Image thanks to MarvaMValentinaMancosu from PixabayAt the holiday time, I see Harry Potter all over the movie channels as part of the holiday magic, along with others like Disney and Tolkien's Ring. So now I have Harry Potter on the mind. In a notebook, I came across some old notes I had written down for part of my lecture series for a children's literature class I taught (to adults--most students were adults majoring in education or literature, whereas some were parents who wanted to know about the books their children would read).
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone Intro
Step One: ORDINARY
Our story begins with a mention of the Darsley's of 4 Privet Dr.
Privit sounds like privy or private. we will see they like to keep things private as they have privy to a bunch of information that is not "normal" so is hush-hush.
4 is considered to be, symbolically, a nice solid #--the four directions encomapss the earth, the 4 pillars or foundations, 4 walls making/enclosing a room. They are supposedly nice and "normal!" (Define symbol as a term.)
Mr. Darsley makes drills at Grunnings firm, and is described as a big beefy man with barely any neck. You will see later that he does not have a neck to stick out for anyone as the old saying goes: "He wouldn't stick his neck out to save anyone." He won't spend his energy on anyone else or risk criticism. He won't even discipline his own son who has bad behavior that he ignores--again, can't stick his neck out to deal with it. Can't be bothered with bothersome things. Old sayings like "stick your neck out" is called an adage, or a fixed expression, or sometimes a proverb.
Mrs. Darsley has an elongated neck that allows her to always look (laughingly to the reader) over the fence into the neighbor's yard. She is the opposite of Mr. Darsley. These two characteristics and social qualities (anti-social vs. nosey neightbor) are juxtaposed/compared and contrasted to one another as opposites so strong they take on a physical form (or symbolic form in the book). (Define juxtaposition as a literary term.) So, she is nosey. (Remember the Robert Frost poem about how good fences make good neightbors?!)
These two are quite the characatures of themselves (define in class and discuss) Rather like a cartoon character of themselves. Artists do drawings of charicatures at festivals. It is an exaggeration of the qualities of the person/ality or person's physical features--here the no-neck and the elongated one.
Their dud of a son's name is Dudley/Their son is named Dudley and he is a dud. But they think he is the best son ever. You'll see how spoiled he is.
It seems they have everything they want and THEN some--they have to bear a secret that cannot be exposed--Mrs. Darsley's sister was Mrs. Potter, Harry's mom. The Potters were not normal. They consider Mrs. Potter to have been a "good for nothing" along with her husband. They never wanted the Potters to go to their home and didn't want people to know about Harry later living with them, when he was orphaned. Even though they are related, the Darsley's do not claim the Potters. They keep Harry under the steps to hide him from everyone.
Keeping Harry in the tiny closet under the steps sets him up as a modern day male Cinderella. He has all the characteristics of a Cinderella story's main character: unfortunate child orphaned by at least one parent goes to live with stepfamily or relatives, treated poorly, hidden from the rest of the world, but then the Cinderella/Harry charcter has special qualities and magic comes to call them to a special event that changes their lives for a more happily ever after or for success. There are usually magical helpers/helper animals and supernatural events and creatures/beings.
Once all the sorcery magic breaks loose:
The atmosphere changes from "ordinary" to extraordinary and then even supernatural. The owl flying around as if directed by a magic spell or some act of enchantment to Harry's street then residence (it is!) and the cat reading a map is not "normal" or "ordinary" and is magical/charmed, then the people dressed in cloaks (wizards and sorcerors) show up. Nor do nocturnal owls usually fly around well-populated areas in broad daylight, so it all is out of context to our reality as we know it.
Mr. Darsley takes a work break to go to the bakery and hears the cloaked figures talking about the Potter's (Harry's parents who are deceased) and their son Harry, the Darsley's nephew.
We find out a normal mortal who is non-magical is called a "muggle."
Mr. Darsley doesn't approve of the imagination.
The same cat somes back.
Once home, he greets Mrs. Darsley.
Details, details: Dudley's new word he learns that day is "won't."
The news broadcasts are about weird owls flying everywhere and shooting stars.
Mrs. Darsley's name is Petunia. Let's discuss what this implies. How delicate is she really? Is she as sweet as a petunia?
The couple goes to bed, hoping it couldn't affect them. But the camera shows the cat still there like a statue (eerily), like a sentinel on watch, then a man appears around the corner who turns (pun intended, you turn a corner!) out to be Dumbledire, the cat becomes a woman who happens to be Prof. McGonagall from Hogwart's, and this is the first mention of shapeshifting. Define shapeshifting.
When the wind stirs up, the owls appear, the cat shows up, this is all called forshadowing, a literary device used to fortell the types of evens to come in the story.
An introduction sets the tone and setting, points to things to come, and can involve foreshadowing, and often uses symbols to portray meaning, whether hidden or obvious meaning or states of things. Other settings in the story or places can be introducred later, too, such as going from Privot Drive to Hogwart's school. Of course, settings can change amidst a storyline. Main character often changes also--it is the hero of the story and it is the hero's journey, as termed by Joseph Campbell, mythologist. The journey changes the hero--our life experiences change us, and the more extraordinary ones change us most, usually.
This is all from Chapter One.
*
Now, we will move into Chapters Two and Three.
Step Two: CALL TO ADVENTURE
By now you can see I am patterning (identifying) the steps of Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey." (This will be discussed further than in these notes. Pass out handout of Hero's Journey from online source.)
Discuss here the Hero's Journey and how Part One/Step One fits--it too was the CALL because the owls and the cats and the wizards came to call. In Chapter Two, we get the zoo, and there is the snake incident, reminiscent of the Greek Hercules tale, and we find other strange things happen to Haryr without him meaning itor knwoing why--let's identify and discuss them and how they set us up for more of what's to come.
In Chapter Three, there are Letters From No One. URGENT. It is cumulative: this is a literary term that labels the technique of building momentum of action and of situation, or of repetitive events and phrases or other forms of repetitive speech. It builds: The letters, the number of them that accumulate, their urgency, it reminds us of the broom in Mickey Mouse with the Sorceror tale when the broom that is udner the spell to clean the house and get the buckets of water ready gets out of control; however, here, the wizards are in control but the urgency makes the magic take over like with the broom. The reader begins to anticipate more letters as the story goes along...as if the reader too is waiting for them. It sets us up on the edge of our seats and gets our attention just the way they are supposed to get Harry's attention but at first the Darsley's hide the letters until they just can't anymore, because there are so many they are filliong up the house. We begin here to really start identifying with Harry Potter, to feel his needs and his cause through this emotive process.
Later, the rest of the Hero's Journey steps in this story. The transition/bridge comes when he gets on the train between the worlds that takes him to Hogwart's. He is in a new world. He is on the Threshold. Now we readers are on the threshhold for the rest of the story to read about this new supernatural world!
All for Now,
mBenci
