Approaches

Dear Readers,

We all have certain initial impressions of reading a text. It is also necessary to enlighten ourselves with certain additional impressions and feed our minds with newer perspectives. For that, a literary text is to be viewed from a variety of aspects that theorists have provided us. I have attempted to analyze the 'Harry Potter' texts from various approaches. Our Professor had asked us to carry out the following tasks with the help of internet search engines:

1) Find at least three good web resources for the topic/s.

2) Find key arguments for the discourse on the given topic/s

3) Note down illustrations from Harry Potter for the arguments

Task assigned-

Blog Task: With the help of web resources and arguments, you shall think critically to develop an argument on any three of the following topics.

Topics for web quest:

Think critically and develop an argument on any three of the following topics.

1) Feminist reading of Hermione’s character in Harry Potter: How does the character portrayal of Hermione and other female characters support feminist discourse?

2) Discourse on the purity of Blood and Harry Potter: How do the novels play with the thesis of pure blood (Master Race) giving an anti-thesis by belonging protagonists to half-blood / Mud-blood? What sort of synthesis is sought in this discourse in the Harry Potter series?

3) Confronting reality by reading fantasy: How does reading Harry Potter make us confront the reality of our everyday existence?

4) Self-Help culture and Harry Potter: How does it stand by an argument that Self-Help Culture serves as a tool of social control: it soothes political unrest . . . one blames oneself for not getting better off in society and remains in one's own pursuit of self-invention, blaming oneself for the failure rather than the systems?

5) The discourse of Power and Politics in Harry Potter: How does Ministry of Magic control the resistance? How do they prosecute the ‘Other’?

6) Children’s Literature and Harry Potter: How far does J K Rowling transcends the canonical confines of children’s literature and claims the heights of ‘real’ literature?

7) Speculative literature and Harry Potter: What is speculative literature? How far Harry Potter qualifies for the same? Does J K Rowling transcends the confines of speculative literature and claim the heights of ‘real’ literature?

8) The theme of Choice and Chance: How does Harry Potter discuss the antithetical concepts of ‘choice’ and ‘chance’?

9) The theme of Love and Death: How does Harry Potter make use of the age-old theme of Love of the dead as well as living as protecting armour? How does Harry Potter deal with the concept of Death as something inevitable?

10) Moral and Philosophical reading of Harry Potter: How does the concept of ‘evil breeds evil’ unfold in Harry Potter? What is the significance of Harry being one of the Horcruxes?

11) Christianity and Harry Potter Series: How many times Harry and his friends visit Church? how often in the moments of crisis when they are helpless, clueless, they pray to God for Grace or Mercy? How many times God's Grace saves them from the Devil Lord Voldemort? Does J.K. Rowling use Christianity at any level in the entire Harry Potter series?

12) What is your opinion on this: