I have a lesson to teach on Harry Potter. What should I talk about?
I want to emphasise on how good Harry Potter is and the phenomenon that it made. Dot point answers with ideas would be great. Thanks.
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M$9 Answers
2. Compare the traits that Harry and his friends value-- courage, friendship, truth and loyalty--to the code of the Knights Templar. Then have them ask why these traits are necessary. Both Harry Potter and the Knights Templar are on quests. Does this have anything to do with it?
If they can get through the above two questions and still think the books are mediocre, that says more about them than it does about the books!
3. Have them discuss the theme (again, an echo from Tolkien) that it is the small and powerless (relatively, at least socially) who are the ones who can change the world.
4. Have them research how many *adults* are huge fans. They need to find these things for themselves, because at that age they'll likely sneer (mentally at least) if you present the answers: how many adults showed up for the bookstore launches? How many adult tickets were sold to the movie opening nights? How many serious scholarly articles? You can start out this question by presenting this website of an *adult* Harry Potter party: http://www.britta.com/hogwarts/index.html
5. Have them find other books where the plot begins with the hero/heroine finding out he/she's not who or what he/she thought. Ones that come to mind in modern books are Eragon, and The Princess Diaries, but this is a common device in classical literature. Have them find this in classical works of literature.
6. Harry was orphaned as a baby and abused and neglected from a young age, treated as a nothing and ignored. Do they think that a person with such a background could have the courage and strength that Harry does?
I bet that once they see the echoes in classical literature in both direct references and themes; how big Harry's adult fan base is; and how important and difficult the questions are that the books bring out, they will have a change of heart. Given that these kids are 16, that means they were in elementary school when the first books were published, and they haven't realized that they can approach the series on a whole new level. This happens with not just books but all kinds of things first experienced in childhood, from friendships/opinions of poeple, to religion. And that in itself might be a great seventh question:
7. How do you see Harry Potter now, as opposed to how you saw him and the series at age 7 or 8? What new things do you see that you were too young to realize before?
My whole family are longtime HP fans (so serious that my husband makes handcarved wands with real animal material cores capped with real gems)
My masters is in Medieval and Renaissance literature, Interarts
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M$
The three main characters certainly have their ups and downs as friends.
Or... talk about character/integrity.
I'm sure 16 year olds are trying to figure out who they want to be and what kind of character they want to have. Harry (especially) is trying to figure out what kind of character he wants to have.
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M$- Bigotry and Oppression - the treatment of non-wizards by wizard society, muggles, house elves, centaurs etc.
- Trials and Tribulations of Adolescence - how much more trouble would Harry have accomplishing what he accomplished if Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had not been tolerant of risk taking
- Love and Friendship - the ability for love and friendship to help people to overcome obstacles
- Evil and the Quest for Power - why were so many people willing to join with Lord Voldemort
- The mature approach to death and evil in a kids series.
- Social Impact of the books and movies; number of kids reading, popularity of other teen fantasy series such as Spiderwick.
- Is the series derivative? (for older classes)
Have all 10 books and the 7 novels on audio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter#Themes
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M$
The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have a lot of similarities so that might be something to talk about. Definately go to that site and check it out you should get LOTS of ideas there.
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M$
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M$
This would be a good line to take.
Why do some stories (Harry Potter, LOTR, Star Wars) take such a hold of the popular imagination and resonate with so many people, when other apparently more worthy works don't?
Does the Hero's Journey capture the essence of something fundamental that hits the spot for people through the ages?
Compare and contrast the power of myths, popular fantasy writing and serious literature.
As a writer, I had heard critiques that said Rowling's writing was less that spectacular. I'm not sure I agree. However she does do two things very well--she tells a good story (plot) and is good at describing her very vivid imagination.
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M$
Second, the relationship between Harry, Ron and Hermione, how Hermione is pulled between her friend and her boyfriend, and how many girls have this problem.
Third, the concept of the quest, where it began, other quests.
Fourth, the concept of family, how Harry tries to protect those that he feels are his family.
Fifth, the concept of the death of a main character. How it affects the book.
Sixth, the concept of misdirection so that the author can have a surprise at the end. Snape.
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Yes I read them all. But only once, that was enough. I have read the Tolkien series many times.
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M$
I think that something along the lines of "don't" is often a perfectly helpful sort of answer. At the very least, it may lead the person asking the question to stop and think a bit before proceeding. In this case I don't think the Potter books are so bad that they should be used as a good bad example. It's just that I don't think they are good enough to be taught in high school when there is so much classic literature to choose from. I can see teaching it in grade school, maybe fourth or fifth grade perhaps.
I'm guessing they voted unhelpful because the answer doesn't help the asker, who wants to know how to present his case *for* reading Harry Potter.
For what it's worth, while I love Harry Potter and have re-read most of them several times, I tend to agree with your thoughts. The earlier ones are way better than the later ones. And even then, while I'd read them for fun any day over more "worthy" works, there is really no case for them being great literature.
When I was 16, in class we were reading things like To Kill a Mockingbird. Anything that Harry Potter's got to say about growing up, bigotry, taking a stand etc is treated with far greater depth and wisdom by books like that.
Harry Potter is brilliant for young kids, just like fairy tales are, it speaks to them at a level they can understand. And it's great escapist fun for adults too.
But as for providing serious insight into life, good and evil, totalitarian societies, friendship, first love, I'd hope bright 16 year olds have got beyond the level of simplicity that these things are dealt with in Harry Potter.
I marked this as unhelpful because the question was "What should I talk about" and your answer was "Don't". This is the very definition of unhelpful.
If you had answered "You could discuss why the derivative and terribly written Harry Potter is popular while much better novels in the same genre, such as Lord of the Rings, go unread", I wouldn't have touched the rating.
Since even mild criticism of Potter drew a flock of unhelpfuls, I might as well go on record as predicting: "In 90 years Rowling will be forgotten but Tolkien will be considered a classic."
