Dear Reader Letter.
Dear Reader,
It would be impossible to pretend not to have heard of Joanne Kathleen Rowling, unarguably the most well-known author of the twenty-first century. Like most, my childhood consisted of her works and the film series of which her Harry Potter series inspired. I waited with bated breath for the latest installment of her series, and whenever the time came for her latest novel to be released I would argue consistently with my Mum as to who would be able to read it first - to the point where as the series reached it's climax, my Mum would have to purchase two copies of the novels for us to read at the same time. I have many fond memories which revolve around reading JK Rowling's books or watching the films that they inspired - memories which I believe will always be held dearly to me. This series of seven novels clearly had a great implication on my life, and so I always wondered as to whether the Harry Potter books had an even greater influence on my life than I first perceived - through the form of my morality. I decided as a part of my research project to discover what forms of ideologies and moral decisions JK Rowling was promoting in her novels, so as to reason as to whether the ideas she promoted had become ideas that I valued myself.
As you may be able to gauge from my previous paragraph, I went into this project with quite a lot of knowledge based around the series. I was rather rusty however, as it had been a while since I had read the series. The basic storyline of the Harry Potter series is one which is easy to follow, though, so I still remembered the key events. Harry Potter is known to the Wizarding World as The Boy Who Lived, as he managed to escape almost-unscathed from the Killing Curse which was performed on him by the Dark Lord Voldemort when he was a baby. Left with nothing but a lightning bolt scar, Harry goes through his life as a Wizard completely unaware that he is in fact a Horcrux of Lord Voldemort, left with the daunting task of being the only boy capable of destroying the Dark Lord forever. In the midst of all of this action, I knew that there was some social commentary yet I hadn't quite explored that matter in depth yet.
Some of the research questions that I wanted answering, were what aspects of social commentary could be found within the Harry Potter series. I also wanted to explore the meanings of this social commentary, and the implications that JK Rowling's social commentary has had on society as a whole. Through these research questions, I essentially wanted to work out what valeus JK Rowling had, and was conveying in her works; using this knowledge, I could then discover what effect her values had upon my own personal values, and the values of a twenty-first century society.
I used several different sources in order to obtain my research. Primarily, I used the Harry Potter works themselves in order to gain information that I needed. Away from the actual texts, however, online information came in very useful in building up a significant picture of some of the elements of social commentary in the Harry Potter works. One source where I found critical essays based on the works included The Harry Potter Lexicon, and I also used the Harry Potter Wikipedia database in order to check some of my facts of characters and find key quotations. A further source which has been genuinely endorsed by JK Rowling herself, is the website Pottermore. Through Pottermore, a user can explore aspects of the text that are not discussed in her works, but which relate to her works and the world Rowling has created in general. It was through Pottermore that I found out background information based on the character of Remus Lupin that I hadn't known before, and through Pottermore that I read more about the Dursley family and the origins of their names etc. In order to gain information based around the Author herself so as to write a particularly meaningful Timeline of her life and achievements, I turned to a fansite of JK Rowling, which claims to exist 'as a dedication to Jo and her books and as a source of information for fans around the world', and to 'provide the most up to date information on everything Joanne Rowling' (www.jkrfan.com).
Through my research, I learned many things about JK Rowling's vision of morality conveyed through her works. In her books, JK Rowling comments on everything from the misery of depression - through the creatures of Dementors - and the societal issues caused by prejudice - through the concept of lycanthropy, shown more thoroughly by the plight of the character of Remus Lupin, as well as through the character of Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant who fears discrimination so keeps his blood status private. I also learned about how JK Rowling used her series in order to educate a younger audience about the second world war, in an implicit way. The character of Tom Riddle - or Lord Voldemort - mirrors Adolf Hitler in his thirst for genocide. I also learned that many of the moral feelings she shares are also shared by me. I believe that through reading the Harry Potter series as a child, my morality was affected by her own.
My research made a difference to me, as it really opened my eyes to some of the symbols in the Harry Potter works that I hadn't notice before. Therefore, I will be able to reread the book series with a fresh set of eyes, able to identify aspects of the works which exist in order to influence readers. I think that my research matters on a wider scale however, as it shows the importance of enforcing good morals in works that are read widely, as the morals of an author can go on to influence the morals of their readers. Luckily, the messages enforced within JK Rowling's works are predominantly positive messages of love and fighting for what is right. I certainly don't think that the morals I feel were influenced by Rowling have had any form of negative effect on a modern day society of avid Harry Potter readers.
I hope you enjoy reading through my website. Along with my traditional research paper, I have included some creative artifacts in order to exemplify some of the social influences I have discussed in my paper as well as some factual information about the author and some direct references from the text. Read through my multigenre notes page in order to gain an explanation as to why I chose the artifacts I did for my project and to read through my thought process throughout the assignment. Finally, check my works cited page in order to find a list of my resources for the project. You may have your own questions to ask based on the series or JK Rowling herself, and these pages are reputable sources that have helped many interested in the magical world of Harry Potter.
Yours Sincerely,
Georgie Partridge.
It would be impossible to pretend not to have heard of Joanne Kathleen Rowling, unarguably the most well-known author of the twenty-first century. Like most, my childhood consisted of her works and the film series of which her Harry Potter series inspired. I waited with bated breath for the latest installment of her series, and whenever the time came for her latest novel to be released I would argue consistently with my Mum as to who would be able to read it first - to the point where as the series reached it's climax, my Mum would have to purchase two copies of the novels for us to read at the same time. I have many fond memories which revolve around reading JK Rowling's books or watching the films that they inspired - memories which I believe will always be held dearly to me. This series of seven novels clearly had a great implication on my life, and so I always wondered as to whether the Harry Potter books had an even greater influence on my life than I first perceived - through the form of my morality. I decided as a part of my research project to discover what forms of ideologies and moral decisions JK Rowling was promoting in her novels, so as to reason as to whether the ideas she promoted had become ideas that I valued myself.
As you may be able to gauge from my previous paragraph, I went into this project with quite a lot of knowledge based around the series. I was rather rusty however, as it had been a while since I had read the series. The basic storyline of the Harry Potter series is one which is easy to follow, though, so I still remembered the key events. Harry Potter is known to the Wizarding World as The Boy Who Lived, as he managed to escape almost-unscathed from the Killing Curse which was performed on him by the Dark Lord Voldemort when he was a baby. Left with nothing but a lightning bolt scar, Harry goes through his life as a Wizard completely unaware that he is in fact a Horcrux of Lord Voldemort, left with the daunting task of being the only boy capable of destroying the Dark Lord forever. In the midst of all of this action, I knew that there was some social commentary yet I hadn't quite explored that matter in depth yet.
Some of the research questions that I wanted answering, were what aspects of social commentary could be found within the Harry Potter series. I also wanted to explore the meanings of this social commentary, and the implications that JK Rowling's social commentary has had on society as a whole. Through these research questions, I essentially wanted to work out what valeus JK Rowling had, and was conveying in her works; using this knowledge, I could then discover what effect her values had upon my own personal values, and the values of a twenty-first century society.
I used several different sources in order to obtain my research. Primarily, I used the Harry Potter works themselves in order to gain information that I needed. Away from the actual texts, however, online information came in very useful in building up a significant picture of some of the elements of social commentary in the Harry Potter works. One source where I found critical essays based on the works included The Harry Potter Lexicon, and I also used the Harry Potter Wikipedia database in order to check some of my facts of characters and find key quotations. A further source which has been genuinely endorsed by JK Rowling herself, is the website Pottermore. Through Pottermore, a user can explore aspects of the text that are not discussed in her works, but which relate to her works and the world Rowling has created in general. It was through Pottermore that I found out background information based on the character of Remus Lupin that I hadn't known before, and through Pottermore that I read more about the Dursley family and the origins of their names etc. In order to gain information based around the Author herself so as to write a particularly meaningful Timeline of her life and achievements, I turned to a fansite of JK Rowling, which claims to exist 'as a dedication to Jo and her books and as a source of information for fans around the world', and to 'provide the most up to date information on everything Joanne Rowling' (www.jkrfan.com).
Through my research, I learned many things about JK Rowling's vision of morality conveyed through her works. In her books, JK Rowling comments on everything from the misery of depression - through the creatures of Dementors - and the societal issues caused by prejudice - through the concept of lycanthropy, shown more thoroughly by the plight of the character of Remus Lupin, as well as through the character of Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant who fears discrimination so keeps his blood status private. I also learned about how JK Rowling used her series in order to educate a younger audience about the second world war, in an implicit way. The character of Tom Riddle - or Lord Voldemort - mirrors Adolf Hitler in his thirst for genocide. I also learned that many of the moral feelings she shares are also shared by me. I believe that through reading the Harry Potter series as a child, my morality was affected by her own.
My research made a difference to me, as it really opened my eyes to some of the symbols in the Harry Potter works that I hadn't notice before. Therefore, I will be able to reread the book series with a fresh set of eyes, able to identify aspects of the works which exist in order to influence readers. I think that my research matters on a wider scale however, as it shows the importance of enforcing good morals in works that are read widely, as the morals of an author can go on to influence the morals of their readers. Luckily, the messages enforced within JK Rowling's works are predominantly positive messages of love and fighting for what is right. I certainly don't think that the morals I feel were influenced by Rowling have had any form of negative effect on a modern day society of avid Harry Potter readers.
I hope you enjoy reading through my website. Along with my traditional research paper, I have included some creative artifacts in order to exemplify some of the social influences I have discussed in my paper as well as some factual information about the author and some direct references from the text. Read through my multigenre notes page in order to gain an explanation as to why I chose the artifacts I did for my project and to read through my thought process throughout the assignment. Finally, check my works cited page in order to find a list of my resources for the project. You may have your own questions to ask based on the series or JK Rowling herself, and these pages are reputable sources that have helped many interested in the magical world of Harry Potter.
Yours Sincerely,
Georgie Partridge.