Harry Potter And Sorcerer Stone By Rowling Essay, Research Paper

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling is a children’s novel

about a young boy, Harry Potter, and his adventures at Hogwarts, a school for

wizards and witches. The novel is filled with humorous tales of exciting

escapades in and around the school. There are many characters in the novel, and

they do not always get along well. They make fun of each other and judge each

other by a certain set of standards. Some of these standards include wealth,

intelligence, family and athletic ability. These are all superficial ways of

judging people. Being a children’s author, Rowling shows her readers other, more

important ways of categorizing others through less apparent methods. These true

values that she emphasizes are judging others by their character and heart. The

false values by which children judge each other are more blatant in the novel

because they are illustrated through conversation instead of actions. The main

ways that they judge each other are: financial status, family background (Muggle

or wizard), house affiliation, intelligence and athletic ability. Almost every

character has some good values and some bad values in the novel. By illustrating

the characters with faults, Rowling makes them more realistic and believable.

The first skin deep value used to measure the status of a character is money.

Just as in the real world, some people have more money than others. One

character that seems to be very well off in the wizard world is Draco Malfoy. He

has all of the newest and nicest books and school supplies on the first day. His

owl is of the nicest breed. When the students receive mail at meals, Malfoy

frequently receives packages of goodies from his family and he is not humble

about it. He is quite a contrast to Ron Weasley and his family. Ron comes from a

poor family. Everything he brings to school with him seems to be a hand-me-down.

Ron says, "you never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I’ve got

Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand, and Percy’s old rat." (p. 100).

Malfoy likes to use this weakness to make fun of Ron. He makes comments such as,

"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn’t afford half the

handle" when Harry gets a new broom (p. 165). Later, when they run into

Hagrid, Malfoy says to Ron, "Are you trying to earn some extra money,

Weasley?that hut of Hagrid’s must seem like a palace compared to what your

family’s used to" (pp. 195-196). These are very cruel comments, but money

is not the only way that Malfoy judges others. Family background is the second

shortsighted way of judging people in the book. Whether a character comes from a

Muggle family, a pure Wizard family or a mix between the two seems to play an

important role in the book. For example, Draco Malfoy is from a pure Wizard

family and he takes great pride in it. He often judges others by this measure.

On the train to Hogwarts he says to Harry, "You’ll soon find out some

wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go

making friends with the wrong sort." (p. 108). Harry has Wizard parents,

but he has lived with Muggles his whole life so he has no experience in wizardry

at all. Harry’s friend, Hermione Granger, is from a pure Muggle family. For this

reason, Malfoy makes fun of her on more than one occasion. Ron is also from a

pure Wizard family, but he does not make fun of those who are not. There are

still other shallow ways of judging others. One of these ways is which house

each person belongs to. Each person is assigned to a house when they get to

Hogwarts. There is much competition between the houses, but the greatest

competition is between Gryffindor and Slytherin. When introducing the houses the

Sorting Hat says, "you might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at

heart, their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindor apart;? or perhaps in

Slytherin you’ll make your real friends, those cunning folk use any means to

achieve their ends." (p. 118). Slytherin has a history of having its

members from pure Wizard families and of winning the House Cup many times. Draco

Malfoy is part of that house. However, it is not necessarily the best house.

There have also been a number of bad Wizards that belonged to that house.

Voldemort, a master at dark arts came from Slytherin. Gryffindor also has a good

reputation. On the train to Hogwarts hermione says, "I’ve been asking

around, and I hope I’m in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear

Dumbledore himself was in it." (p. 106). The competition is so fierce

between the houses that even the professors get involved. Many of them seem to

be prejudiced in awarding and taking points from their own or opposing houses.

For example, Ron says, "Snape’s head of Slytherin House. They say he always

favors them." (p. 135). Characters are also judged by their intelligence.

Hermione is the smartest person in the class so she has a good reputation.

Rowling describes her when she writes, "Hermione was on the edge of her

seat and looked desparate to prove that she wasn’t a dunderhead." (p. 137).

By the end of the novel she accomplishes this through her final exam grades,

"Harry had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but

come they did?Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first

years." (p.307). Neville Longbottom, on the other hand, is not so

intelligent. He does not do very well in school so his reputation is not as

good. Hagrid has the lowest reputation for intelligence. He is not very smart

and is not even allowed to use magic because he was kicked out of Hogwarts.

Whenever he does use magic he seems to mess it up in one way or another. This is

not really a good way to judge others, but it is used quite often, especially by

Draco Malfoy. He enjoys making fun of Hagrid for his stupidity. Neville

Longbottom has a below average intelligence, as well as below average skills at

just about every task that involves magic. His magic skills overall are very

poor. For example, when he tries to fly a broomstick he ends up breaking his

wrist because he can’t control it. Malfoy taunts him constantly for this. Harry,

on the other hand, has great skills at flying a broomstick. On his first try he

has great agility and speed. Professor McGonagall describes him by saying,

"The boy’s a natural. I’ve never seen anything like it?He caught that

thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive, didn’t even scratch himself."

(p. 151). Harry receives much praise and many compliments for all of his great

plays at Quidditch. All of these ways of judging people are not good ways to

judge others. People cannot control how much money their parents have, whether

or not they are from Muggle families, which house the Sorting Hat puts them in,

their natural intelligence or innate skills at magic, so it is unfair to use

these means to pass judgment on a person. Rowling understands this fact and she

makes an important point by showing her readers better ways to judge people

through the character’s actions. She shows that it is preferable to judge people

based on their integrity and heart. This is a very important message to send off

in a children’s book. Although the characters have flaws, she makes the readers

see their goodness by making the virtuous characters heroes and by allowing

their reputable qualities overpower their unfavorable flaws. For example,

although Hagrid is not especially intelligent or proficient at magic, he has a

good heart. He cares very much about the well being of others. This is seen in

all of his actions, from the beginning of the novel when he brings Harry to the

Dursley’s doorstep, to protecting Harry, Neville and Malfoy in the forest, to

caring for the baby dragon to the present he gives Harry at the end of the year.

Neville also illustrates honorable qualities to look for in a person. Even

though he is seen as sort of a weak and incompetent character he is rewarded for

standing up to his friends to trying to protect them at the end of the novel.

This is a very brave and noble thing for him to do. Hermione is also rewarded

for her admirable qualities. She does not come from a Wizard family but that

does not keep her from being the smartest in the class. This illustrates the

importance of a sound work ethic. Her intelligence ends up helping Harry get

through the secret passage to fight Voldemort. The entire time that she is

helping Harry she is paying close attention to his well being because she is

worried about him. She knows that intelligence is not the most important thing.

Right before Harry continues on his way she proves this by saying, "Books!

And cleverness! There are more important things? friendship and bravery and?

oh Harry- be careful!" (p. 287). This shows that it is not just what one

holds in their head, but what she holds in her heart as well. Ron also exhibits

some outstanding character traits. He sacrifices himself in a chess game to help

Harry out. It proves that he is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater

good. Finally, Harry exhibits numerous positive characteristics. He is generous,

caring, and he always does things in order to achieve some greater good.

Although he gets in trouble a lot, he is not a bad kid. Instead he is the hero

in the novel. By making Harry the hero, Rowling teaches children various

redeeming qualities for which they should strive. In the end, all of these

characters win points for Gryffindor and Gryffindor ends up winning the House

Cup. This is the way the ending should be because all of the virtuous characters

are in Gryffindor. By having Gryffindor win, Rowling shows that upright,

honorable characters don’t always finish last. Rowling not only teaches a lesson

by rewarding the good characters, but she also teaches a lesson by punishing the

immoral and corrupt guys. At the end of the story Dumbledore awards Ron,

Hermione, Neville and Harry a total of 170 points for their brave actions in

fighting Voldemort. This puts them nine points ahead of Slytherin in the battle

for the House Cup. When Gryffindor win the House Cup, Slytherin loses. This is

important because Malfoy is a member of Slytherin. By having Slytherin lose,

Rowling illustrates the point that all of Malfoy’s superficial judgments are not

a good way to judge people. He ends up being seen as the antagonist. He becomes

the bad example that children should not follow. The most important example of

evil and wickedness in the novel is Voldemort. In the battle between Voldemort

and Harry, Voldemort loses. He loses because his powers are not stronger than

love. Harry was saved by love. Dumbledore says, "Your mother died to save

you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love?Quirrell

full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing a soul with Voldemort, could not

touch you for this very reason." (p. 299). This message is the strongest

message in the whole book. It teaches children that love is always better than

hate and that love conquers all. There are not many messages that are better for

children to read. By the end of the novel J.K. Rowling has taught her readers

many important life lessons. The way the characters judge each other on an

external level can be compared to the way many people are judged in real life.

People are judged all the time by their intelligence, financial status, their

various skills and abilities and by the color of their skin. Rowling shows

through the actions of her characters that it is better to judge people by their

character and their heart than by aspects of their life that they can’t control.

She also shows her readers how important it is to love and take care of each

other. If people do not take care of each other than they will accomplish

nothing. Although Harry is the hero in the novel, he couldn’t have beaten

Voldemort without the help of his friends. Teamwork is a necessity for having a

successful life. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a very entertaining

novel, but more importantly, it gives off many essential life lessons.