harry potter rules! essay deux

“In a children’s novel, closure usually brings a sense that the experiences represented have been meaningful; fullest understanding comes only from the perspective of the ending.” Examine the effect of closure on meaning in ONE of the set novels.
In general, the word “closure” will be used instead of “ending… The former refers us better… to the functions of an ending: to justify the cessation of narrative and to complete the meaning of what has gone before.

Although J.K. Rowling intends to have seven books regaling the exploits of the wizard, Harry Potter, each book in the series is substantial enough to stand on its own and be interpreted in its own right. This is most apparent in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in the series, where Harry discovers that he is a wizard and spends his first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry Potter employs the use of the third person limited narration, where the narrator focalises through Harry. Thus, the reader is immediately positioned either for or against the characters that Harry interacts with in the text. Through these interactions and adventures that Harry gets himself involved in, the reader is able to interpret meaning from them. Yet it can be argued that the fullest understanding of the text and its underlying messages can only be obtained at the end of the novel. Nevertheless, whether there is complete closure in Harry Potter is debatable.

This ambiguity of closure is evident in Harry’s relationship with the Dursleys. Forced to take Harry in after he was left as a baby at their doorstep, the Dursleys have always tried to ignore his presence, “as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug.” They intentionally kept all knowledge about his past a secret from him and attempted to prevent him from going to Hogwarts as they “just didn’t hold with such nonsense.” It is only with a little intimidation and magical help from Rubeus Hagrid that Harry finally subverts the power structure between the Dursleys and him. Ironically, Harry feels most welcome and ‘at home’ at Hogwarts, the place where he encounters the most danger. Thus, the text interestingly subverts the commonly-held belief in conventional fantasy texts of the protagonist longing to return home (to the Dursleys, for Harry), where he can finally let his guard down. This theory certainly does not apply to Harry, who has to spend the summer with the Dursleys after a year at Hogwarts. Yet, Harry, instead of dreading how trying his time the Dursleys will be, focuses more positively (and mischievously) on ‘exhibiting’ his newly-learnt magical skills to them. Thus, the reader is left with the sense of optimism and happiness, that Harry will make the best of the situation, and in anticipation of further developments in his antagonistic relationship with the Dursleys in the next few books.

Initially, Harry feels pressurised by the expectations of others and is not confident of his abilities. “‘Everyone thinks I’m special…but I don’t know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things?’” However, through his matches as a Seeker in the game, Quidditch, and his various altercations with Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape, Harry develops from being a passive character with the Dursleys to a more pro-active one at Hogwarts. He also becomes more in touch with himself, as evident when he begins to recognise that the pain he feels in his scar is an omen of approaching danger. Thus, he learns to trust himself and is prepared for his final showdown with Voldemort. As Harry matures through the various experiences, the reader would be able to infer that one can learn from even the most excruciating and trying ones.

Harry therefore, comes to epitomise the conventional hero, who valiantly disregards all danger to save the day. “‘I’m going out of here tonight and I’m going to try and get the Stone first… it’s only dying a bit later than I would have done, because I’m never going over to the Dark Side!’” Bravery, of a different sort, is also shown by Neville Longbottom. He stands up to Ron, Hermione and Harry even though they are his friends when he perceives them to be breaking school rules. “‘I won’t let you do it,’ he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. ‘I’ll – I’ll fight you!’” Both are rewarded for their courage and bravery at the end of the text. Thus the reader could easily interpret this as being behaviour that should be encouraged and extolled.

The importance of friendship is also emphasised in the text, especially towards the ending when Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger, two of Harry’s closest friends at Hogwarts, risk their own safety and possible expulsion from school by trespassing Hogwarts’ third floor’s forbidden corridor, just to aid Harry in defeating Voldemort. Throughout the text, the three work closely as a unit to solve the mystery of the Philosopher’s Stone; battle a troll and study for their exams, amongst other things.

Harry owes their friendship partly to their all being in the Gryffindor house. In fact, Harry might have had a completely different experience at Hogwarts had he chose to be in the Slytherin house instead, where he could have been “‘great’”. Surprisingly, the Sorting Hat, which decides which house a first-year student gets designated to, listens to Harry’s plea to not be sent to Slytherin. Harry achieves much representing the Gryffindor house as its Quidditch Seeker; becomes close friends with others in Gryffindor like Neville and Seamus Finnigan and helps Gryffindor significantly to win the house cup. It can then be inferred that Harry succeeded in achieving so much because of his conscious decision not to be in Slytherin. Thus, the text can be interpreted as reflecting that “identity and social position can be a matter of choice”. The reader could thus infer from the entire text that nothing in life is pre-ordained; (s)he is the creator of her/his own destiny.

Draco, Harry’s nemesis, is one reason that Harry chooses not to be in Slytherin. Descending from a long ancestry of wizards, Draco represents the wizarding families that are “‘much better than others’” in terms of wealth, status and bloodline. Interestingly, Rowling seems to have intentionally developed Draco as an unlikeable character, who struts about arrogantly with his two sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle. Instead, the reader, like Harry, finds comfort in the friendship of Ron, whom Draco disparagingly terms as “‘riff-raff’”. Though less well-off, Ron substitutes monetary wealth with his warm acceptance of and undying loyalty to Harry. Rowling’s critique of the class system is contrary to Fred Inglis’ view of class being “‘too obvious and too irrelevant’” to be discussed in children’s fiction. Through the two very contrasting characterisations of humble Ron and haughty Draco as representatives of the different classes in society, the reader senses that the author does not favour the elite, but the underdog. This partly evident through how Ron and the others help Gryffindor snatch the house cup away from an initially leading Slytherin by just ten points. Subconsciously, this underlying message to support the working class could be internalised by the reader.

Rowling has also constructed the text in such a way that the reader is immediately positioned against Voldemort, mainly through the focalisation of the text through Harry and the narrative which relates how the other characters refer to him only as “You-Know-Who” out of fear. It is clear from the beginning of the text which characters represent the good and dark side. Though Harry manages to defeat Voldemort eventually in the text, the reader knows that it is not the final battle between the two as Voldemort is “‘still out there somewhere’”. Thus although it can be read as that good will triumph over evil, the reader knows even at the end of the text that the struggle between the two forces is not completely over yet.

Harry Potter ends with Harry returning home to spend summer vacation with the Dursleys after an entire year of learning, adventure and excitement at Hogwarts. Through the encapsulation of all of Harry’s exploits, climaxing with his battle with Voldemort, the reader fully understands the themes and messages inherent in the text.


Bibliography
Krips, Valerie, “A Notable Irrelevance: Class and Children’s Fiction”, The Lion and The Unicorn, vol. 17 (no. 2), (1993), pp. 195-209.
Miller, D.A., Narrative and its Discontents: Problems of Closure in the Traditional Novel. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1981.
Nikolajeva, Maria, Children’s Literature Comes of Age: Toward a New Aesthetic. New York, Garland, 1996.
Routledge, Christopher, “Harry Potter and the Mystery of Ordinary Life”. In Gavin and Routledge (eds.) Mystery in Children’s Literature: From the Rational to the Supernatural. New York and Hampshire, Palgrave/St. Martin’s Press, 2001, pp.202-209.
Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. London, Bloomsbury, 2001.