Overview: (Brief overview of the book)
This book is a guide to understanding the magical terms that have been used in the fictional Harry Potter book series. It explores the reason behind the magical references, myths and fictional facts that J.K Rowling has used in her books.
Synopsis:
The book provides a foreword as to how to read the book and with what perspectives and what are the fascinating facts that one can discover in the book. The book as several chapters and there is an afterword to the book recommending the readers, specific books to be read in the fantasy genre.
The book is beautifully drafted because the author has reviewed a vast literature of mythological genre and has given associations to Rowling’s playful references, analogies, anagrams, word plays, metaphors and the usage of magical terms. This book acts as a guideline for ardent readers of the Harry Potter series to understand the depth and the nuances with which Rowling has conceptualized every single element in her books.
Some times they can be a playful reference like how ‘Dumbledore’s name comes from an old English word for bumble bee as Rowling likes the idea that this music lover might absent mindedly hum to himself.’
Sometimes there are serious analogies that have been created by Rowling as how ‘Sirius Black’ is an analogy of the Dog Star where in ancient Egypt the star was used as a guidance to help souls reach heaven and Sirius is an Animagus of a black dog. And like the dog star Sirius, the character “Sirius Black’ helps Harry fight for the good in the path to freedom from Voldemort.
Or it can be moral conceptualization like “how the Mirror of Erised is the key to finding the stone, it is also a test of character. Vanity and selfishness, central to the act of looking in a mirror are corrupt qualities. Because only some one with a rare virtue deserves his desire, only someone who looks in the mirror ……or sees himself committing a selfless act will receive what he wishes.” This fascinating fact is something which has not been directly told by Rowling to the readers but has been discovered by Colbert after his research.
Rowling has also used a lot of magical words in her book which have been derived from the Latin language which sends out a message to the readers that the ancient language has to be preserved and its beauty understood. This observation was brought out by Colbert with a few references of magical words like ‘Impedimenta’, ‘Obliviate’ and ‘Ruparo’ etc.,
He has also compare the literary themes that run in mythological and fantasy literature to that of Rowling’s books consisting of three dominating themes in each of her books labeling them as ‘Departure’, ‘Initiation’ and ‘Return’. He has explained these themes by detailing the plots in each of her books corresponding to the themes.
Takeaways:
It is fascinating to understand how much of work has gone into writing the Harry Potter Book series by providing hidden morals to children and readers belonging to any age.These references also give an insight about the author who has given clues to the readers by telling us that we need to explore and understand concepts as there is more that meets the eye.Some of the learnings I have had are :Latin is one of the most ancient languages.Mythological literature is a reflection of human wants and needs and it is filled with morals that teach humans to evolve.
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