ENGL 3333: Children's Literature—Texts and Contexts

Dr. Sigler

Critical Questions
• Why is Harry Potter so popular with children?  What aspects of this book appeal to 7-14-year-olds so tremendously? Why are the Potter books so popular with adults?  (Is the appeal the same?) Is Harry Potter a phenomenon because it is great, or even good, literature?  Or is it a phenomenon because it provides readers with simple escape, a conventional quick read? 
• The Potter books have also been extraordinarily controversial.  What might account for this? 
• Although the books are inventive and witty, to what extent do they draw on earlier conventions and traditions in children's literature?  For example, what aspects of traditional texts we've read in class (e.g. fairy tale, mass culture) do you see Rowling drawing upon?
• A number of the texts we've read, including Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, have been described as "children's classics."  What makes a children's book a "classic"?
• Does the world of the Harry Potter books, as critic Christine Schoefer argues, "mirror the conventional assumption that men do and should run the world" (179). To what extent do you agree with another critic's descriptions of the Harry Potter books as "formulaic," "conventional," "predictable," tedious," and "grating"?
Reading Questions
• The Mirror of Erised (Desire) plays an important role in the Harry's growing understanding of his internal conflict. The inscription around the top of the mirror (page 207) translates: "I show not your face but your heart's desire." When Harry gazes into the mirror he sees his parents and other members of his family. Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school, cautions Harry, saying that the mirror "will give neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible" (p. 213), and he concludes by saying, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" (p. 214).
• Harry longs for the connection to his family, something missing from his miserable childhood. How does he eventually make that connection to the past without losing sight of what is important in the present and essential to the future?
• The setting of a fantasy must be made clear if the reader is to more fully enter into the story. As Harry arrives at Hogwarts School, readers see it through his rather astonished eyes. What are some of the tricks and traps of the school? What are the rules for living at Hogwarts? Which rules are made explicit, and which ones does Harry have to figure out for himself?
• Many traditional fantasies begin with a very realistic, sometimes mundane, setting before transporting the reader to the more fantastic setting and then returning to the more realistic setting at later points in the story (home/away/home). Sometimes the contrast between the two settings underscores the changes experienced by the main character.  What other children's books use this structure? How do they compare to Harry Potter in their use of setting?
• Other Harry Potter himself, who did you consider the most interesting character in the book?  Why?  What details did Rowling provide that made that character come alive in your mind in all his or her complexity?  Did you learn more about the character from his/her words, appearance, or actions?
• Is Hogwarts, as some critics have complained, too much of a "boy's club"?  What qualities did Hermione bring to the Hogwarts group? What does her integration into the group tell you about the nature of friendship?
• The title of each of the chapters provides some clues as to what will occur in each. Do the titles tell the whole truth? How do they reveal some of the more symbolic/thematic meanings of the novel?
• Many novels of high fantasy borrow from the traditional stories of fairy tales, myths, and legends. The dog Fluffy which guards the trapdoor at Hogwarts School resembles Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the underworld of Greek mythology.  What other creatures from traditional tales are paralleled in the story? How does each of these creatures play a pivotal role in advancing the plot?
• In Chapter Nine, Harry disobeys a direct order from one of the teachers at the Hogwarts School and takes off on a broom. This infraction is normally cause for expulsion from the school. However, in Harry's case, it brings him the honor of being chosen as the "Seeker" for his Quidditch team. Can you find other instances in the story where Harry's actions lead to quite opposite results from what is expected? To what extent is the book's plot advanced by such "surprise" turns of events?
• How do these concluding quotes relate to the novel's larger conflicts/themes?  How are these themes developed throughout the novel?
• "There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it" (291).  "The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution" (298). "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends" (306).
• "...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever" (299).