Before I started reading Harry Potter, I was not really a fan of the books because I am not really a fan of fantasy worlds with dragons, swords, goblins, or wizards. So when I accidentally happened upon the Harry Potter Marathon on ABC Family, I could not tear myself away. I watched every single movie and then quickly went on Amazon and found all of the books. There is something so wonderful about a story that completely pulls you in and makes you forget that there is a world outside of it. The Harry Potter series is able to pull the reader in because of how unique and intricate J.K. Rowling creates the wonderful wizarding world. And while Harry Potter falls under many different genres over the course of the series, the most essential is fantasy.
Particularly in Chamber of Secrets, you are introduced to such creatures as a basilisk, a phoenix, and a bunch of pixies. These are creatures that can only exist in a fantasy world and are all essential to the plot. But Harry also talks with ghosts, paintings, and diaries and does not blink an eye. There is life everywhere at Hogwarts and a constant sense of movement and enchantment. Rowling creates a very complicated and rich story with the complicated sport of Quidditch , the secret language of Parseltongue, and the plethora of enchanted objects such as the Mirror of Erised. However, Rowling maintains a sense of balance in the fantasy by creating very real problems that exist universally. Nearly Headless Nick is not allowed into a club and is teased for it, the Weasley family struggles to pay for everything they need, there is a divide between pure-bloods and muggle-borns- and the list is endless and helps us connect to the characters despite the fantasy that they reside in.
What I love about the wizard world (and Rowling's writing) is that there is a sense of irony and imperfection to this new world. I agree with Courtney about the portal quest, it is such an important part of the story because Harry's life is divided between two very different worlds.The platform that they must board is not a whole number- or even a half- it is 9 3/4. It is not perfectly in the middle; it is almost untraceable. Rowling's new world begins with the Leaky Cauldron, which sounds like a messy, disfigured portal- but what a perfect portal to connect the two worlds. It connects the muggle world to Diagon Alley, and to a world full of anagrams and funny-sounding names that actually tell us a lot more than we often realize.
The Portal Quest is so much fun for the reader because we can jump worlds with Harry. The fact that J.K. Rowling created a whole, wonderful, wizarding world is magical. There are so many comparisons between Muggles and Wizards, and seeing different perceptions and interpretations of both is amazing. I'm the same way, I saw the movies first and wanted to be coerced to read the books--what better way to do that than to take a HP course! I'm now in love and can't put the books down. There's so much thought behind these books that with each page I become more engaged. Happy reading!
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