J.K. Rowling: The clat of a great achievement.

J.K. Rowling: The éclat of a great achievement Vishal Mehta Mrs. Mahoney English Honors 10 East Islip High School January 25, 2007 Joanne Kathleen Rowling is an English fiction author who has turned a generation of youth onto reading. Rowling is renowned for the creation of the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has caught the attention of both children and adults worldwide. Furthermore, the fantasy series has won Rowling multiple awards and has sold well "over 375 million copies worldwide" (Wikipedia par.1). Though there remains one more book until the celebrated series is complete, Rowling has still accumulated quite a fortune; estimated to be over one billion USD (United States Dollars) (Wikipedia par.1). Rowling's "rags to riches" story has and remains a source of great inspiration for both struggling and established authors. Her novels are a source of entertainment, often substituting for television, movies, and video games in many households across the world. J.K. Rowling's novels consist of an array of characters and various settings, some based off of Greek Mythology, others created purely by imagination and several relating to her own life. However, beneath the light humor and suspense of each book lies a moral lesson. Her stories aim not only to entertain but alert readers to the ills of society, flaws such as prejudice and egoism. Joanne Kathleen Rowling was

  • Word count: 3715
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Mystery and Suspense In the Harry Potter Novels.

Samantha Singer 27.10.02 MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE IN THE HARRY POTTER NOVELS Mystery and suspense play a large part in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. The word mystery is defined as "something that is not or cannot be known, understood or explained." Words that come to mind when the word mystery is heard are: strange or unexpected, confusing, conspiracy, suspense, unbelievable and twist. All the words can be used in describing the Harry Potter novels. A mystery is like a puzzle with a piece missing or a crime unsolved. The mystery builds up using suspense, and discovering clues. It reaches its climax. Then begins to unravel and finally reaches a solution. Mystery works well with completely bizarre and weird things or characters, but works just as well, maybe even better, when humans are used. When you compile both of these ideas you are left with Harry Potter. Harry Potter is set in real places in England. Descriptions of the area resurrect the real area from the past. Areas such as Diagon Ally, Knockturn Ally and the streets of London are described. Mystery works well when so many things are familiar, such as these areas and the idea of kids buying ice creams and practical jokes while the adults went for a drink in a pub. Rowling gives guidelines in her descriptions but still allows for the reader's imagination to take over and create their own pictures.

  • Word count: 5033
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

To what extent does children's literature reflect messages from the wider culture? How are these messages transmitted?

Q. To what extent does children's literature reflect messages from the wider culture? How are these messages transmitted? It may seem daft, at first, to even discuss the idea that children's literature could possibly reflect messages from the wider culture or indeed have any bearing on the child that reads them. Surely such literature be it fairytale, poem or suchlike are merely for entertainment's sake or possibly in many cases for the parent's sake to keep the child occupied. Perhaps in the distant past many would have sided with Hemingway in saying that "messages are for Western Union and not for books"1, but it is now not so. An increasing amount of analysts from Morison2 to Tatar3 suggest that there is more to children's literature than simply entertainment and occupation. Many different theories exist as to what the literature can actually show us, some believe it is merely didactic and creates a moral landscape for the child, others believe that it is capable of being interpreted to give an understanding of the wider society in which it was created and that the themes within it can prepare the child for what is to come. It is in discussing these broad theories of Socialization, Literary Criticism and Psychoanalysis we will see to what extent and how messages from the wider culture are reflected in children's literature. It is necessary first to try to briefly unearth

  • Word count: 3432
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Exploring the role of the Forest of Dean in Dennis Potters works.

Exploring the role of the Forest of Dean in Dennis Potters works. Dennis Potter is famed for his works including scenes in the Forest of Dean. The Forest of Dean is situated in the South West Of Gloucestershire, England. It is a place where mining boomed in the industrial revolution. As a result of this, the inhabitants grew to have, you could say, a culture of their own. Nowadays the "culture" has been, in some ways, disregarded. Dennis helps the long-time inhabitants of the forest to re-visit their former life-style and child-hood. In his dramas " Blue Remembered Hills" and "The Singing Detective", Potter re-visits his own childhood whilst writing. He shows the openness, happiness and freedom of the forest though he also shows more sinister side.. "For any writer, the first 14 years of his or her life are the crucible, no matter what you do." Potter states that childhood is a key part to a writer's life and that it may inspire them to set their books in the place of their upbringing. As Potter often does this, I think this is relevant to his writing. The first book to look at is, most obviously, "Blue Remembered Hills". In this piece, he sets his characters in the Forest of Dean. As the characters in Blue Remembered Hills are children, Potter uses its magnitude and beauty to dwarf the children. As he is a T.V. writer, he is allowed to use such an enormous set, as on

  • Word count: 1093
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

The “Dangers” of Fantasy “Harry Potter

The "Dangers" of Fantasy "Harry Potter!! Harry Potter!!" Anyone that hasn't heard that name must have just awoken from a five-year coma. This series of children's books has reignited kids' desire to read and while doing so entertained numerous adults. I confess, I'm a bona fide "Potter-Head." I read the first three books in three days. The day the fourth came out, I had my hands on a copy and within 36 hours, I'd eagerly and excitedly thumbed through over 700 pages of magic. These books have everything: friends, foes, romance, despair, action, family, suspense, murder - "Murder? Did he just say murder? Well we can't let children be exposed to this." Sadly, it seems that this is the growing opinion of the conservative parents of America. Any work deemed even the smallest bit offensive is immediately put "on trial." Be it literature, music, films, or television, it is equal prey to these "protectors" of our nation's future. Children are being denied great works, the Harry Potter books being just one of many. Why? Can the children handle the violence, death or villains? Instead of denying the kids wholesome entertainment that has a little bit of an edge, we should use these avenues of expression to teach them a little bit about real life. Maybe the easiest and most obvious thing to teach your children is the difference between fact and fiction. For the five or

  • Word count: 946
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

Consider the representation of gender roles in Rowling's text. Harry Potter is the hero of children's literature across the world.

Ben Ireson 03411958 Children's Literature. 'Harry's fictional realm of magic and wizardry perfectly mirrors the conventional assumption that men do and should run the world. From the beginning of the first Potter book, it is boys and men, wizards and sorcerers, who catch our attention by dominating the scenes and determining the action. Harry, of course, plays the lead [...] Girls, when they are not downright silly or unlikable, are helpers, enablers and instruments. No girl is brilliantly heroic the way Harry is, no woman experienced and wise like professor Dumbledore. In fact, the range of female personalities is so limited that neither women nor girls play on the side of evil' (Christine Schoefer). Do you agree? Consider the representation of gender roles in Rowling's text. Harry Potter is the hero of children's literature across the world. Just one mention of his name and there is not a child, parent or grandparent who has not heard of the excitement, thrill and fantasy that is Harry's world. JK Rowling's books have been translated into many different languages throughout the world where children across the planet are reading these fascinating novels of the Potter series not to mention the billion pound movies that have made Harry and indeed Rowling an international household name. This series of children's books has reignited kids' desire to read and while doing

  • Word count: 1859
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

How Successful Was the Marketing Campaign of Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone?

VICKI THOMAS -1520 HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSPHERS STONE? The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most profitable franchises of all time and the film is the second highest grosser after Titanic. The marketing campaign has helped the franchise to develop. This essay will examine the success of the marketing campaign throughout the media. JK Rowling's first book "Harry Potter and the philosophers stone" was published in 1993. The plot focuses on Harry Potter who lives in a cupboard underneath the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's house after the death of his parents in a car crash. Harry is then rescued into a world where nothing is as it seems and he discovers his true heritage at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. The first teaser was the release of the picture of Harry's beloved owl Hedwig. And then nothing for a while, until photos of the train at Platform 93/4, which takes the young wizards to Hogwarts School. The first trailer soon followed, giving a taste of how Rowling's words translated onto the big screen. But having started with such a measured marketing campaign, the floodgates were then opened. Subsequent trailers revealed the flying broomsticks, moving stairs and even the magical Golden Snitch. Every newspaper published "exclusive" supplements of new photos from the film. Then there

  • Word count: 3135
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

'Will the real Harry Potter please stand up...'

'Will the real Harry Potter please stand up...' A quote made by the famous creator of Harry Potter said, "The idea that we could have a child who escapes from the confines of the adult world and goes somewhere where he has power, both literally and metaphorically, really appealed to me." However, is this the way that millions of people have come to think of Harry Potter? What do you picture when you think of Harry Potter? Harry is Real Magic There is something magical about Harry. This magic has very little to do with the fictional magic that Scottish author J.K. Rowling has woven into her four books to date. For the last couple of decades or so, parents have been scratching their heads in concern and sometimes-real fear while their offspring gave hour upon hour first to television, then video and computer games and, more recently, the Internet. Hours that added up to weeks and, over time, to years of slack-jawed passive entertainment while technological marvels shovelled up activities that required little creative input from the growing young mind in question. J.K. Rowling had - seemingly with very little effort - managed to do what a cotillion of concerned coalitions collectively could not: she had gotten the children of the world reading, and, reading passionately and with abandon. Shut your eyes and picture Harry Potter. What do you see? I would put money on it

  • Word count: 1879
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

One of the primary reasons why children should not read Harry Potter books is the fact that the Christian denominations do not accept any relations dealing with witchcraft or wizardry.

Hocus pocus, abracadabra! Frog's legs, two fried crocodile eyeballs, the heart of a chicken, and three drops of a cobra's venom! The arousal of any of these words would most likely create the image of witchcraft and wizardry in one's mind. The religion of witchcraft, Wicca, recognized as a religion by the government, dates back to a time when women were burned at the stake if they were believed to have supernatural powers. While many women were burned alive during the Salem Witch Trials, society had a good reason to fear the unorthodox practice of witchcraft. The world of the supernatural, requiring interaction with evil, is one thing with which humans should not meddle. Even though many people recognize the destruction and dangers of witchcraft and wizardry, they continue to be fascinated by its enthralling spells and magic. Society encourages this kind of behavior through movies, television shows, magazine ads, business slogans, material products, and books. Moreover, the media portrays witchcraft as being heroic and fun. One of the biggest influences that has lured almost the entire world into the witchcraft religion is the spellbinding world of the famous and most admired wizard ever, Harry Potter. According to Christian beliefs, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling demonstrates pagan and occult principles that are not suitable reading materials for children because of

  • Word count: 2847
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay

BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS

BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS The play 'Blue Remembered Hills' is set in an almost idyllic locality with the fields of long luscious grass and the surreal forest of Dean nearby. The backdrop to the action is World War Two and there is an undercurrent of violence, the adults in this rural community are focusing on war, so they don't have complete control of their children. It is almost as if conflict and brutality have become an accepted part of everyday life. Ironically the children are engaged in a war of their own and certainly the afternoon degenerates into violence and cruelty. The children's microcosm is almost a mirror of the adult macrocosm, but in their world their morality is not strong enough to guide them, so they lose their innocence, on this tragic day in 1943. Potter has used adults to enhance the parts of children because his dramatic plot requires intense feeling and he does not believe that such young actors would be able to give enough depth and emotion into the play, under the stress of the cameras. Another reason for the adult actors is so that Potter can exaggerate and magnify the mistakes and to reflect the immature behaviour of children. The actors are not allowed reflection or eloquence on their mistakes, it helps the audience to accept and appreciate the true meanings of the play. This climatic piece of writing clearly shows us that not all children are as

  • Word count: 2208
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
Access this essay