quidditch, an exciting mixture of polo, basketball, and cricket. The daily routine at school is determined by a carefully devised and realistic system of rules and rituals. Hogwarts, although it is an imaginary world, is unmistakably close to reality , it is an image of reality which has been equipped with magic. To the reader, many things appear as in real life. It is this mixture of fairy-tale and real life, which makes it so convincing.
The same relation to reality can also be seen in Rowling's gift to describe the characters, which is a further quality of the books. The characters are understandable and allow the reader to identify with. The promotion of identification is made up of the archetypal description of the characters. They all are well-known from day-to-day life, ambitious Hermione for example, or disgusting Malfoy. The faculty is also divided into good and evil. There is strict but fair Miss McGonagall, the braggart Gilderoy Lockhart, nasty Professor Snape and whatever their names are. Still, they are not named by coincidence. Rowling masterfully uses the tradition of the telling names coming from Anglo-Saxon folk tales. Voldemort is strongly suggestive of death, Muggle comes from mug, Argus Filch, the caretaker, watches everything like a hawk. The author knows how to give her figures precisely described characteristics that the reader can imagine and identify with.
Although the passages quoted above could, by mistake, have given the reader the impression Harry Potter evades all forms of criticism, it has to be mentioned that also J. K. Rowling's work is criticized in various ways. This criticism shall not be discussed in this essay, yet, it is mentioned in order to give a complete impression. In the Internet one discovers mainly three general critical arguments. They stretch from the accusation that the books contain racist elements, over the reproach of glorification of occultism up to the reference that the author uses a constantly repeating narrative pattern making the story tedious. It does not belong to this essay to examine this criticism further, since this has been done before by others. Yet, it has to be considered that there is criticism of which has to be taken note.
However, the third point of criticism mentioned above leads to a closing and more comprehensive view of Rowling's way of narration, which subsequently is shown briefly. Considering the sequence of events, one notices that Rowling puts the action in a general narrative pattern which recurs as the same in each volume. Still, despite this constant repetition, the author succeeds to stay captivating describing the fight, in which the good must defeat the bad again and again. Rowling writes in an exciting way, letting happen the unexpected at an unexpected moment. For example, Wormtail, the Dark Lord's nasty sidekick, hides already in Harry's first two school years at Hogwarts, before he emerges in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Rowling's fascinating way of narration and her talent not to become boring in this repeated pattern brings the reader to attend this fight over and over again.
Therefore, J. K. Rowling's gift of narration might be one principal reason, why so many readers all over the world are enthralled by the books of Harry Potter and why those are such a great success. In a skilful mixture of thriller, horror story and fairy tale, narrated clearly and distinctly, Harry's adventures at Hogwarts have been fantasized so consequently and detailed that they get close to reality. Because of this relation to real life and thanks to the author's refreshing way of telling stories, the reader stays no longer a spectator outside the story but literally seems to dive into it.
The same relation to reality can also be seen in Rowling's gift to describe the characters, which is a further quality of the books. The characters are understandable and allow the reader to identify with. The promotion of identification is made up of the archetypal description of the characters. They all are well-known from day-to-day life, ambitious Hermione for example, or disgusting Malfoy. The faculty is also divided into good and evil. There is strict but fair Miss McGonagall, the braggart Gilderoy Lockhart, nasty Professor Snape and whatever their names are. Still, they are not named by coincidence. Rowling masterfully uses the tradition of the telling names coming from Anglo-Saxon folk tales. Voldemort is strongly suggestive of death, Muggle comes from mug, Argus Filch, the caretaker, watches everything like a hawk. The author knows how to give her figures precisely described characteristics that the reader can imagine and identify with.
Although the passages quoted above could, by mistake, have given the reader the impression Harry Potter evades all forms of criticism, it has to be mentioned that also J. K. Rowling's work is criticized in various ways. This criticism shall not be discussed in this essay, yet, it is mentioned in order to give a complete impression. In the Internet one discovers mainly three general critical arguments. They stretch from the accusation that the books contain racist elements, over the reproach of glorification of occultism up to the reference that the author uses a constantly repeating narrative pattern making the story tedious. It does not belong to this essay to examine this criticism further, since this has been done before by others. Yet, it has to be considered that there is criticism of which has to be taken note.
However, the third point of criticism mentioned above leads to a closing and more comprehensive view of Rowling's way of narration, which subsequently is shown briefly. Considering the sequence of events, one notices that Rowling puts the action in a general narrative pattern which recurs as the same in each volume. Still, despite this constant repetition, the author succeeds to stay captivating describing the fight, in which the good must defeat the bad again and again. Rowling writes in an exciting way, letting happen the unexpected at an unexpected moment. For example, Wormtail, the Dark Lord's nasty sidekick, hides already in Harry's first two school years at Hogwarts, before he emerges in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Rowling's fascinating way of narration and her talent not to become boring in this repeated pattern brings the reader to attend this fight over and over again.
Therefore, J. K. Rowling's gift of narration might be one principal reason, why so many readers all over the world are enthralled by the books of Harry Potter and why those are such a great success. In a skilful mixture of thriller, horror story and fairy tale, narrated clearly and distinctly, Harry's adventures at Hogwarts have been fantasized so consequently and detailed that they get close to reality. Because of this relation to real life and thanks to the author's refreshing way of telling stories, the reader stays no longer a spectator outside the story but literally seems to dive into it.
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